Accounting for environmental assets as sovereign wealth funds

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) are often used to provide long term macro-economic stability and to accrue and safeguard financial assets for future generations. These state-owned investment funds are usually created using balance of payment surpluses – often from resource exports or the sale of public assets. Given that SWFs are among a few widely-used financial mechanisms created for the benefit of future generations, they can play an important role in helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper will argue that a re-direction of economic rents earned from natural resources, along with rigorous and careful ecosystem services accounting can serve to broaden the scope and holistically enhance the value of SWFs. The paper concludes that accounting for environmental assets and the economic benefits derived from such resources can serve as the basis for the establishment of SWFs, promote inter-generational wealth transfer and help stabilise economies impacted by climate change.