
- When: 11am - 1pm, Thursday 3rd May 2018
- Where: Botany Lecture Theatre, Botany Department, Trinity College Dublin
- Speakers: Carl Obst (IDEEA Group), Gerry Brady (CSO)
- Registration: Free, but registration is required. Please RSVP to naturalcapitalireland@gmail.com
About the Workshop:
Accounting for natural capital is a rapidly emerging area of work across business and government. At government level, much work is being driven through the implementation of the new United Nations standard, the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA), which covers accounting for environmental flows (such as water and energy), natural resources (minerals, timber, fish), environmental activities, and biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services. For businesses, work is being driven through the application of the Natural Capital Protocol (NCP) established in 2016 through the Natural Capital Coalition. The NCP provides a standardised pathway for businesses to engage in a discussion on the relevance of natural capital.
These significant advances have developed through somewhat independent processes but are increasingly connecting as the reality bites that our natural capital must be managed through the joint action of business, government and the community. Accounting is providing a framework through which these different sectors can engage and is also a platform on which different disciplines – natural scientists, economists, geographers, statisticians and many others – can exchange perspectives. The Natural Capital Coalition’s Combining Forces initiative is leading a range of engagement in this cross-sector space.
This workshop aims to introducing the latest thinking in natural capital accounting, outline Ireland's progress to date and explore the relevance of this approach to the National Planning Framework. It will explain key ideas (including some mythbusting), place different pieces of work in context and provide an open forum for attendees to pose questions and engage in debate. It is open to people from all sectors, disciplines and roles, including both measurement technicians and users of information in decisions. Attendance is free, but spaces are limited - please RSVP to naturalcapitalireland@gmail.com.
Speakers
Carl Obst
Director at the Institute for Development of Environmental-Economic Accounting (IDEEA Group)
Carl was the lead author and editor of the United Nation’s System of
Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) – the international standard for government work on accounting for natural capital. This work built on a long career at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, including five years as head of the Australian national accounts. In addition to advancing the development of measurement frameworks for assessing the sustainability of sectors such as tourism and agriculture, Carl is a leading player in closing the gap between national and corporate natural capital accounting approaches.

Senior Statistician - Environment Statistics and Accounts at the Central Statistics Office (CSO)
Gerry has worked in a variety of areas within the CSO including: Tourism and Transport; Agriculture; Social Statistics integration; and External Trade. In February 2015 he was assigned the role of senior statistician in a newly-created Environment Statistics and Accounts Division. The new division is mainly engaged in meeting Eurostat legal reporting requirements for six environmental economic accounts modules (Environmental Taxes; Material Flow Accounts; Air Emissions; Environmental
Protection Expenditure; Environmental Goods and Services Sector; and Physical Energy Flow Accounts); and compiling basic environmental statistics in areas such as business energy use and waste generation by enterprises. The division has recently started work on compiling statistics on forestry, fisheries, and land cover and land use using existing administrative and statistical data.