Nature at the heart of decision-making

NATURE-INCORE

Nature-Incore, promoted by Ecoacsa, is a project that aims to train sustainability and environmental professionals and SME managers in the natural capital approach so that they can incorporate it into the company's daily decision-making process, through information and training on concepts, knowledge and tools

CONTEXT

The European Commission, through the European Green Deal and the new Biodiversity Strategy, is promoting the incorporation of biodiversity at the heart of all EU policies and is leading the debate at international level within the framework of the negotiations on the future new global framework for biodiversity post-2020 of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

 

This commitment to mainstreaming biodiversity in EU policies so that it is no longer ignored in decision-making is translating into a tightening of regulatory requirements in this area and greater demands on the business sector in terms of transparency. Similarly, the financial sector is progressively increasing its demand for information on the environmental performance of companies and, in particular, on biodiversity.

 

As the main users of natural resources, companies must assume their responsibility and promote models that translate into a positive impact on the natural environment by reducing their footprint and adopting measures that are favourable to nature.

 

In addition to this requirement, the way in which companies measure and report their impact on society is undergoing a progressive transformation. Specifically, this is evolving from reporting information on material consumption, emissions or effluents to reporting information on how they measure and evaluate their impact on people and the natural environment in economic terms. 

 

In this context, a good understanding of the relationship between business and nature is key. A clear understanding of how and to what extent development activities impact on nature and how they depend on the resources and services it provides, exploring how these benefits might vary under different management scenarios, and integrating this information into decisions in a practical way will contribute to an improvement in the state of biodiversity and human well-being by motivating more sustainable, cost-effective and positive decisions and investments with nature and for all.   

 

This is aided by the natural capital approach, which in recent years is gaining traction by offering a holistic approach to the relationship between development activities and nature in ecological, social and economic terms. This differential approach provides tools that facilitate the quantification of the impact that businesses have on the natural environment and how they depend on it, as well as the opportunities derived from an appropriate management of natural capital through economic metrics (natural capital valuation). It also provides insight into how the relationship between organisations and nature has evolved over the years (natural capital accounting) to understand the contribution nature makes to the real economy.

 

In order to facilitate a better understanding within companies of the implications of managing their relationship with the natural environment and the opportunities arising from it, Nature-Incore offers a guidance and training framework for employees interested in introducing or deepening their knowledge of the natural capital approach. The programme will be adapted to the needs, knowledge and application requirements of each participant.

In support to the SDGs and other

global commitments

The Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, as well as other global commitments such as the Paris Agreement and the draft of the new global biodiversity framework 2021-2030 challenge companies, investors and financial sector representatives alike to measure and manage their impact on people and the planet (positive and negative, direct and indirect).

 

These global challenges provide common ground for companies and organisations of all types, regardless of their size and where they operate, and affect both public and private capital markets. They require a common effort to achieve a shared set of goals and indicators, within which companies and investors can differentiate and communicate their roles based on their social and environmental goals and performance.

 

The natural capital approach supports organisations to understand and improve their performance in relation to the SDGs and other climate and biodiversity commitments.

Why is it important to be trained in the natural capital approach?

Both people and development-related activities depend on natural capital to support life, economies and societies, but its value is often overlooked in decision-making.

 

The health of nature is under pressure from rising trends in population growth, consumption and economic growth around the world. This creates long-term risks for businesses, consumers and society at large.

 

Against this backdrop, there is a paradigm shift in the way we understand business, the economy and our relationship with nature that is here to stay. For this reason, it is becoming increasingly necessary to provide the business sector with the specific knowledge to adapt to this transformation, as well as the tools to carry it out.

 

Nature-Incore is a training programme designed to help sustainability and environmental professionals at all organisational levels and representatives of corporate management teams to:

GET TO KNOW

what does the current ecological crisis mean for their business.

Identify

what knowledge and training gaps exist in their organisations on natural capital, ecosystem services, biodiversity and sustainability.

Establish

the extent to which natural capital approaches have been applied in their organisations and to determine next steps.

DEEPEN

the understanding of the relationship between your supply chain, your value chain and nature.

Get started or learning more

about capital and ecosystem services approaches, with a special emphasis on the importance of biodiversity-related aspects.

Determine

the organisation's motivations for applying the natural capital approach, explore its applications, set objectives according to its needs and define which tools are the most appropriate for its reality.

Explore

how they can systematise procedures and use different techniques and tools to improve the professional skills of their staff in the application of natural capital approaches to support the transition towards a model for measuring sustainability.

Keep up to date

on the latest initiatives working to help the private sector improve its performance and reporting against the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda and global biodiversity commitments.

Contribute to responding

to broader national or regional biodiversity-related challenges by defining potential project implementation proposals and innovative ideas through mainstreaming natural capital in decision-making, collaborative strategies, natural capital white papers or other actions.

This project is funded by the Fundación Biodiversidad of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), through the Empleaverde Programme, an initiative for the promotion and improvement of employment, entrepreneurship and the environment. It is co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) in the framework of the Operational Programme for Employment, Training and Education 2014-2020. 

Online learning course on incorporating natural capital into business culture

Social innovation action in the face of the challenges of incorporating natural capital into business culture

With the financial support from

Free actions co-financed by the ESF

 

 to achieve training and quality employment

 

Image: Header (Chris Pagan in Unsplash