The Environment Consultant

Regional Natural Capital Risk Register for East Anglia, taken from Turner et al., 2019.

Nature-related risks have gained prominence as economic activity increasingly depends on ecosystems whose condition is deteriorating under cumulative human and climatic pressures.

Despite growing awareness of biodiversity loss, water scarcity, and land degradation, many organisations continue to address these issues through fragmented assessments or narrative disclosures that remain disconnected from formal risk management processes.

This disconnect has limited the ability of decision-makers to understand how changes in natural systems translate into operational, financial, and strategic risks.

The objective of this article is to explain the Nature Capital Risk Register as a structured instrument designed to address this gap by systematically identifying, documenting, and organising nature-related risks within an enterprise risk management context.

Definition: Nature-Related Risk

Natural capital is defined as the stock of natural assets, including ecosystems, species, soil, water, and atmosphere, that generate flows of benefits supporting economic activity and human wellbeing. These benefits, often described as ecosystem services, include provisioning services such as food and raw materials, regulating services such as flood control and climate regulation, and supporting services such as nutrient cycling.

Nature-related risk arises when changes in the quantity, quality, or spatial distribution of natural capital affect the achievement of organisational objectives. Such risks may manifest through physical pathways, where ecosystem degradation disrupts operations, or through transitional pathways, where policy, legal, or market responses to environmental decline alter business conditions.

Reputational and liability risks also emerge where environmental harm affects stakeholder trust or triggers legal action. These risk pathways are frequently interrelated and may intensify over time, reflecting the non-linear dynamics of ecological systems.

Purpose of a Risk Register

A Nature Capital Risk Register is a formal record of nature-related risks faced by an organisation, structured to support analysis, prioritisation, and oversight. It adapts the logic of conventional risk registers to the specific characteristics of natural systems, which are spatially explicit, interconnected, and subject to thresholds beyond which change may be abrupt or irreversible.

The primary purpose of the register is to translate ecological dependencies (=services) and impacts into clearly articulated risk statements. These statements describe causal relationships linking changes in natural capital to potential consequences for operations, assets, supply chains, or financial performance.

This translation enables nature-related risks to be considered alongside other strategic and operational risks rather than treated as isolated environmental concerns. The register provides a consistent framework for expressing nature-related risks in terms that align with existing risk governance practices.

Key Concepts

Several concepts underpin the effective design of a Nature Capital Risk Register.

• Materiality provides a basis for focusing on risks that could substantively influence organisational objectives, recognising that not all ecological changes carry equal significance for every entity.
• Spatial scale is critical because nature-related risks are often location-specific, with impacts varying according to local ecosystem conditions and management regimes.
• Time horizon also plays an important role, as some risks emerge gradually and may not align with short-term planning cycles.

Uncertainty is an inherent feature of nature-related risk, arising from limitations in ecological data and the complexity of system interactions. Risk registers address this uncertainty through qualitative assessments informed by scientific evidence, expert judgement, and scenario analysis. This approach supports structured decision-making without requiring precise quantification of all variables.

Approach for Risk Identification and Documentation

The development of a Nature Capital Risk Register typically begins with the identification of key natural capital assets upon which an organisation depends or which it affects. This process draws on environmental assessments, geographic information, and supply chain analysis to establish where interactions with ecosystems occur. Risks are then articulated through defined pathways that connect environmental change to organisational outcomes.

Each risk is documented in a standardised format that records its driver, potential impact, and current management measures. Likelihood and consequence are assessed using scales consistent with broader risk management frameworks, allowing comparison across risk categories. The use of consistent terminology and documentation standards facilitates aggregation and reporting at different organisational levels.

Integration within Risk Management and Governance

Within enterprise risk management, the Nature Capital Risk Register functions as a bridge between environmental analysis and corporate governance. When integrated into existing risk review cycles, it enables nature-related risks to be monitored, escalated, and reassessed over time.

This integration supports coherence between environmental objectives and strategic decision-making, particularly where nature-related risks interact with climate, regulatory, or market risks.

Governance arrangements often determine the effectiveness of the register. Clear ownership of risks and defined review processes help ensure that the register remains current and relevant as environmental conditions and organisational activities evolve. The register thus operates as a dynamic management tool rather than a static inventory.

Lanscape of Risks Disclosures

The use of Nature Capital Risk Registers continues to evolve in response to advances in ecological science, data availability, and nature-related disclosure frameworks. Methodological challenges persist, particularly in capturing cumulative impacts and systemic interactions across landscapes and value chains. Ongoing refinement of concepts, data sources, and analytical techniques is shaping how these registers are applied in practice.

As organisations deepen their engagement with nature-related risk, the Nature Capital Risk Register remains a mechanism for structuring information and supporting informed oversight. Its role within broader sustainability and risk management architectures continues to develop in line with changing expectations and environmental realities.