ESCoE workshop on Natural Capital Accounting
ESCoE, University College London and the Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment ran a workshop on Natural Capital Accounting on Monday 18 – Tuesday 19 August 2025 at King’s College London.
The two-day event introduced key concepts, methods, and tools to help us understand, measure, and integrate the value of nature into economic and policy decisions. Participants also got hands-on experience with a new tool currently under discussion within the UN Statistics Division (ESA CAT).
The workshop formed part of ESCoE’s natural capital accounting project and brought together participants from across academia, statistics and government, including a sixth form student. Presenters were Joe Grice (King’s College London) and Silvia Ferrini (University College London), with the participation of Alessandra La Notte (independent expert on Natural Capital Accounting).
How can we account for the value of nature?
Natural capital refers to the world’s stock of natural assets that provide goods and services essential for human survival and well-being. It includes ecosystems, species, land, water, air, minerals, and the processes that sustain life.
Natural capital accounting is a tool to measure the changes in the stock and condition of natural capital (ecosystems) at a variety of scales and to integrate the flow and value of ecosystem services into accounting and reporting systems in a standard way.
Natural capital accounting is a key focus for the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS), involving state of the art valuation methodologies and international collaboration with the United Nations Statistics Department, the World Bank and UNEP.
The ESCoE project aims to improve methodologies for the valuation of natural resources, focusing on measuring the contribution of water – an area only partially covered by traditional economic statistics.
How can we trace the history of environment and economics?
Day one of the workshop began with a session tracing the history of concepts and measurements around the environment and economics. Speakers explored how ideas around externalities, the System of National Accounts (SNA) and the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) have shaped approaches to valuing nature (more on this topic in this blog post).
What are ecosystem services and how can we define them as ‘transactions’?
The focus then turned to ecosystem services, their definition and ecological features as “transactions”. Participants examined different definitions and classifications and discussed how services provided by ecosystems connect to specific economic sectors.
How can we identify and map the supply side of ecosystem services to their uses?
In the afternoon, participants looked at the supply side of ecosystem services, using case studies to identify services and map them to direct and indirect beneficiaries. They tackled the use side, exploring how people and sectors draw on these services.
How can we value ecosystem services in monetary terms?
Day two moved into the challenge of monetary valuation of ecosystem services. Sessions introduced the supply and use table for ecosystem services and explored how the SEEA Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) framework distinguishes ecosystem contributions from human-made inputs. Participants also discussed valuation methods and considered how ecosystem accounting can inform market instruments.
How can the ESA-CAT tool support ecosystem accounting and assessment?
The next session covered accounting mechanisms themselves, looking at the interaction between ecosystems and socio-economic systems, joint production, sustainability challenges, and risks of double counting. The session also introduced the ESA-CAT tool, which is designed to establish criteria for ecosystem services assessments that are compatible with accounting structures.
After lunch, participants had the chance to run the tool, followed by a group discussion of the results. The training closed with reflections on how these methods can be taken forward in practice.
“I found the discussion about accounting boundaries particularly useful and enjoyed the overall balance between frontal lesson, discussion and group exercises.” – Workshop participant
“It was useful to discuss the key issues for natural capital accounts production with other researchers and experts. This has relevance to Office for National Statistics natural capital accounts methods development.” – Workshop participant (Office for National Statistics)
“I enjoyed being able to interact with a diverse range of individuals with varied experiences and perspectives (including academics and other professionals in the field).” – Workshop participant (Rural Solutions)
ESCoE blogs are published to further debate. Any views expressed are solely those of the author(s) and so cannot be taken to represent those of ESCoE, its partner institutions or the Office for National Statistics.