The document discusses the need to rethink how we measure well-being and national welfare beyond just GDP. It argues that current capitalist practices do not properly account for natural resources and living systems. The document then summarizes the TEEB study which aimed to end the economic invisibility of nature by valuing ecosystem services. It discusses how natural capital is increasingly seen as a business concern and risk to companies that fail to adapt. It presents frameworks for sustainable enterprise and relating natural capital to corporate value and performance.

1. Mumbai, 8 July 2014
Professor Jeremy B Williams
Director, Asia Pacific Centre
for Sustainable Enterprise
@TheGreenMBA
@jeremybwilliams
tinyurl.com/teribcsd

16. Time to rethink well-being

17. Good or bad for
GDP?

18. The welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred from
a measurement of national income as defined by the
GDP... goals for ‘more’ growth should specify of
what and for what.’

19. (2005)

20. ‘Capitalism, as practiced, is a
financially profitable, non-
sustainable aberration in human
development. What might be
called ‘industrial capitalism’
does not fully conform to its
own accounting principles. It
liquidates its capital and calls it
income. It neglects to assign any
value to the largest stocks of
capital it employs – the natural
resources and living systems, as
well as the social and cultural
systems that are the basis of
human capital.’
Hawken, Lovins and Lovins (1999), Natural Capitalism, p. 5.

22. Introducing TEEB
G8 Environment Ministers Meeting
Potsdam, March 2007

23. Pavan Sukhdev
Lead the TEEB study
and CEO-Founder of

24. Ending the economic invisibility of nature

25. (2012)

26. < 1/3 of responding
ACCA members were
familiar with the term
‘ecosystem services’
70% of ACCA members
surveyed said they
needed training on its
potential impact on
corporate value and
performance

27. Examples of ecosystem services (Costanza et al 1997)
Ecosystem service Examples
Climate regulation Greenhouse gas regulation, dimethyl sulfide production affecting cloud
formation.
Disturbance regulation Storm protection, flood control, drought recovery and other aspects of
habitat response to environmental variability mainly controlled by
vegetation structure.
Water regulation Provisioning of water for agriculture (e.g. irrigation) or industrial (e.g.
milling) processes or transportation.
Water supply Provision of water by watersheds, reservoirs and aquifers.
Soil formation Weathering of rock and the accumulation of organic material.
Nutrient cycling Nitrogen fixation, nitrogen, phosphorous and other elemental or nutrient
cycles.
Waste treatment Waste treatment, pollution control, and detoxification.
Pollination Provision of pollinators for the reproduction of plant populations.
Biological control Keystone predator control of prey species, reduction of herbivory (plant
eating by insects) by top predators.
Food production Production of fish, game, crops, nuts, fruits etc. by hunting, gathering,
subsistence farming or fishing.
Raw materials Production of lumber, fuel or fodder.
Genetic resources Medicine, products for materials science, genes for resistance to plant
pathogens and crop pests, ornamental species (pets and horticultural
varieties of plants).
Recreation Eco-tourism, sport fishing and other outdoor recreational activities.
Cultural Aesthetic, artistic, education, spiritual and/or scientific values of
ecosystems.

28. Pollination
services from bees
in Britain would
cost the UK £1.8
billion p/a

29. Changes at national level post-Rio + 20

31. Kubiszewski et al (2013: 63)

33. (Released 14 May 2014) Executive Summary:
‘Natural capital will become as
prominent a business concern in
the 21st Century as the provision
of adequate financial capital was
in the 20th Century ... We are
already ‘drawing down’ on 50%
more natural capital a year than
the earth can replenish – and the
rate of depletion is accelerating.
All too soon, businesses will face a
stark choice: adapt or fail.’

34. HRH Prince Charles

36. Count It, Change It, Scale It

37. The Joint Perspectives Model
(BOM, 2013)

38. Links between natural capital and
corporate value

39. Which of nature’s assets should your company be investing in?

40. September 2013
Follow up on Is Natural Capital a
Material Issue?
• narrative reporting on strategy
and management providing
qualitative understanding of
an organisation’s relationship
to natural capital and the
processes used to manage the
various risks and
opportunities; and
• performance reporting
providing stakeholders with
quantitative information on
KPIs that can be used to track
performance over time

41. Ecological
case
Social
case
Business
case
Eco-efficiency
Eco-effectiveness
Socio-efficiency
Socio-effectiveness
Ecological equity Sufficiency
Sustainable
enterprise
Intra-generational
equity
Inter-
generational
equity
Social responsibility
Posterity
Ecological stability
Ecological sustainability
A model for
sustainable
enterprise
(Young & Tilley, 2006;
Dyllick & Hockerts, 2002)

42. The service and flow economy

46. (ACCA, 2013)

49. Piloting the Natural Capital Protocol (2014-15)

50. November 2013

51. The conservation of natural capital needs should be price
determining, not price determined (Farley 2008)
Neoclassical Cost-Benefit Analysis where everything has a
price is a hazardous approach
Ecologists and climate scientists must help identify critical
tipping points and set the boundaries for market
exchange.
Closing thoughts …

52. profjeremybwilliams