Natural capital

Natural or natural capital is the economic category denoting the mineral, vegetable and animal components of the biosphere, considered as means of producing oxygen, filtering water, protecting against erosion and other components of the ecosystem.

In traditional economic science, the analogue of natural capital is the “land” production factor , understood as the natural component of the economy, severely limited in the amount of economic supply . Proponents of the concept of natural capital (including representatives of the " green economy ") consider the term "natural capital" more accurate, since, for example, the quality of land can be improved or worsened, like the quality of artificial (produced by people) capital. Another analogy: a car factory produces cars just like an apple tree produces apples.

Among the authors using the term: H. Delie, R. Constanta , P. Houken, and others.

The concept of natural capital has significantly influenced the modern practice of calculating macroeconomic indicators. In their analysis, the World Bank now takes into account the volumes of extraction of natural resources and environmental damage caused by carbon dioxide emissions ( greenhouse effect ).