Ambio: A Journal of the Human Environment
Jul 26, 2022
From COVID-19 to Green Recovery with natural capital accounting
Michael Vardon, Paul Lucas, Steve Bass, Matthew Agarwala, Andrea M. Bassi, Diane Coyle, Anthony Dvarskas, Catherine A. Farrell, Oliver Greenfield, Steven King, Martin Lok, Carl Obst, Brian O’Callaghan, Rosimeiry Portela, Juha Siikamäki
The COVID-19 pandemic and related social and economic emergencies induced massive public spending and increased global debt. Economic recovery is now an opportunity to rebuild natural capital alongside financial, physical, social and human capital, for long-term societal benefit. Yet, current decision-making is dominated by economic imperatives and information systems that do not consider society’s dependence on natural capital and the ecosystem services it provides. New international standards for natural capital accounting (NCA) are now available to integrate environmental information into government decision-making. By revealing the effects of policies that influence natural capital, NCA supports identification, implementation and monitoring of Green Recovery pathways, including where environment and economy are most positively interlinked.