Harnessing the power of nature to strengthen climate resilience & support wider ESG goals
The Kunming-Montreal Framework and other, recent landmark developments in climate have set milestones for integrating impacts and dependencies on nature into business decision-making. These global agreements and disclosure initiatives have spurred much research, information and guidance around nature.
Our own work is representative of this. We published the Nature Positive Playbook for Infrastructure Design with WWF and FDIC last year and a Nature Risk tool is in the works. Key to making the business case for nature integration is converting complex nature and biodiversity data into financial data — a natural capital accounting process.
Natural Capital Assessments and Accounts are the essential first step for a nature-based solution as they provide the building blocks for defining natural stocks and flows that the solution will enhance, and can provide the fiscal incentives upon which sound decisions can be taken. However, they require early engagement to allow biodiversity to influence a design.
Originally published on Environment Analyst, June 2024