The Natural Capital Coalition, in partnership with several organisations including the national Department of Environmental Affairs, the African Centre for Technology Studies and the Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership at the University of Pretoria (UP), is organising a Natural Capital Protocol Workshop at the 8th Ecosystem Services Partnership Conference to be held in November 2015.

The goal of the workshop is to gain insight in the draft protocol and associated sector guides before they are released for consultation.

The overall vision of the Natural Capital Protocol (NCP) is to transform the way business operates through understanding and incorporating its impact and dependency on natural capital. The intent is not to invent new methods, but to build on those already in existence, to fill the gaps, and to enable a period of experimentation in the market via different sectors and geographies. This will yield lessons to be learnt and make it possible to better understand current gaps. It is anticipated that the resulting framework would be the starting point for future standards.

Dr Joël Houdet, a research fellow at the Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership, is one of the authors of the NCP and will take part in the workshop. He believes the aim of the NCP is to enable business to assess and better manage their direct and indirect interactions with natural capital.

The NPC will provide clear guidance on qualitative, quantitative and monetary valuation of the impact of and dependency on natural capital, and be so constructed as to be of use in different business applications. It will also provide guidance on the applicability of the protocol at different organisational levels in the value chain, and be applicable to all business sectors across all geographies.

As a co-host and partner of the workshop, the Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership will support companies in their decision-making, guide them in matters such as risk management, exploring new revenue streams, improving products and value chain innovation, and prepare them for future reporting and disclosure.

Click here for more information on the Natural Capital Protocol Workshop