Initiatives
NCC - Natural Capital Coalition

About The Natural Capital Coalition

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

About The Natural Capital Coalition

Our Vision

A world where business conserves and enhances natural capital.

Our Mission

• To bring together the many approaches to natural capital under one vision, sharing and promoting best practice;

• To build the business case for integrating natural capital into decision making;

• To develop, test and encourage the use of a standardized Natural Capital Protocol and sector guides;

• To support a shift in corporate behavior to enhance rather than deplete natural capital;

• To support the evolution of an enabling policy environment and access to reliable data.

The Coalition was launched by Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Environment and Water Resources, Singapore, who stated:

...for all the significant challenges, the only way that we are going to solve them is through a coalition of all the different stakeholders. It is absolutely essential that we get the economics right and the economics has to extend to biodiversity and to the environment.

History

On November 6th 2012 international leaders from business, government and NGOs gathered in Singapore to celebrate the official launch of the TEEB The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Business Coalition Headquarters. The ceremony took place as part of the Responsible Business Forum on Sustainable Development.

The Coalition brings together global stakeholders to study and standardise methods for natural capital accounting to enable its valuation and reporting in business. This is the business application of the G8+5 and UNEP supported TEEB programme, led by Pavan Sukhdev. This provides a compelling economic case for the conservation of natural capital and is the cornerstone of current Green Economy policy.

Achim Steiner, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme states: The work of the Coalition makes another sound case for an inclusive Green Economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, and highlights an urgent need to integrate the valuation of natural capital into business practices in the vital private sector – the Business Coalition aims to do exactly that.

Activities

The Coalition’s activities focus on global stakeholder engagement, focused research and development of methods for natural capital accounting. The Coalition’s founding members have pioneered much of the science and business case for natural capital valuation and accounting, providing a credible platform to take the business application of this forward. These existing activities will be built on to ensure the necessary stakeholders from business, government, support organizations, academia and NGOs inform effective and pragmatic methods. This will maximise uptake and enable the transformative change that valuing natural capital in business can bring.