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What is natural capital accounting?

Accounting for our environment

Australia's environment is fundamental to our quality of life and prosperity. Every day it provides us with goods and ecosystem services, such as clean air, fresh water, food and fibre. Natural capital accounting, also known as environmental-economic accounting, is a framework for integrating economic and environmental data to better understand our environmental assets. It helps us to describe changes in ecosystems and how these impact our well-being and our economy.

Natural capital accounting is important to the private and public sectors because nature underpins our economic growth, but it is currently left out of the tools that businesses and governments use to inform their decisions. Our researchers are helping to standardise how to report our interactions with nature so companies and governments can better understand how their activities affect and depend on nature, and more confidently report these to shareholders and the public.

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Resources

A practical guide to corporate natural accounting

As pressure increases to integrate nature protection and restoration into all aspects of policy and business operations, how can organisations better measure and report on their interactions with nature?

Download the handbook

Our work with government

We work with partners to build regional and national environmental-economic accounts and integrate them into public and private decision-making,to help harmonise reporting across sectors and jurisdictions.

Ecological Knowledge System

The Australian Government is developing a nature repair market to make it easier for businesses, organisations, governments and individuals to invest in projects to protect, manage and restore nature. Collecting, sharing and maintaining reliable and trusted environmental information will be essential for the integrity and success of the market.

Habitat Condition Assessment

How can we measure the condition of Australia’s habitats without seeing them in person?

Experimental ecosystem accounts for the Gunbower-Koondrook-Perricoota

Linking environmental and economic information to better understand the contribution of this forest icon site to our wellbeing and prosperity.

Our work with industry

We work with industry and research and development partners to apply natural capital accounting at scales from enterprises to regions. Natural capital accounting can help industries measure and report their environmental performance and track it against their economic information, improving their decision making and justifying investments in nature.

Natural Capital Handbook

Guiding Australian businesses towards nature positive

Assessing the economic benefits of maintaining natural capital on farms

Developing a methodology for assessing the impacts of biodiversity conservation activities on agriculture under a changing climate.

Pathways to a carbon neutral red meat industry

Natural capital accounting is helping Australia's red meat and livestock industry measure and monitor its carbon and natural capital outcomes. This will support the industry's progress towards its carbon neutrality targets, and facilitate access to emerging carbon and biodiversity markets.

Our work with communities

Increasingly, communities seek to better understand relevant ecosystem-related values as they work towards a sustainable and prosperous future. Weaving local and Indigenous knowledge with western scientific knowledge can support better decision making and better recognise the important contributions that Indigenous and regional communities make towards Australia’s environment and economy.

Valuing ecosystem services of urban forests and open spaces

An environmental valuation of alternative long-term management strategies for living infrastructure in Canberra, Australia.

Methods, models, data and tools

Biogeographic modelling Infrastructure for Large-scale Biodiversity Indicators (BILBI)

A modelling and prediction tool for reporting on biodiversity at a fine spatial resolution globally.

Australian Ecosystems Models Framework

A set of dynamic ecosystem models to describe the dynamic characteristics and drivers of Australian ecosystems in unmodified and modified states.

Biodiversity co-benefits calculator

A tool to quantify the biodiversity co-benefits of land management actions such as carbon farming - at any scale - anywhere in Australia.

Landscape options and opportunities for carbon abatement calculator (LOOC-C)

A software tool that allows land managers to quickly assess the greenhouse gas abatement options for a specific land area.

Indicators of biodiversity change

A suite of biodiversity indicators to report on recent changes in biodiversity, from local to global scales.

BLOG

What nature is worth: the rise of natural capital accounting

Can Australia’s natural riches be quantified in economic terms? And if they can, should it prompt Australians to look afresh at the value of the country’s forests, waterways and biodiversity?

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Read more about our work in environment

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