1. HERVE GUEZ
AND PHILIPPE ZAOUATI
FOREWORD BY JACQUES ATTALI
POSITIVE
FINANCEA TOOLKIT FOR RESPONSIBLE
TRANSFORMATION
Providing a precise and lucid analysis of current and potential developments
in Positive Finance, this work lays the cornerstone of a new finance.
Jacques Attali, French economist and first President of the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
Guez and Zaouati capture one of the truly critical agendas in sustainable
development: how to make capital work in the best interests of society.
Read this book and be inspired.
Dr Jake Reynolds, Director, Sustainable Economy
Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership
Guez and Zaouati get straight to the point. . . . A vital shift for
embracing positive finance.
Céline Louche, Audencia School of Management
For some, finance is the enemy: solely responsible for the global
financial crisis and symbolic of an outdated model that is catapulting
us toward social and ecological ruin. Such a view can seem tempting.
The 2007–2008 meltdown of the financial system was intimately
bound to the financialization of the economy and its consequences.
However, in reality the crisis in finance is an indicator that our
economic model is obsolete. It is possible to imagine another way,
which would consist of seeing finance as a “toolkit” for building a
solution to the crisis.
Positive Finance presents a way to transform the economic model
and reduce the ever-widening gulf of inequality, while taking into
account environmental constraints. In order to achieve this, the
authors argue that we must re-envision the allocation of capital in
order to support social and technological innovations, to design and
build sustainable infrastructure, and to finance the energy transition.
Reinvented, finance could become a powerful lever for setting these
transformations in motion. This book is dedicated to proving that such
leverage is within reach: here, the authors present a toolkit for putting
money to work in the general interest.
POSITIVE FINANCE
P U B L I S H I N G
Greenleaf
Greenleaf Publishing
Aizlewood’s Mill, Nursery Street
Sheffield S3 8GG, UK
Tel: +44 (0)114 282 3475
www.greenleaf-publishing.com
Cover design by Sadie Gornall-Jones
POSITIVEFINANCEHERVEGUEZANDPHILIPPEZAOUATI