The Protocol is applicable to any business sector, operating in any geography, at any organizational level. It allows you to measure, value and integrate natural capital into your existing business processes. It does this through a standard framework that covers four stages; “Why”, “What”, “How” and “What Next”. These Stages are further broken down into nine Steps, which contain specific questions to be answered when integrating natural capital into your business processes. Although set out in a linear way, the Protocol is iterative and allows users to adjust and adapt their approach as they progress through the framework.

There are many existing approaches that businesses will be using to measure and value their impacts and dependencies, inform their decision making and strategy, and engage with stakeholders. The Natural Capital Protocol is complementary to all of these and provides a standardized framework to help include natural capital in decision-making.

While there are national level accounting initiatives such as the UN System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) implemented by governments, through for example, the World Bank led Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) global partnership, the Natural Capital Protocol is focused at a business decision-making level and can be implemented across boundaries.

What is natural capital? - http://naturalcapitalcoalition.org/natural-capital/