Multiple capitals decision making framework

To help Yorkshire Water meet their vision to ‘take responsibility for the water environment for good’, we supported implementation of a class-leading investment decision making framework (DMF) which sets financial valuation methods for all capitals, including natural, social and human capital. The framework enables Yorkshire Water to make more informed investment decisions across their entire asset base, producing an optimal investment and maintenance programme to sustain Yorkshire Water’s level of service at a predetermined level of risk and budget.

Whole life costs encompassing both capital expenditure, operational expenditure, wider capitals, such as social, environmental and human, and customer willingness to pay were defined. This included the performance outcomes achieved and their associated costs and benefits. The plan was developed for a 25-year horizon, taking into consideration future requirements and demands to achieve a range of outcomes closely linked to Yorkshire Water’s performance commitments.

Using the DMF, we are helping Yorkshire Water make informed decisions about the management of its land. By opening up some of the 280,000,000 square meters of land it owns to the public, Yorkshire Water hopes to encourage people to spend more time being active outdoors, protect the environment and inspire younger generations to enjoy nature. To achieve these goals and make better decisions benefiting customers, Yorkshire Water is using the capitals approach developed for the DMF to quantify and communicate the environmental and social impacts of its actions. As part of this we have developed an innovative tool that compares the impacts of various land management decisions across the capitals.

Drawing on the latest scientific evidence, our tool provides a cutting-edge approach to measuring and valuing impacts. The tool was piloted in the ‘Little Don’ area in South Yorkshire to guide the site’s redevelopment as a recreational hub by comparing five scenarios for different blends of use. The results demonstrated the pros and cons of each scenario, and the existence of important trade-offs between the goals of encouraging visitor diversity, protecting biodiversity and creating employment opportunities. We are now using the tool with Yorkshire Water following stakeholder engagement to help it meet similar land management goals across all its landholdings.