The report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on August 8, 2021 has confirmed the critical condition of the climate crisis and how many proven, available, affordable, nature-based solutions (NBS) have an essential role to play in preserving a liveable planet. G20 leaders have recognized the power on NBS but only very recently and … Read more
To reach the temperature targets of the Paris Agreement, the global economy needs to quickly move towards net-zero emissions and major economies including the EU, the US and China have committed themselves to such ambitious targets. There is a large consensus among economics and climate policy experts that carbon pricing should play a central role … Read more
Our current measures of progress are primarily financial and short-term. Macro-level reporting has had a particular emphasis on GDP and corporate reporting has largely been focused on shareholder value. In the context of broader social objectives, our current approaches to reporting are neither sufficient nor effective. While there has been a proliferation of standards and … Read more
“Biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are currently among the top threats facing humanity.” This is how last year’s UN Summit on Biodiversity describes the urgency of stopping biodiversity loss, noting the detrimental impact on food security, water supplies and also human health. The causes for the rapid loss of biodiversity are diverse, including agricultural expansion, … Read more
As the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic persist, the urgency and magnitude of the decarbonisation challenge cannot be overlooked. Within the context of the ‘Great Realignment, the 2020s must be the pivotal decade for climate action. While the global response to the pandemic has brought an abrupt decrease in global emissions in 2020, the data … Read more
Resource extraction and consumption is expected to double by 2060, driven by global population and GDP growth. Such a development trajectory will accelerate environmental degradation and biodiversity loss while exposing the shortcomings of our linear ‘take, make, dispose’ model of production and consumption. A circular economy, as a means to decouple economic growth from resource … Read more
Designing out waste and pollution through the gradual closing of loops in global production chains is an important requirement for achieving the Sustainable Agenda and Paris Agreement climate goals and for halting the degradation of our biodiversity. A worldwide shift to a circular economy in all value chains, regions and cities is of central importance … Read more
Enabling and accelerating the net zero transition can only be achieved by recognising intangibles as the assets that underpin value creation in today’s economy. New breakthrough innovations in economics and accounting make this possible. These assets are people and relationships, networks and innovation. They are not fixed assets. They are intangible, not tangible. Currently, accounting … Read more
Inequality between regions is an important driver of the decoupling of economic and social prosperity. Economic prosperity is increasingly spatially concentrated, while left-behind regions struggle with poverty, bad education, inferior health, political extremism. The COVID-19 pandemic disruptions have created new spaces for change, as citizens and decision-makers around the globe are looking for recovery options. … Read more
The COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on how interdependent the world has become: the virus has spread across the world in no time, has brought economies down and global debt levels up. It has shown how fragile many achievements are: inequalities were exposed and trust in government was eroded as individual freedom was constrained. … Read more
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