The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) last week released a new toolkit to help businesses assess, measure and value the natural capital used throughout their operations.
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) last week released a new toolkit to help businesses assess, measure and value the natural capital used throughout their operations.
Revealed in a report titled Eco4Biz: Ecosystem services and biodiversity tools to support business decision-making, the Eco4Biz toolkit is meant to serve as a “one-stop resource kit” to help environmental managers and companies navigate and choose from a range of available tools to better understand how they rely on nature, in hopes of yielding more informed and better sustainability decisions.
The toolkit was developed through a partnership with both WBCSD member and non-member companies and several organizations, which included tool designers, NGOs, academic institutes, tool developers and other business organizations.
“Assessing the impact and dependence on nature and natural capital may be complex, but it can also pay very good long-term dividends, both for the company bottom line and for our global environment,“ said Eva Zabey, WBCSD Manager, Ecosystems and Natural Capital.
Eco4Biz features a decision tree, which helps cluster tools around the scale of assessment that an organization may need and the type of outputs the organization would prefer. Tools are identified as primarily focusing either on ecosystem services such as provisioning, regulating and cultural services, or biodiversity. The toolkit will be updated on a regular basis to keep pace with developments as more companies proactively measure, manage and mitigate their impact and dependence on nature.
“Directly or indirectly, all companies rely on natural resources to help them produce goods and services,” said Zabey. “Forward-thinking companies are committing themselves to better understanding the impact that nature has on their bottom lines. They are also seeking better metrics into the risks and opportunities they face.”
Earlier this month, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants released a paper claiming that companies have a responsibility to protect the environment and the loss of natural capital exposes the private sector to a range of risks and opportunities. The paper is based on the results of a survey of more than 200 accountancy professionals, which investigated the concept of materiality — how it is used to identify issues for management and disclosure and the extent to which it reflects the significance of natural capital as a business issue.
Published Apr 21, 2013 3pm EDT / 12pm PDT / 8pm BST / 9pm CEST
Managing Director, Sustainability & Social Impact
Deutsche Bank
Mike Hower is a sustainability communicator and connector committed to helping purpose-driven businesses and people unlock their full potential for positive impact. As founder and principal consultant at Hower Impact, he works with companies to translate sustainability strategy into stories that inform, engage and inspire investors, customers, employees, regulators and other stakeholders in the service of social, environmental and business goals. Through his Impact Hired initiative, he works to connect and engage corporate sustainability professionals at all stages of their careers.
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