Research and analysis

Natural capital register and account tool: summary

Published 29 August 2023

Applies to England

1. Chief Scientist’s Group report summary

This project updated the Environment Agency’s Natural Capital Register and Account Tool (NCRAT) to version 1.2, to reflect the UK’s latest evidence base. NCRAT is a publicly accessible, excel-based natural capital accounting tool. It helps users establish a baseline of the natural assets in a place and the services they provide. Its outputs can change the way we see the environment and the value it gives to our lives and the economy.

To request the tool, please email: naturalcapital@environment-agency.gov.uk.

1.1 Background

A natural capital register and account presents the value, quantity, and quality of natural resources in a place. NCRAT enables users to create an account themselves and for free. It provides a view of the irreplaceable services that nature provides us. It complements other, more conventional, business case models to help stakeholders make more sustainable place-based decisions.

The Environment Agency released NCRAT version 1 in 2021. Since then, the UK’s natural capital evidence base has seen the development of new metrics and updates to reference values. As such, NCRAT needed to reflect this movement in the field to ensure that the tool continues to provide users with the best available evidence.

1.2 Approach

Natural capital experts and economists at the Environment Agency worked with Economics for the Environment Consultancy (eftec), to update NCRAT. Technical updates have included improving the available options for users to input their habitat data; updating the workbook’s calculations to reflect the latest available metrics; and maintaining alignment with Defra’s Enabling a Natural Capital Approach (ENCA). We also updated some input and output areas of the tool to improve user experience.

1.3 Results

Version 1.2 of NCRAT includes up-to-date values, references, and methods; incorporates new metrics and methods; spans a wider scope of ecosystem services; and improves usability by addressing issues identified in user feedback. Its supporting documents, including the user guide and technical report, have also been updated to reflect the changes we made to NCRAT.

Although these updates ensure that NCRAT provides users the best available outputs, a natural capital register and account will only ever reveal a partial value of the services and benefits from nature. There are some services and functions of nature, such as noise regulation and pollination, that it does not value. Additionally, NCRAT and its outputs are not designed for use in a regulatory context or for flood appraisals.

1.4 Conclusions

NCRAT version 1.2 is publicly available for stakeholders to download and use. It requires users to collect and enter data on natural assets to estimate natural capital value for a place. It automatically generates results that stakeholders can use to support decision-making by showing the links between the natural environment, the economy and society.

1.5 Publication details

This summary relates to information from project ENVWLB00460C, reported in detail in the following outputs:

• Natural Capital Register and Account Tool - Tool
• Natural Capital Register and Account Tool - Scorecard template
• Natural Capital Register and Account Tool - Quick start guide
• Natural Capital Register and Account Tool - User guide
• Natural Capital Register and Account Tool - Technical report

Project manager: Dr Gemma Kinsey, Natural Capital and Evidence Synthesis team

This project was commissioned by the Environment Agency’s Chief Scientist’s Group, which provides scientific knowledge, tools and techniques to enable us to protect and manage the environment as effectively as possible.

Enquiries: research@environment-agency.gov.uk.

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