Protecting the Future with the Capitals
Blog by Mark Gough, CEO, The Capitals Coalition
As I write this, huge swathes of England, including my home of London, are experiencing a heatwave coupled with drought. We’ve experienced the driest July since 1935, with some areas recording less than 10% of the average July rainfall. I see the many parks in our city reduced to dry, yellow patches and coated with leaves that would usually signal the depths of autumn.
These occurrences might be new to the UK, but we know that the climate crisis has been impacting communities all across the world, and in much more significant ways.
The solution and what we’re doing about it
The Capitals Coalition was formed to establish and mainstream a consistent way for organizations to understand how their success is directly or indirectly underpinned by the value that flows from all capitals (natural, social, human and produced). We empower them to make decisions that offer the greatest value for nature and for society, alongside businesses and the economy.
When organizations are provided with the tools they need to identify and measure the value they receive from all capitals, they are able to better understand their impacts and dependencies across the global system.
The Natural Capital Protocol and the Social & Human Capital Protocol provide the internationally accepted frameworks for businesses to apply a capitals approach. This is a well-trodden path and is supported by specific guidance, tools and many other resources. The Protocols are now being integrated into a single overarching Capitals Protocol which will be available towards the end of 2022.
If you’re interested in this approach but don’t know where to start, you can sign up for our free online business training course which provides an overview of the fundamental aspects of the capitals approach and guidance on where to start when adopting the approach within an organization.
We also sit at the heart of two EU funded projects, Aligning Accounting Approaches for Nature (Align) and Transparent. Align is developing standardized natural capital accounting practices by establishing a standardized approach to biodiversity measurement and valuation. Transparent is working to develop standardized natural capital accounting and valuation principles for business, in line with the ambition of the European Green Deal.
What’s next?
We are clarifying and harmonizing this space to make it more accessible for businesses via our guidance ‘High-level Business Actions’ launched by the Capitals Coalition and partners. These high-level business actions provide companies with key actions they can take to signal that they are making meaningful contributions to help reverse nature loss and contribute to a nature-positive world, where positive impacts outweigh negative ones.
We also launched a joint report with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), which serves as the first step in delivering joint guidance from our community to businesses and supports high-level business actions. By building on existing frameworks and resources, we know that we can support businesses to fulfil their crucial role in the delivery of a nature-positive world. Learn more about the capitals approach and the Capitals Coalition here.
