5 March 2013: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank recently hosted an event to evaluate global progress since the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) on natural capital accounting. The IFC and the Bank are members of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) for Business Coalition, which was established in November 2012 building on the original TEEB programme.

With the participation of multiple stakeholders, the event had two panels, one to discuss the public sector and the other the private sector. Discussions concentrated on past achievements and missing steps for a more efficient way to value and manage natural capital. In a business-as-usual scenario, TEEB studies indicate, 11% of the natural areas listed in 2000 could be lost by 2050.

According to the World Bank, during the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), governments, private sector and international organizations agreed on the need to further develop institutional arrangements to implement natural capital accounting; improve science-based methodologies in order to complement gross domestic product (GDP) and corporate performances measurements; and demonstrate successful cases of natural capital integration.

Other members of TEEB for Business include the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), WWF-UK, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Defra, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and private corporations. [Event Program] [TEEB for Business Coalition Website] [World Bank Press Release on Rio+20 Side Event]