8 July 2014: The Natural Capital Coalition (NCC) has selected two consortia, which will be managed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), to develop a framework to help businesses understand and manage their impacts and dependencies on the natural environment.

The two consortia will devise an open-source framework by harmonizing a range of methodologies in consultation with leading NGOs and business, accountancy, consultancy, and financial institutions.

The framework, to be called the Natural Capital Protocol (NCP), is intended to be a “game-changer” in making the business case for sustainability. The consortium led by the WBCSD will develop the NCP by focusing on the harmonization of methodologies for measuring and valuing natural capital in collaboration with partners that include Accenture, The Nature Conservancy, the World Resources Institute, the World Wildlife Foundation-US, and Conservation International.

The IUCN-led consortium, which includes Ernst and Young, the University of Cambridge, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), will then use the NCP to create two sector-specific guides on apparel as well as on food and beverage. It will also maintain a central hub to pilot the Protocol with global businesses in preparation for a fully-tested release in December 2015.

The NCC is a global, multi-stakeholder platform for developing methods for natural and social capital valuation in business. The initiative was first launched as The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) for Business Coalition in November 2012. [Natural Capital Coalition Press Release] [IISD RS Story on Launch of TEEB Business Coalition]