Activities

On December 1st, SweSIF (the Swedish Forum for Responsible Investment) and NMC (The Swedish Association for Sustainable Business) arranged a seminar on how governments, business and investors better can account for the natural world. Cecilia Repinski, Science Impact Advisor at GEDB, was one of the speakers along with Klas Eklund, author and senior economist at the Swedish bank SEB, Daniel Dellham at KPMG and Eva Lindebäck Brandt at Volvo. 

See interview with Cecilia (in Swedish) by SweSIF on the subject:

Cecilia spoke about natural capital accounting in the Anthropocene. For the last 50 years we have experienced great socio-economic development. Unfortunately, during this time period about 60% of the Earth’s natural capital have been degraded. This presents a whole new set of business risks and opportunities for companies including their owners and other stakeholders. New markets are emerging driven by new regulations and consumer demands, new risks, such as higher cost of input and increased competition for resources, and new products and services, such as sustainable technologies and solutions.

All businesses depend upon and impact the biosphere (either directly or indirectly though their supply chain or customers). Yet, very few systematically account for these linkages. This is because many of nature’s benefits are invisible to decision makers. Cecilia spoke about how to account for natural capital and presented how different actors ranging from companies and investors to accountants and credit rating institutes are starting to integrate natural capital into their operations. By accounting for natural capital, businesses can identify and better manage risk, cut costs and harness business opportunities.