Environmental Economics and Policy Studies

Natural capital accounting, life-cycle assessments and ecosystem degradation

Guest editors:

 Prof. Shunsuke Managi

Distinguished Professor & Director of Urban Institute, Kyushu University, Japan

managi@doc.kyushu-u.ac.jp

 Prof. Younes Ben Zaied

Full Professor, EDC Paris Business School, France

ybenzaied@edcparis.edu

Overview:

The global transition is needed to a future where businesses, government officials and other internal and external stakeholders more accurately measure their reliance on and impact on natural capital. This transition will help creating a more sustainable society. Therefore, it is important to adopt an exhaustive approach considering all economic, social, human and environmental factors involved in the economic growth and social changes. In contrast, none of the city evaluation are looking into the value of human, environmental, and produced capital stocks (Fujii and Managi 2016). The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) is a framework developed by the United Nations to integrate environmental and economic data measuring the environment and its relationship with the economy (Ji, Managi, and Zhang 2021). The Paris Agreement in 2015 has improved the focus of firms operating in natural capital–rich countries on environmental responsibility. Recent studies shows that the influence of natural capital on corporate environmental responsibility is more prevalent for firms in developing countries and manufacturing industries (GUIZANI et al, 2024).

 Scope:

This call for paper will collect high quality research papers showing how natural capital accounting (NAC) can assess ecosystem services like water filtartion, carbon sequestration in terms of physical and monetary units. Therefore,  research papers showing how NAC infroms sustainable resource policies or investment decisions would be highly relevant. It will be also essential to study the connection between material flow analysis or resource input/output with ecosystem services and degardation costs. NAC should be integrated into the environmental disclosures in alignment with circular eonomy metrics and ESG reporting at both corporate and governmental level. Besides, research papers that integrates life-cycle assessment methodologies with natural capital accounting are highly welcome. Finally, to deeply study the circular economy transtions, it will be crucial to use NCA to assess the natural capital gains or losses in circular economy strategies by showing how recycling reduces pressure on natural capital.

This SI on natural capital accounting (NCA) life cycle assessments and ecosystem degradation would cover a range of topics that explore how natural resources and ecosystem services are integrated into decision making. Here are some major topics that might be included:

• Monetary valuation of ecosystem degradation in mining/recycling industries
• Natural capital implications of urban waste management systems
• Integrating NCA into product life-cycle assessments
• Comparative studies of natural capital loss between linear versus circular economy models

• Ecosystem service valuation techniques (e.g., contingent valuation, hedonic pricing, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) framework)
• Data sources and measurement challenges in NCA
• Accounting for biodiversity and ecosystem degradation

• The role of NCA in sustainability and economic policy

• Integrating carbon accounting into NCA frameworks
• How NCA informs resource conservation regulations
• Climate mitigation, CSR and firms value
• Others related to NC Accounting and SDGs

Timetable:

Open submission: November 2025

Meet the editors workshop: ENIG conference, 11 June 2026

Final deadline for submission: June 2026

Publication: December 2026