The subject of natural capital, and natural capital accounting, is a divisive one.
On one side, proponents of the practice believe that it’s an important piece of the sustainability puzzle, by enabling businesses to “gain insight into their environmental impacts, normalized to a common monetary unit.” On the other hand, detractors of natural capital accounting say that the practice is “plagued with myriad problems.”
To my way of thinking, the true value of accounting for natural capital, like many controversial issues, lies somewhere in the middle. It’s not a magical sustainability bullet, and it’s also not the harbinger of environmental doom. On the road to a more sustainable world, natural capital accounting could be a potent tool for helping businesses to make better decisions in managing natural capital costs and risks all along the supply chain.
Pitch for Nature has a great quick video introducing the concept of natural capital:
Natural Capital is the value of nature. It can be defined as the world’s stocks of natural assets that we benefit from. Natural Capital matters because every single business in the world not only impacts on nature, but relies on it.
So the degradation of ecosystems that we see today creates a real risk for companies, now and into the future. But where there is risk, there is also opportunity — secure natural resources, to save costs, to manage future risks and engage people and companies throughout the value chain.
There are already many companies that are starting to account for Natural Capital, but everyone is on a journey. There are many tools available to help you start today. – Pitch for Nature
Visit Pitch for Nature to find out more about the video and the organizations behind it.
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