Natural Capital Coalition

Natural Capital Coalition
Name	Natural Capital Coalition
Formation	2012
Type	Non-profit consortium
Headquarters	London
Region served	Global
Purpose	Development of Natural Capital Protocol and tools for business decision-making

Natural Capital Coalition The Natural Capital Coalition was a multi-stakeholder consortium that developed standardized approaches for businesses and institutions to measure and value natural capital. It brought together corporations, environmental NGOs, financial institutions, and research organisations to produce the Natural Capital Protocol and associated guidance, aiming to integrate natural capital considerations into corporate strategy and risk management. The Coalition operated as a nexus linking conservation initiatives with corporate sustainability efforts and international policy frameworks.

Overview and mission

The Coalition's stated mission was to harmonise methodologies used by World Wide Fund for Nature, International Union for Conservation of Nature, The Nature Conservancy, UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative, and corporate actors such as Unilever, Nestlé, HSBC, and Anglo American to mainstream natural capital into decision-making. It sought to bridge practitioners from KPMG, PwC, Trucost, and Ecosystem Services Partnership with academic groups at University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, and London School of Economics. The Coalition promoted tools compatible with standards developed by Global Reporting Initiative, Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

History and development

The Coalition was established in 2012 after consultations involving Convention on Biological Diversity delegates, representatives from European Commission, and leaders from the Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability Project. Early funding and governance support came from foundations such as The Rockefeller Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and Oak Foundation, and from corporate funding by E.ON and Aviva. The group organised pilot projects with commodity sectors active in Amazon Rainforest supply chains, the Mekong River basin, and the Great Barrier Reef catchments. Over successive working groups it synthesised guidance from initiatives including Corporate Ecosystem Services Review, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, and national ecosystem assessment programmes in United Kingdom and Netherlands.

Natural Capital Protocol

The Coalition’s flagship deliverable, the Natural Capital Protocol, was unveiled following multi-stakeholder consultation with advisors from McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, and researchers at Yale University, Imperial College London, and Stockholm Resilience Centre. The Protocol provided a framework with stages for scope, measure, value, and apply, drawing on valuation techniques used in Cost-Benefit Analysis in public policy and financial assessment used by International Finance Corporation. Complementary sector supplements targeted industries such as agriculture, forestry, apparel, and extractives, informed by case studies involving Cargill, Rio Tinto, and IKEA. The Protocol emphasised aligning outputs with reporting frameworks like CDP and investor guidance from PRI.

Governance and partnerships

Governance structures included a steering committee with seats occupied by representatives from Conservation International, WWF US, Ecosystem Marketplace, and corporate partners including Marks & Spencer and Barclays. The Coalition partnered with academic consortia such as Natural Capital Project at Stanford University and policy institutions like OECD and United Nations Development Programme. Regional collaborations involved IUCN Regional Offices, national ministries in Brazil, China, and South Africa, and engagement with standard-setting bodies such as International Organization for Standardization working groups and national accounting initiatives aligned with System of Environmental-Economic Accounting.

Implementation and applications

Adopters applied the Protocol across supply chain risk assessments in sectors tied to the Congo Basin, watershed restoration projects in California, and biodiversity offset planning near Kakadu National Park. Financial institutions used the framework in portfolio screening by teams at Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and Standard Chartered. NGOs and certification bodies such as Forest Stewardship Council and Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil referenced Protocol concepts in producer guidance. Tools and models from the Coalition were integrated with software products from Esri, OpenNESS, and research platforms at CIFOR.

Criticisms and controversies

Critics from networks including Friends of the Earth, academics at University of Cambridge and University of Sussex, and activists around the Standing Rock protests argued that monetising nature risked commodifying intrinsic values and enabling greenwashing. Economists aligned with Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung and commentators in The Guardian questioned the robustness of valuation methods and the transferability of results across social contexts such as indigenous territories in Papua New Guinea or pastoral systems in Kenya. Some corporate adopters were accused by civil society groups including Greenpeace of selective implementation that avoided addressing systemic drivers linked to trade agreements like Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations. Debates also involved compatibility with human rights safeguards promoted by UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Impact and legacy

The Coalition influenced mainstreaming of natural capital in corporate reporting, shaping subsequent initiatives by Natural Capital Finance Alliance, the Focusing Capital on the Long Term movement, and national accounting reforms in United Kingdom and Netherlands. Its Protocol informed academic curricula at Harvard University and London Business School and contributed to methodological convergence used by investors engaging through Climate Action 100+ and Investor Group on Climate Change. While contested, the Coalition accelerated dialogue among World Bank, IMF, multilateral development banks, and private sector actors about integrating ecosystem services into valuation and risk assessment, leaving a mixed but enduring imprint on the practice of environmental valuation and corporate sustainability.

Category:Environmental organizations Category:Non-profit organisations based in the United Kingdom