Introducing BS 8632 - Natural capital accounting for organizations

Recorded: 15 June 2021 (14:00 - 15:30 UK time)

What’s this webinar about?

Natural capital accounting combines financial, environmental and social information to reveal an organization’s impacts and dependencies on nature. This webinar introduces the new standard: BS 8632:2021 Natural Capital Accounting for Organizations. Specification to professionals working in this field. It covers:

• Why we created this new standard
• What’s inside the standard
• What benefits it can bring
• How it can be used

Who is this webinar for?

The standard applies to organizations of all types and sectors and of any size. The event is for those who will use the standard and those who will make the decision to use it, namely:

• Finance / management accounting / investor relations / strategic planning and risk management / sustainability / environmental management teams of an organization – C-suite executives and practitioners
• Economic, environmental economic, environmental, management and evaluation consultancies
• Investors / investment managers
• Accountancy and auditing and quality assurance firms (as the practice expands)

What will you gain?

• An understanding of the benefits of natural capital accounting
• A first-hand explanation of what’s in the new standard and how to use it
• Expert insights on how natural capital accounts can be interpreted for strategic, operational and investment decisions

Agenda

Welcome and introduction - Lesley Wilson, Lead Standards Development Manager, British Standards Institution (BSI)

Benefits of a Natural Capital Accounting standard - Ece Ozdemiroglu, Founding Director, Economics for the Environment Consultancy (eftec)

BS 8632 Natural Capital Accounting - so, what’s inside the standard - Stephanie Hime, Director, Little Blue Research Ltd

Interpreting accounts and Integrating accounting - Pat Snowdon, Head of Economics and Woodland Carbon Code, Scottish Forestry

Panel discussion and Q&A session - Chaired by Ece Ozdemiroglu, Founding Director, eftec with a panel including Lesley Wilson, Lead Standards Development Manager, BSI, Stephanie Hime, Director, Little Blue Research Ltd, Pat Snowdon, Head of Economics and Woodland Carbon Code, Scottish Forestry, Marta Santamaria, Director, Capitals Coalition, Colin Smith, Economic Advisor, Defra

End of the webinar

Lesley Wilson is a Lead Standards Development Manager at BSI, the UK’s National Standards Body. She has been delivering standards solutions for business in the field of environmental management for over 10 years, working with national and international experts to create good practice for a more sustainable and secure world.

Ece Ozdemiroglu, founding director of eftec (Economics for the Environment Consultancy), is an environmental economist specialising in natural capital accounting. Her work spans many sectors including farming, forestry and water. She is a member of the Climate Change Committee – Adaptation and the convener of the British Standards Institution’s Assessing and Valuing Natural Capital expert group currently writing a standard on natural capital accounting. 

Pat has worked in forestry and land-use for 25 years. He is Head of the Economics and Woodland Carbon Code team at Scottish Forestry where his work focusses on natural capital valuation and accounting, nature-based market opportunities and financial instruments to deliver greater investment in nature. He had a central role in commissioning the first set of corporate natural capital accounts for Forestry England.

Dr Stephanie Hime is the managing director of Little Blue Research a consultancy that helps companies understand their environmental and social impacts.  She is an experienced sustainability professional with an in-depth knowledge of environmental economics and social impact analyses and their application for decision making. Stephanie is part of the Capitals Coalition Advisory Board and BSI technical Committee on Natural Capital Accounting.

Dr. Marta Santamaria is Director at the Capitals Coalition, where she is responsible of innovation to foster integration of people and nature’s values into decision making. Marta is leading Coalition’s work on standardizing of the capitals approach, as well as boosting the transformation of several sectors, including food, built environment, finance and forest. She does this work through extensive engagement with business, finance and governments. 

Marta has 20 years of experience promoting environmental economics and natural capital valuation, with special focus on the energy sector transformation. She has several advising positions and a large list of publications, with frequent public speaking interventions. 

Colin Smith is an experienced economist based in Defra’s interdisciplinary Environment Analysis Unit. He oversees the development of Defra’s guidance, Enabling a Natural Capital Approach (ENCA). His is also currently working with Natural England to develop Green Infrastructure Standards and with the Office for National Statistics to develop Natural Capital Accounts for the UK, and more generally supporting other departments and public bodies to adopt natural capital approaches.