Greening finance and green financing need environmental metrics. The opportunities offered by natural capital accounts

Nature underpins human well-being and the global economy, and its degradation affects production processes and all the value chains that depend on them. Although this link between nature, economy and finance is recognized, it is still not clear how it works. Among the major initiatives taking place around the world, the UN System for Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA) provides the perfect framework for linking a rich set of environmental information with economic accounts in a consistent and coherent way. The Integrated system for Natural Capital Accounting (INCA) project has tested and implemented SEEA in Europe. The paper uses the results of INCA to illustrate some concrete examples of how ecosystem service accounts can support (i) greening finance, to inform and improve the management of economic exposures to nature-related risks, and (ii) green financing, to raise funds to address environmental issues. This is a first but critical step towards bridging nature and economy by integrating scientific knowledge on ecosystems and their services into financial routines.