The value of nature is increasingly visible as business demand for natural capital grows. This demand can cause environmental events and phenomena such as water scarcity, directly linked to lower profitability. Indirect effects can include social pressure that prompts changes in demand and regulation, with little or no warning. This study builds on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Business and Enterprise and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Guide to Corporate Ecosystem Valuation by estimating in monetary terms the financial risk from natural capital that is currently unpriced, across specific business sectors at a regional level, and through supply chains. It demonstrates that opportunities from sustainable business practices can be private as well as collective, and therefore how, by taking pre-emptive action, businesses may gain a competitive advantage while meeting corporate sustainability goals.
In doing so, the study is also a tool for investors to understand the scale and distribution of natural capital risk across their portfolios; how this has, and may continue to become financial risk; and how this can be mitigated through informed asset selection.