News |Integrated Capitals

The Coalition Gains a Powerful Ally in Sustainability Education

April 23, 2024 |

A tower block covered in green plants sits over a blue sky background

The coalition is thrilled to announce a new accomplishment in the educational world. WBCSD, a long-standing partner of the coalition, has now officially endorsed all of the coalition’s educational content with its WBCSD Academy. Their leading educational platform is dedicated to equipping professionals with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate today’s dynamic business environment.

Our two flagship online courses, “Valuing nature and people to inform business decision-making” and “Transforming Business: Valuing Human & Social Capital” are now available to a wider audience. This endorsement from a respected authority in sustainability further validates the quality and relevance of our courses.

The first one is a free online business training course developed in collaboration with the We Value Nature campaign. It focuses on the importance of valuing nature and people in business decisions. The second one is designed in partnership with Nature^Squared, WBCSD-BCTI (Business Commission to Tackle Inequality – an initiative from WBCSD) and Social Value International. It explores how businesses can transform by valuing social and human capital.

Businesses that prioritize the value of nature and people, along with their stakeholders, employees, community, and consumers, stand to gain significantly. They can enhance their risk management, unlock new business and investment opportunities, foster stronger relationships, improve the well-being of those involved, and boost their financial performance.

Our courses are designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills to achieve these benefits — enroll and learn more here.

If you want to become an Endorsing Partner of the Capitals Coalition to support, share and use the Coalition’s educational learning content, complete this form — we always welcome new organizations!

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Introduction from Carl Obst (2017)

Victor Hugo once wrote that “Nothing is so powerful as an idea whose time has come”. Recognising the true value of natural capital, is one such idea. Across private and public sectors, across disciplines, and around the world, initiatives to advance and develop natural capital thinking have emerged rapidly over the past 10 years.

In a blizzard of acronyms, we have the NCC, SEEA, WAVES, IIRC, KIP-INCA, A4S, GRI, EO4EA – among many others. Are they the same, are they competing, are they useful? To both insiders and outsiders this range of initiatives is confusing at best. At worst, it leads to a lack of engagement, avoidance and misunderstanding.

The reality is that, while differences among these various initiatives do exist, they have all been motivated by a common understanding of the reality that we are losing our stocks of natural capital – and that this matters.

While each initiative may have different origins, some differing objectives, and may reflect variations in technique and method, there is much common ground. Indeed, to engage the broader community in tackling the natural capital challenges we collectively face, we cannot afford to focus on distinctions. Instead, we must look to build on the overlaps and seek to build a common language that will enable the exchange of ideas and ongoing innovation.

It is in this spirit of collaboration that the Natural Capital Coalition, together with the IDEEA Group and supported by over 20 organisations, launches this statement on Combining Forces on Natural Capital.

It is especially relevant that this statement of collaboration is launched at the World Forum on Natural Capital, where leading voices in the movement gather every two years, to share best practice, enduring challenges and build further collaborations.

While progress to date has largely taken place in small pockets, in order to move forward we need to ramp up our efforts and move beyond talking with supporters and “the converted”.

For this, we need leaders who can establish spaces for dialogue and development, and who can ensure that technical debates do not form a barrier to progress, that we take full advantage of the diversity of skills and experience already engaged, and that the big picture is always kept in mind.

I encourage you to take the opportunity to read the statement, to share it within your organisations, to sign on, and to join us as we move towards a better understanding and appreciation of the complex and beautiful world in which we live.

Carl Obst is Director of the Institute for the Development of Environmental-Economic Accounting (IDEEA Group), and Lead Author of the United Nation’s System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (UN SEEA).