The value of nature and valuation instruments in EU policy and beyond: An ethical analysis of common nature valuation instruments

This report provides a practice-oriented overview of how widely used valuation instruments — cost–benefit analysis (CBA), multi-criteria analysis (MCA), natural capital accounting (NCA), stated-preference methods (including contingent valuation and choice experiments), revealed-preference methods (including hedonic pricing and the travel cost method), payments for ecosystem services (PES), nature and biodiversity credits, and the rights of nature (RoN; included here as a qualitative valuation and governance approach) — are currently applied in environmental policymaking in the EU and international contexts. It provides an ethical reflection on these instruments, and in particular assesses how they capture different values of nature. While these instruments are often presented as technical tools, their use raises fundamental ethical questions about which values of nature are captured, which are marginalised, and whether some values should resist quantification or trade-offs altogether.