To date there are no surveys in the UK (or other developed countries) that measure income, expenditure, assets and debts for the same households. These data limitations constrain our understanding of the dynamics of living standards. For example, expenditure surveys in the UK and other countries suggest that households with the lowest incomes spend as much as households with much higher incomes. It is however not known whether this pattern is the result of measurement error in expenditure or income or whether it reflects genuine borrowing or dissaving. Having data about the assets and debts of a household over time, in addition to income and expenditure, would enable analysts to resolve this puzzle. Understanding the spending, saving and borrowing of households is critical for assessing the sustainability of economic growth, including whether the current recovery is fuelled by unsustainable consumer spending. There are other similar unresolved puzzles. For example, in survey data richer households save larger proportions of their income, however aggregate savings rates have not increased over time as real incomes have increased. This discrepancy could again be due to measurement error or reflect true behaviours. A better understanding of household finances will allow a clearer picture of which households are disadvantaged, and how advantage and disadvantage cumulate across time and generations. The reason why no existing survey collects data about all aspects of a household's finances is because it would take a very long questionnaire. This would be costly to conduct and burdensome for respondents. Through interdisciplinary collaboration between topic experts, survey methodologists and experts in commercial market research, we aim to develop methods of data collection that reduce costs and respondent burden, while maintaining or improving the quality of each data component. We will develop a web survey that will have at its core a reconciliation screen where respondents are asked to balance the totals of their income, expenditure, assets and debts. We will repeat this survey, to test the potential of boosting the reconciliation by incorporating information from the previous interview. To reduce the length of the survey we will assess ways of collecting components of household finances prior to the survey, using new technologies already routinely used in commercial market research. These data would be preloaded into the web questionnaire and incorporated into the reconciliation screen. We will explore the feasibility, data quality and costs of different potential technologies, including technologies that would reduce respondent burden by capturing data passively. For example, barcode scanners to collect detailed expenditure data, coding of till receipts, linking to store card data, or asking survey respondents to sign up to a "financial aggregator" service and relaying the data to us. To help respondents provide more accurate reports in the web survey we will also assess the potential for in-the-moment surveys triggered at salient dates such as the deadline for self-assessment tax returns or tax credit renewals, when sub-groups of respondents will have better knowledge of their income, and the potential for using elements of 'gamification' to increase respondent engagement with the survey and reduce burden. We will assess the quality of data obtained with different methods by examining the balance of the household accounting identity and the quality of individual components. To inform the development work and methodological tests we will carry out experiments in an existing survey (the Understanding Society Innovation Panel) to test methods aimed at reducing under-reporting of income. In addition, we will carry out secondary analyses using existing data sources. We will apply the data generated to understanding current puzzles in household finances, and make the data available to other researchers in this area.

Over half of global gross domestic product is dependent on nature, yet the past decades have seen unprecedented damage to ecosystems and declines in biodiversity due to adverse human activities. Financial institutions (FIs) can play an important role in securing a nature-positive future. Decisions by FIs over capital allocation and risk pricing influence structural shifts in the real economy that have profound impacts on nature. Today, opportunities to align nature and capital in ways that benefit people, nature and FIs are missed because these impacts are not accounted for. Our aim is to contribute the foundational networks, upskilling of researchers and robust, standardised methods and tools needed to integrate biodiversity and nature into financial decision making. Our focus is the scenarios used by FIs to influence risk pricing and investment decisions, alongside the relevant and suitable data and tools needed for scenario analysis, such as asset-level data and tools to assess nature-related financial risks. A further novel aspect of our proposal is the on integrated nature-climate scenarios. Scenarios and analytics for use by FIs must consider biodiversity and climate in an integrated way. Biodiversity and climate are often treated in siloes, driving potential systemic risks. Important interactions and feedbacks are not accounted for, leading to underestimation of risks and critical tipping points. An important innovation in our proposal is to bring together the IPBES, IPCC and FI scenarios communities, leaders of whom are partners to this project, to address this gap. Integrating nature and climate requires new science; our proposal is to develop the networks and co-design and pilot the frameworks to achieve this - i.e. the foundational common framework and language needed to close the gap. This will create the foundation to Phase 2 that will generate the new datasets and toolkits needed. Here we particularly target scenarios and analytics for use by Central Banks and Supervisors (CB&Ss). This is because CB&Ss are important catalysts of wider action by FIs. Supervisory expectations and regulations, e.g. disclosure, capital requirements and stress-testing, set the rules by which FIs operate, while monetary policies shape the playing field, together having a major influence on global capital flows and so nature. In developing this proposal, we have consulted with the leading CB&Ss and policy makers (e.g. Defra, HMT) that are shaping this agenda and leading work on scenarios, all of whom have agreed to join the project as project partners. This includes the European Central Bank, the Banque de France, De Nederlandsche Bank, the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors (CB&Ss) for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), and the Task Force on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). Phase 1 of the project will deliver several important building blocks. Firstly, it will establish and operationalise the multi-disciplinary nature-climate-finance network. Secondly, it will co-develop the framework and guidance to generate the nature-climate scenarios and analytics, alongside syntheses of evidence and gap analyses. Finally, it will deliver a demonstrator application to a CB&S use case in stress testing nature-related risks. We will capture lessons learnt through this project to inform Phase 2, as well as share them to inform the development of the wider NERC Nature Positive Futures (NPF) programme. Our goal is that the network and the analytical framework developed will ultimately catalyse shifts in financial flows that reduce systemic risks and are aligned with a nature-positive future. Through consultations, we have understood the key milestones and actors to achieve this and shaped the project accordingly. We will work closely with our project partners, and link to UKCGFI, to ensure our outputs feed into the key processes, as well as collaborate with and support the wider NPF programme goals.