The Nature on the Balance Sheet Initiative from the Capitals Coalition is integrating nature into financial decisions to improve business performance, manage nature risks and opportunities and support global economic stability.
IDEEA Group partnered with The Landbanking Group to develop natural capital accounts for three future focussed companies; Belterra, Vale Based Metals (VBM) and Manulife Investment Management.
As the projects’ technical expert, IDEEA Group’s natural capital accounts will support these companies to recognise their natural capital value in their financial accounts, identify new value creation mechanisms from their natural capital and take the next steps to leverage those mechanisms for financial and ecosystem benefits.
In a detailed analysis of the project, the World Resources Institute describes each company as follows:
- Belterra, founded in 2020, works with smallholder farmers in Brazil’s Amazon and Atlantic forests to shift degraded pastureland to biodiverse agroforestry systems that improve productivity and resilience, such as for cacao production, while supporting local ecosystems.
- VBM is exploring how putting nature on the balance sheet can reinforce its existing commitments under the Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the International Council on Mining and Metals by treating natural capital as an intangible asset that safeguards the long-term viability of mining operations.
- Manulife Investment Management is one of the world’s largest natural capital investment managers, with over $11.5 billion in timber assets across 5 million acres of timberland as of 2024. Manulife piloted natural capital accounting to demonstrate how nature contributes to long-term asset performance.