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BUSINESSNEWSLESSONS
Can we save the environment
with economics?
Warmer
a. In pairs, discuss why the following might be effective ways to measure the importance of
looking after the environment
• Volume of carbon in the air
• Centimetres of increase in ocean levels
• Dollar value of natural resources
• Degrees of change in global temperatures
Key words and expressions
a. Complete the definitions using words from the paragraph numbers given for the article.
1. an abbreviation consisting of letters that form a word (1)
2. one of the people most admired in a particular profession (3)
3. to collect carbon dioxide that is produced by burning coal or oil and store it to stop it getting into
the atmosphere (4)
4. the variety of different types of plant and animal life in a particular region
(6)
5. extremely important and urgent (7)
6. able to quickly become healthy, happy, or strong again after an illness, disappointment, or other
problem (7)
7. important and noticeable (8)
8. calculated the size, value, or amount of something when all the facts were not available to you
(9)
9. forming two very different groups, opinions, or situations that are completely opposite to each
other (13)
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BUSINESSNEWSLESSONS
Advanced
10. a reduction in the harmful effects of something (15)
11. extreme and obvious (15)
12. ideas or practices that are accepted by most people as being correct or usual
(18)

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Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
Advanced
BUSINESSNEWSLESSONS
Why we need to put a number on our
natural resources
PEOPLE FIND IT EASIER TO CONSIDER NATURE WORTH PROTECTING WHEN WE ASSIGN A FINANCIAL
VALUE TO IT
Economists at the mighty International Monetary
Fund used to joke that the institution’s acronym
should actually stand for “It’s Mostly Fiscal.” No
wonder: the IMF is (in)famous for fretting about
countries’ budget plans, tax policies, growth
strategies and capital flows.
Last week, however, the IMF’s managing director
Kristalina Georgieva discussed how some of its
employees have branched into an unlikely pastime:
whale- watching.
“We have economists studying whales,” she told
a panel organised by the Paulson Institute, a
foundation created by Henry Paulson, former US
Treasury secretary and Goldman Sachs luminary,
that often champions environmental causes.
One of these economists is Ralph Chami, an IMF
official who has studied how whales sequester CO2,
removing it from the atmosphere, as part of an IMF
analysis of the value of natural capital — the world’s
stock of natural resources. (Whales apparently
sequester 33 tonnes of CO2 over a lifetime.)
Does this matter? Some mainstream economists
might mutter about mission creep. But the initiative
is worth noting. It reveals a subtle but striking shift in
the global green debate that is now underway and
that will be an important topic at this week’s annual
UN general assembly.
In the past few years, the world has woken up with
a vengeance to the problem of carbon emissions,
thanks in part to activists such as Greta Thunberg,
who has inspired a generation to campaign against
fossil fuels. But now Paulson and Georgieva are part
of efforts to expand the focus of this activism from
a narrow debate around emissions towards a wider
one around biodiversity and natural capital.
Quite apart from the moral and spiritual imperative
behind the drive to protect nature, people such as
Paulson argue that there are two additional points:
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destroying nature not only hurts the economy but also
makes it harder to combat the emissions we’re now
trying to reduce. Conversely, protecting nature makes
the planet more resilient to environmental shocks and
negative changes.
With that messaging in mind, the Paulson Institute
and the IMF are now scrambling to put some tangible
numbers around the contribution of natural capital.
A report from the Paulson Institute, the Nature
Conservancy and others last week suggests that
30-50 per cent of the planet’s species will vanish by the
middle of the century without action — and that the bill
to prevent this would be $600bn-$820bn a year.
It also points out that the World Economic Forum has
guesstimated that $44tn — about half — of global
gross domestic product depends on natural capital,
while the value of forests in terms of carbon capture
alone could be $100tn.
Now, some observers might argue that affixing dollar
signs to nature is ridiculous, not to mention immoral,
since it implies that the only things that matter are
those that carry a price. In any case, these numbers
entail so much guesswork that they are apt to seem
fantastical.
However, Paulson insists that number crunching is
needed: “The problem is that people assume that
natural capital is a free good, and if you don’t put a
value on it, they will value it as zero.”
What is really interesting is that this new drive to
quantify the issue reflects another imperative: the
topic of biodiversity might yet turn into a tool that
could forge some modicum of consensus on “green”.
While the issue of climate change and carbon
emissions tends to be politically polarizing, particularly
in countries such as the US, talking about biodiversity
is often less contentious. Some Republicans, for
example, find it far easier to embrace policies labelled
as “environmental protection” than “climate change”.
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Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
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BUSINESSNEWSLESSONS
So too on the international stage. Discussions
about climate change often spark a blame game
between countries such as the US and China, since
they raise questions about who is responsible for
emissions — previous high polluters or nations busily
developing now — and thus who should curb them
most aggressively. US President Donald Trump and
Chinese President Xi Jinping traded barbs over this at
the UN this week.
Discussions about biodiversity, however, tend to focus
more on mitigation and resilience. This can still spark
fights (as seen during the recent battles between
Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and environmental
activists around rainforest destruction in the Amazon),
but overall they tend to be less stark.
“We can argue about what is causing climate
change . . . but we cannot argue about what is
happening now,” says Paulson. “So I think you will
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Gillian Tett, September 23 2020
© The Financial Times.
All rights reserved.
Articles republished from the Financial Times.
find people coming together and saying, ‘What do
we need to do to protect against climate shocks like
storms and forest fires?’”
Of course, such hopes might yet turn out to be naive,
given that the Covid-19 pandemic is distracting
policymakers — and cutting the level of financial
resources available to protect nature or anything
else. But there again, the pandemic has also shown
clearly the cost of ignoring science and our global
connections; indeed, those championing biodiversity
argue that the spread of zoonotic diseases — ones
that jump from animal to human, such as Covid-19
— is partly a result of our lack of respect for
natural capital.
Either way, it’s worth remembering the whales; if
nothing else, they show how orthodoxies can change,
even in economics.
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Understanding the article
a. In pairs, discuss the answer to the following questions.
1. What have economists from the IMF recently been studying?
2. What is ‘natural capital’?
3. How do Henry Paulson and Kristalina Georgieva want to change environmental activism?
4. How much is it estimated to cost in order to save 30 to 50 percent of the Earth’s species?
5. What could help political parties agree on green issues?
6. How does Henry Paulson think different political groups will react to recent natural disasters?
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Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
Advanced
BUSINESSNEWSLESSONS
Business language – word pairs and phrases
a. Match the words to make word pairs and phrases from the article. Then check your answers in
the article.
1. number a. strategy
2. growth b. stage
3. mission c. game
4. gross domestic d. crunching
5. blame e. product
6. international f. creep
b. Write the word pairs and phrases next to the definitions.
1. the total value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year
2. work that involves doing a lot of calculations, especially when you think this is boring
3. a situation in which person A tries to make other people take responsibility for doing
something that person A did wrong, rather than seeking a solution
4. a plan or set of plans intended to increase something, e.g. the number of customers to a business
5. the gradual expansion of the original objectives of an organization
6. a specific area of life in public where very important events happen:
c. Write six sentences that illustrate the word pairs and phrases using examples from your
personal or professional life.
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BUSINESSNEWSLESSONS
Advanced
Business language –verbs commonly used in business
a. Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verbs below.
champion combat curb forge spark
1. They’ve a strong partnership that will more or less guarantee their
success for years to come.
2. We must focus on the spread of the virus.
3. Cortisol is a hormone that stress.
4. She is just one of the activists the cause of climate change.
5. The decision riots long before the government realised the
public’s feelings.
b. Write five sentences using these verbs about challenges you have faced in the workplace.
Discussion questions
“The problem is that people assume that natural capital is a free good, and if you don’t put a value
on it, they will value it as zero.” Do you agree with Henry Poulson?
How can talking about ‘environmental protection’ be more effective than talking about
‘climate change’?
Wider business theme – Action plan
a. In groups of four, imagine that you are in a meeting about ways to increase people’s awareness
of the actions needed to protect the environment. Divide yourselves into economists and
environmental activists and discuss the following:
• opinions on natural capital
• the future of environmental activism
• an agreement on the key actions to take
b. Work together to develop an action plan for effective ways to increase people’s awareness of
the actions needed to protect the environment. Present your action plan to the class.
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Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
BUSINESSNEWSLESSONS
Title of the lesson: Can we save the
environment with economics?
Level: Advanced (C1–C2)
Time: 60–90 minutes
Groups: one-to-one, small groups,
whole class
Business topics: developing a strategy;
analysing and interpreting data
Business language focus: compound
nouns, verbs commonly used in business
Skills: reading, speaking, writing
Materials: one copy of the worksheet
per student
Can we save the environment
with economics?
Overview: This lesson is based on an
authentic article from a trusted news source.
The article talks about how economists are
studying biodiversity in order to put a value
on natural capital. By doing this, they hope to
broaden the scope of environmental activism
and encourage polarised political groups to
work together to save the planet.
1. Warmer
a.
Ask students to discuss how the different ways
to measure the importance of looking after the
environment could make people aware of what
needs to be done. See how they feel about the
idea of putting a financial value on natural resources.
2. Key words and expressions
a.
Ask students to complete the definitions using words
from the paragraph numbers given for the article.
Mention that the words are in the same order as in
the article.
Key:
1. acronym
2. luminary
3. sequester
4. biodiversity
5. imperative
6. resilient
7. tangible
8. guesstimated
9. polarizing
10. mitigation
11. stark
12. orthodoxies
3. Understanding the article
a.
Put students in pairs and ask them to discuss the
answer to the questions given. Some students
may need help either finding the vocabulary or
understanding its meaning.
Key:
1. whales – specifically, how much CO2 they
can sequester
2. the value of the world’s natural resources
3. They want activism to focus more on biodiversity
and natural capital.
4. $600bn-$820bn
5. talking about ‘environmental protection’ rather than
‘climate change’
6. He thinks that people want to work together to
prevent them rather than arguing about the causes
of climate change.
4.
Business language – word pairs or
phrases
a.
Ask the students to match the words to make word
pairs and phrases from the article. Before checking
the answers as a class, ask students to check their
answers in the article.
Key:
1. d
2. a
3. f
4. e
5. c
6. b
Key:
1. gross domestic product
2. number crunching
3. blame game
4. growth strategy
5. mission creep
6. international stage

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2
Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
BUSINESSNEWSLESSONS
c.
Ask students to write six sentences illustrating the
word pairs and phrases using examples from their
personal or professional lives. These word pairs could
come in useful in the later discussion and the creation
of the action plan. Encourage students to think in
general terms when writing their sentences. ‘Blame
game’ and ‘mission creep’ could be too personal if
students were to write about their own workplace.
5.
Business Language – verbs
commonly used in business
a.
Ask the students to complete the sentences with the
correct form of the verbs. Explain that in Business
English they are often used to describe objectives,
goals and strategies.
1. forged
2. curbing
3. combats
4. championing
5. had sparked
b.
Students write sentences relating to challenges they
have faced in the workplace. Alternatively, students
might prefer to write sentences about social or political
movements that have united groups of people, made
things happen, demanded change, etc.
6. Discussion questions
Have students work in pairs to discuss the questions.
If they need to be prompted, encourage them to consider
some of the following as examples:
• ethical reasons why some people feel uncomfortable
putting a price on nature
• how activists might react to the change in direction
away from ‘climate change’
• the possibility to unite people of opposing viewpoints
7. Wider business theme – Action plan
a.
Put the students in groups of four and ask them to
imagine that they are in a meeting about ways to
increase people’s awareness of the actions needed
to protect the environment. Ask them to divide
themselves into economists and environmental
activists and discuss the topics given.
b.
Ask students to work together to develop an action
plan for effective ways to increase people’s awareness
of the actions needed to protect the environment.
The action plan could take the form of a flow chart, a
numbered list or it could be a spider diagram if they
come up with a series of non-sequential stages/ideas.
The most important thing is that they can explain each
stage and elaborate on it verbally when presenting to
the class.