Natural capital valuation

Most companies have a two-way relationship with nature. On the one hand, they can have direct impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems through their main operations or indirectly through their supply chain. And, on the flip side of the coin, many companies depend on biodiversity and the services provided by ecosystems as key inputs to their products and production processes.

The linkages and relationships of the business sector with biodiversity and ecosystem services vary between sectors. They depend on the locations, the origin of the raw materials, or the technologies used.

In general, these relationships can be grouped between impacts or dependence on ecosystem services. Regardless of the case, it is important to look beyond the direct impacts or dependencies, to consider the indirect relationships that arise throughout the value chain.

Natural Capital Valuation (NCV) is a process by which the impacts and / or dependencies related to the natural capital that companies have are identified, measured and valued.

The objective of the NCV is that, through the comprehensive analysis of the different ways in which companies relate to the environment, sufficient information is obtained to integrate natural capital as another aspect in the management of companies, with the challenge of developing a business strategy that ensures that the activities of companies do not lead to the loss or degradation of natural capital.