The European Commission has provided over €2 million over the next three years to support a new collaborative campaign, We Value Nature.
The campaign has been launched during natural capital week in Paris by: The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Oppla.
All businesses depend on and impact natural capital. Through understanding and considering the risks and opportunities created by nature, businesses can make better decisions that benefit themselves, society and the planet as a whole.
Many businesses already value nature through approaches such as: Natural Capital Assessment, Natural Capital Accounting, Nature Based Solutions, green infrastructure and related ecosystem-based solutions. We Value Nature seeks to change business perceptions and make valuing nature the new normal for businesses across Europe.
We Value Nature will encourage businesses to embed the value of nature into their decision making and adopt the Natural Capital Protocol, the internationally standardised framework for the identification, measurement and valuation of natural capital impacts and dependencies to inform private sector decision making.
We Value Nature will work with the Natural Capital Coalition to ensure that leading organisations, practitioners, academics and experts avoid the duplication of activities, benefit from one another’s best practice, plug knowledge gaps, share data and IP where possible, and work collaboratively to achieve a shared vision.
Guy Duke, Project Director, said: "This is a hugely exciting and timely initiative with significant financial backing from the EU. Scaling integration of natural capital into business decision-making is vital if we are to meet sustainable development goals. We look forward to working with existing networks and platforms and above all with businesses, both large and small, and across all sectors, to make a real difference over the next 3 years."
Gerard Bos, Director Business and Biodiversity at IUCN said: “We Value Nature ambitions to be a movement leveraging on all existing networks and coalitions overcoming the current barriers leading to a wider uptake by business to value nature and integrate this in their decision making. IUCN is proud to accompany and facilitate this effort in partnership with many others.”
Richard Spencer, ICAEW Head of Sustainability, said: “The last few years has seen considerable expansion of natural capital as a concept and its rapid adoption by business. However we still need to accelerate this change in business attitude beyond these first movers. This project is about achieving just that, to gain a step change in the natural capital movement, with the Coalition at its heart, and to underpin its success.”
Peter Bakker, President and CEO, WBCSD, said: “Over many years, WBCSD has worked with key pioneers and experts to help establish frameworks, tools and processes needed for valuing impacts and dependencies on nature. We’re now entering the capacity building phase to support companies as they use the Natural Capital Protocol along with complementary approaches. To do so requires technical expertise and understanding. I look forward to strengthening the collaboration between organizations, and taking corporate natural capital performance to the next level.”
Richard Spencer, ICAEW Head of Sustainability, said: “The last few years has seen considerable expansion of natural capital as a concept and its rapid adoption by business. However we still need to accelerate this change in business attitude beyond these first movers. This project is about achieving just that, to gain a step change in the natural capital movement, with the Coalition at its heart, and to underpin its success.”
Paul Mahony, General Manager, Oppla, said: “As a young and ambitious business valuing nature is both a moral and strategic choice for Oppla. We’re delighted to collaboratively launch We Value Nature and help support more businesses make decisions which benefit themselves, society and the planet as a whole.”
We Value Nature has launched an initial website at www.wevaluenature.eu
Interested parties can register and complete a survey, which will help shape the direction of the project by mapping existing stakeholders and activities.