The future of economic reporting: ecosystem services and biodiversity in government and corporate accounting

Abstract

An intact, species-rich natural environment forms the basis for human life. It provides clean water, nourishment and sufficient space for a wide variety of activities and experiences. However, while the services provided by functioning ecosystems are recognised in environmental reports, the factor of natural capital has to date hardly played any role in economic calculations and company balance sheets. It is vital that public and corporate reporting systems take account of natural assets and ecosystem services because this is the only way to ensure that they are given sufficient consideration in political and economic decision-making processes. The introduction of this new and transparent form of economic reporting is also being called for and supported internationally by the United Nations, the World Bank and the European Commission. Against this background, our article looks at the question of how biodiversity and ecosystem services can be incorporated into economic reporting at governmental and corporate level. It was written as part of the project “Appreciating biodiversity – modernising economic accounting in Germany” (Bio-Mo-D), whose aim is to provide a range of actors from business, politics and society at large with information to enable them to make integrated, ecologically sustainable decisions – and thus to demand and support a greater appreciation of nature, measurable via key indicators on biological diversity and ecosystem services. In the following, we first provide an overview of information sources and data products for ecosystem accounts available at national level in Germany. We focus on Germany, but in an EU and global context. The results of these accounting systems, which can be integrated into political and economic decision-making, should be easily understood by the general public and provide a basis for scientific analyses. As “flow” variables, information on ecosystem services contributes to societal well-being by improving decision-making processes, in particular, by demanding and supporting a greater appreciation of nature, measurable via biodiversity and ecosystem service indicators. A new paradigm is emerging both in companies globally and within European regulations, namely the explicit consideration of nature and its services as the basis for holistic corporate reporting, management and financing. As impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems, as well as interdependencies between ecosystem services, can be highly specific, depending on the sector, company activity and location, more detailed, sector-specific information will be needed in the future – ideally also from national accounting. Finally, we look at which institutions and actors can influence the field of action and discuss how the process of expanding economic reporting to include natural capital can be viewed as a “social innovation”. We postulate that ecosystem data and indicators are relevant to economic policy because they open up room for manoeuvre and can be used to identify solution pathways. They help national authorities and institutions as well as lower tier authorities identify potential conflicts of interest when planning areas relevant to nature conservation, to justify decisions on the conservation of natural capital and to communicate these to stakeholders and the wider public.