Countries have made a range of international commitments to compile and use natural capital accounts. While processes and methods for compiling natural capital accounts are now well defined, mainstreaming natural capital accounting (NCA) across public sector decision-making remains a practical challenge. This raises the question: which domains of public sector decision-making are important for a phased introduction of NCA? Here, we address a subset of this evidence gap through systematic analysis of the policy-relevance of natural capital accounts in the United Kingdom (UK). We identify 85 UK public sector bodies whose activities can affect the extent or condition of natural capital assets, and 60 bodies whose policy objectives are qualitatively contingent on natural capital stocks or services. For each of these 60 public sector bodies natural capital management (1) is a core policy priority, (2) impacts on policy objectives by regulating natural hazards, or (3) provides ecosystem goods and services that support policy objectives concerning health and well-being. Our findings highlight the considerable cross-cutting relevance of natural capital for public sector decision-making, and the need to account for natural capital in policy domains beyond those focused narrowly on environmental policy and management, e.g. through coordination structures that feature cross-departmental representation.

各国做出了一系列国际承诺，以汇编和使用自然资本账户。尽管现在已经很好地定义了编制自然资本账户的过程和方法，但将自然资本会计（NCA）纳入公共部门决策的主流仍然是一项实际挑战。这就提出了一个问题：公共部门决策的哪些领域对于逐步引入NCA很重要？在这里，我们通过对英国（UK）自然资本账户政策相关性的系统分析来解决这一证据缺口的一部分。我们确定了85个英国公共部门机构，其活动可能影响自然资本资产的范围或状况，以及60个机构，其政策目标在质量上取决于自然资本存量或服务。对于这60个公共部门机构中的每一个，自然资本管理（1）是政策的核心优先事项；（2）通过调节自然灾害对政策目标的影响；或（3）提供支持有关健康和福祉的政策目标的生态系统产品和服务。存在。我们的研究结果突显了自然资本与公共部门决策之间具有广泛的交叉相关性，并且需要在政策领域中考虑自然资本，而不仅仅是狭窄地侧重于环境政策和管理的政策领域，例如通过具有跨部门代表性的协调结构。