As we wrap up 2025, we recognise what a huge year it’s been for the environment and for natural capital accounting around the world.
Our 10th year in business has been an exciting one, with several major projects coming to a close and the development of the new version of DATA4NATURE platform ready for launch in 2026.
Together, these projects demonstrate the important environmental work that is going on globally – from here in Melbourne, Australia, to South America, India and the United Arab Emirates.
Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve been up to.
Piloting ecosystem accounts with Melbourne Water
In October, we completed our ongoing project with Melbourne Water. On the Natural Capital for Waterways Pilot, we applied the United Nations’ System of Environmental-Economic Accounting – Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) framework to waterways across four Melbourne catchments.
This project found that there:
- are many uses for natural capital accounting data across the Melbourne Water business including assessing the economic and social benefits of restoring and protecting Melbourne’s ecosystems
- is strong alignment between Melbourne Water’s Healthy Waterway Strategy and the concepts of natural capital and ecosystem services.
Putting nature on the balance sheet
The Nature on the Balance Sheet Initiative from the Capitals Coalition has been put into practice by three groundbreaking companies: Belterra and Vale Base Metals in South America, and Manulife Investment Management in the US. Together with The Landbanking Group, we’ve been working with these companies to develop their natural capital accounts, allowing them to quantify the value of their stocks of natural capital and include this on their balance sheets.
From here, these companies will explore how to:
- recognise that value in their financial accounts
- identify value creation mechanisms
- take the next steps to leverage those mechanisms for financial and real-world benefits.
Working towards a sustainable ocean economy in India
India’s diverse coastline and abundant marine resources support a thriving blue economy and millions of livelihoods. Our work with the World Bank in India has supported the Government of India’s adoption of the ‘Vision of New India by 2030’. This vision:
- emphasises the potential of the ocean to power economic growth
- envisions increases in the contribution of established blue economy sectors from an estimated 4% to 8% of GDP.
Our work provided a national framework and a demonstration of ocean accounts to support institutional and financial solutions that can secure India’s blue natural capital and build a sustainable future for this vital contributor to the Indian economy.
Embedding natural capital accounting in the United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has become a leader in environmental conservation and sustainable development in recent years, with innovative projects and substantial investments in natural capital. The country seeks to be a world leader in environmental sustainability, pursuing an integrated vision for nature conservation and climate action.
From 2023 to 2025, we worked with 4EI and Sustain Value on a natural capital accounting project, funded by the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MoCCaE).
This project helped position the UAE to continue their journey toward sustainability by:
- building the knowledge and capacity of government institutions in the UAE to understand and apply a natural capital approach
- establishing baseline natural capital information for the UAE
- providing insights for public and private decision-makers
- developing an interactive geospatial tool that allows decision-makers to view natural capital information
- generating analysis of selected scenarios to demonstrate the potential application of data from natural capital accounts.
Developing the new online DATA4NATURE platform
Our new spatial data platform, DATA4NATURE (D4N), has made tremendous progress this year and is already proving its power and capabilities.
D4N is a purpose-built, easy-to-use digital platform that’s transforming how organisations measure, manage and report on natural capital.
Built on the SEEA, D4N sets the global standard for natural capital data management and analysis. With SEEA INSIDE, every dataset and output is automatically aligned with the international standard.
If you’d like to learn more about D4N or book a demo, please reach out to hello@data4nature.co. In the meantime, follow DATA4NATURE on LinkedIn for news, insights and platform updates.
We’re looking forward to 2026
We hope that you too have had a successful 2025 and that you’ve got a great year ahead of you in 2026.
Season’s Greetings to all our colleagues and connections from IDEEA Group.