Natural Capital for Governments: What, why and how

This paper explains what natural capital is, why it is relevant for governments, and how they can act on it. It is written to clarify and demonstrate the opportunities of implementing natural capital approaches in different policy areas. Four key messages stand out:

• Wealth and wellbeing depend on natural capital;
• Natural capital generates environmental, economic, and social returns that contribute to achieving policy ambitions, providing that policy is managing trade-offs between those returns;
• Governments have seven levers to maximise the returns that natural capital delivers; and
• Many governments already support natural capital approaches to support their ambitions and contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).