Who is BS 8632:2021 for?
Organizations of all types, sectors and sizes that want to understand their impacts and dependencies on natural capital and to report these in a systematic way. The decision to use the standard will typically be made by:
- Investors such as fund / asset managers, and banks - to understand the impact their investment can have, and to compare the impacts across the companies they invest in
- CEOs, CFOs, Chief Sustainability Officers of organizations to link financial, environmental and socio-economic data and priorities together for more comprehensive business planning
- Operations / risk management / finance / sustainability / environmental management / investor relations teams of an organization to understand and communicate material impacts and dependencies;
- Assurance / 2nd opinion providers – to verify the process of natural capital accounting, data and assumptions used, and decision-usefulness of the outputs
What does BS 8632:2021 cover?
It provides specifications and guidance on the process of preparing natural capital accounts. It includes minimum requirements for defining the scope of an account and the material impacts and dependencies and for documenting the data and process used to prepare the natural capital account.
It prescribes two key accounting outputs of natural capital accounts – each with supporting schedules: a natural capital balance sheet (showing the organization’s dependency on the natural capital assets) and a natural capital income statement (showing the positive and negative impacts of the organization).
BS 8632 also presents the terminology, principles, steps and outputs of natural capital accounting with the aim of generating information that is useful for decision making.
Why should you use BS 8632:2021?
It enables users to undertake natural capital accounting for their organization, or for their client’s organization, using a systematic and verifiable approach that has the authority of a British Standard and avoids greenwash.
It produces outputs that are useful, comprehensive and transparent as well as comparable and replicable over time, thereby helping an organization to:
- Identify its impacts, dependencies and value chain in respect of natural capital assets, and the associated risks and opportunities
- Communicate information and implications within the organization and with external stakeholders
- Adopt more informed strategic and operational decisions by integrating natural capital accounts with the assessment of other capitals
- Monitor and evaluate the impacts and effectiveness of such decisions and changes due to external factors
BS 8632:2021 contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goal 12 on ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns.