The NATURE Tool

The NATURE Tool (Nature Assessment Tool for Urban and Rural Environments) is designed to objectively assess how well new plans or developments achieve net gains. This free Excel tool supports the management of natural capital impacts for projects and sites. Natural capital captures what nature does for people, including public health and wellbeing.  

The Tool helps assess the impact of land-use and management changes on natural capital performance. It assesses up to 17 ecosystem services plus physical and mental health benefits through a scoring system indicating both the direction and magnitude of project impacts. You can then aggregate scores based on policy priorities to provide an overall ‘people score’ for the project.

The NATURE Tool can be used to demonstrate wider environmental benefits and report net gains for the environment. It is applicable across the UK at different project stages and at different scales and designed for the application by non-specialists without requiring excessive data or time. This supports better decision-making and provides demonstrable results of positive sustainable action during development. The tool is designed for all built environment professionals, planners and related project stakeholders. This includes most planning and development projects including housing and infrastructure. You can also use it to assess the natural capital impact of conservation and afforestation projects.

Innovate UK co-funded the development of the Tool. WSP lead the project and support from the Ecosystems Knowledge Network and Northumbria University.

NATURE Tool 2.0 is currently under development and expected to be published towards the end of 2024.