Nature in the balance: What companies can do to restore natural capital 2022
Report that examines the state of natural capital, the economic sectors depending on and affecting it, and the opportunities for companies to help reduce those demands. It marks a first attempt to identify and size the actions corporations could take to act as catalysts to return the planet to a “safe operating space for humanity.”
About Nature in the balance: What companies can do to restore natural capital 2022
Economic activity fundamentally depends on natural capital, the world’s stock of natural assets. But today, natural capital is being rapidly depleted, which has increasingly tangible consequences, from water shortages in California to a nitrogen crisis in the Netherlands. The issue is a critical one: natural capital is in decline across multiple dimensions. By one estimate, current demands require resources at least 1.8 times greater than what the Earth appears to be able to sustain at this point.1 Yet fatalism would be misplaced. One of our key findings is that while a range of economic sectors contribute to this depletion of natural capital, specific actions taken by companies using current technologies—and supported by broader enabling actions of the whole of society—could not only reverse the trend but also generate positive return on investment (ROI) in a substantial number of cases.