Imputed Nature Value: A framework for valuing ecosystem services as business inputs

Traditional approaches to valuing ecosystem services, such as portfolio-level nature risk exposure or macro-economic forecasting, provide useful context for policymakers or investors, but do not translate into insights on which an individual business can act. While existing frameworks such as the TNFD LEAP approach and ENCORE help companies identify and evaluate their dependencies on nature, neither translates those dependencies into decision-useful financial metrics. This white paper introduces the Imputed Nature Value (INV) Framework, developed by Dunya Analytics, which addresses this gap by framing ecosystem services as business functions and quantifying the financial consequences of their degradation or loss. The framework assigns each of ENCORE's ecosystem services to one of five INV categories based on the business activity it supports. Each category maps to a defined financial quantification logic, so companies can estimate dependency risk through replacement costs, damage costs, or the loss in asset value or revenue. The INV Framework equips companies with a bottom-up, business-specific method for quantifying nature-related dependency risk in financial terms suitable for capital allocation and fiduciary decision-making.