Reads

Repsol and natural capital

Natural capital has traditionally been associated only with something monetary or money-related, but capital describes any resource or asset that is stored or provides value to people.

More specifically, natural capital is defined as the inventory of natural resources, both renewable and non-renewable, of an ecosystem. These resources provide, through ecosystem services, benefits to people by contributing to their well-being, the development of society, and progress in the world economy, and they do so in the form of energy, materials supply, cultural aspects, etc.

Natural capital works in the same way as traditional capital: if we invest in it, it creates value, and if we degrade it, we limit its value.

Why is it important to value natural capital?

• Any company, in one way or another, depends on natural capital for the development of its activity and generates impacts on this capital through its operations. The conservation and protection of natural capital is therefore essential not only for themselves, but also for achieving sustainable development.
• Understanding the complex and dynamic relationships that organizations have with the health of natural assets and the ecosystem services they provide, allows companies to make more informed decisions, minimizing negative impacts and optimizing investments in sustainability.
• A natural capital approach provides a better understanding of which impacts (both negative and positive) and dependencies are most significant in terms of economic value for society, companies, and financial institutions.

In this sense, we have adopted a differentiating approach by developing the methodology, and the associated digital tool, Reads, which allows us to quantify and value from an economic point of view, the services provided by ecosystems in general, and biodiversity in particular, which facilitates its integration into the management decision-making processes of all types of organizations.

This approach is particularly relevant, as it provides a new way of understanding the Company's relationship with nature and the related risks and opportunities, with the final goal of guiding actions for its protection by prioritizing specific action plans.

Reads enables a comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts of business projects and operations on biodiversity and ecosystem services, climate change, water resources, and social well-being.

An internationally recognized approach

Reads complies with the Natural capital protocol and its Biodiversity guide, as well as the ISO 14.008:2019 standard on monetary valuation of environmental impacts. 

The methodology has been reviewed by experts from the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, the Capitals Coalition, and the European Business & Biodiversity Platform, who have highlighted its scientific robustness and its alignment with the highest international standards.

Reads has been selected as a reference tool:

• In the Update Report 4 of the Assessment of Biodiversity Measurement Approaches for Business and Financial Institutions report, published in December 2022 by the European Commission's platform EU Business@Biodiversity, as well as in the Capitals Coalition together with the Cambridge Conservation Initiative publication “Integrating biodiversity into natural capital assessments” (2020), and in Capitals Coalition Toolkit (2023).
• It has also been recognized as a suitable methodology for valuation and accounting of natural capital impacts within the Transparent project, funded by the European Commission and developed by the Value Balancing Alliance (VBA), the Capitals Coalition, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), which aims to develop standardized principles for accounting and valuing natural capital in companies.

The guide published by IPIECA and IOGP in December 2022 on Biodiversity Action Plans, "A guide to developing biodiversity action plans", includes Reads as a case study.

And also awarded

Reads was a “European Digital Mindset Awards 2023 in Sustainability” finalist and the “2022 enerTIC Awards” winner as the best project in Spain for digital transformation in Sustainability and ESG.