New Era For Environment And Business With Launch Of Natural Capital Protocol

The Natural Capital Protocol is launched in London today, which aims to enable business to assess and improve the management of their direct and indirect interactions with natural capital. It provides clear guidance to assist them in measuring their dependence and the impact on natural assets such as raw materials such as timber, freshwater and natural infrastructure, for example, floodplains.

The Protocol will support companies in their decision-making and can be used for a range of applications, including risk management, exploring new revenue streams, improving products and value chain innovation, as well as preparing for future reporting and disclosure.

WWF is one of the partners of the Natural Capital Coalition which developed the Protocol, with Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International, Carter Roberts, CEO WWF-US, and David Nussbaum, CEO WWF-UK all signing the endorsement statement of the Protocol.

The Natural Capital Coalition will now shift its focus from designing the Protocol to scaling uptake and enabling implementation.

Karen Ellis, Chief Adviser on Economics and Development at WWF-UK commented:

“The launch of the Natural Capital Protocol heralds a new era in the way that we maintain and enhance our planet’s environment.

The Protocol can help to secure more sustainable patterns of growth in the global economy, and help to chart a much clearer course towards a resource-efficient, low carbon future.

“Now more than ever, we face a growing risk because our natural assets are being depleted for short-term gains. And this is having significant costs: from growing resource scarcity, water shortages and soil erosion affecting the production of food, to increased threat of flooding and other natural disasters, and the health and productivity costs of air pollution, these issues must be addressed as a matter of urgency.

That is why we at WWF are supporting the Protocol to ensure a greener, cleaner and more resilient planet, not only for ourselves but to ensure the ongoing prosperity of future generations. The Protocol will enable companies to understand and manage their risks, as well as giving them an opportunity to explore new revenue streams. We look forward to seeing wide scale uptake and implementation.”