THE REAL VALUE OF NATURAL CAPITAL Last week for the first time ever, the pressing issue of how governments can account for natural capital was discussed in the UKs House of Commons. During the debate, the Government was urged to embed the value of natural capital in the national accounts and policy making processes. Under one month to go until the inaugural World Forum on Natural Capital. The World Forum on Natural Capital is a conference which aims to shed light into why businesses and governments should start accounting for natural capital, and reporting that to shareholders and is backed by RBS and the United Nations. Natural capital is the global stock of natural assets on which businesses depend for their profitability; assets including water, soil, and geological resources such as fossil fuels and minerals. Nature provides £72 trillion worth of inputs and services that are vital to long-term business success. Accounting for natural capital is extremely important, as if businesses do not properly account for natural capital they wont know how sustainable their business models are and they wont be able to report properly to shareholders on what their impact on the environment is. As the global population grows, human activity is creating major environmental problems from pollution to overfishing. This is already having negative repercussions for businesses, for example through increased regulatory costs and rises in the cost of raw materials. Only by putting an accurate value on this so-called “natural capital” that a company depends on can it establish whether it needs to substitute one raw material for another, use more energy- efficient or water-efficient production methods or otherwise invest in a more sustainable business model. The final line-up of speakers has finally been announced, and includes: Sir Philip Hampton, Chairman, The Royal Bank of Scotland Katherine Garrett-Cox, CEO of Alliance Trust Peter Bakker, President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development David Jones, Global CEO of Havas and Co-Founder One Young World Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Pushpam Kumar, Chief Ecosystem Services Economic Unit, UNEP Monika Weber-Fahr, Director of Knowledge, Learning and Results, World Bank Jason Clay, Senior Vice President, Market Transformation, WWF Jeff Seabright, Vice President of Environment and Water Resources, the Coca Cola Company Mike Wilkins, Managing Director, Infrastructure Finance Ratings, Standard and Poor’s Richard Spencer, Head of Sustainability at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales They will be discussing why it is crucial that businesses start to put natural capital into their accounting practices as soon as possible.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 08:40:22 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015