The Biosphere Economy

Welcome to the Biosphere Economy, a revolution ignited by global ecological overshoot, which is transforming the way business, investors, and governments view, value and manage natural capital.

Download the report we prepared for CEOs and business leaders, in partnership with the Business for Environment Summit and the Tellus Mater Foundation — the Spanish and Portuguese versions also available.

The Biosphere Economy is a future where business-as-usual and politics-as-usual increasingly take account of natural capital and related forms of value, bridging the gap between man-made assets and nature’s ecological infrastructures that underpin our economies and societies.

The financial value at stake is mind-boggling—and the business opportunities likely to be created by the shift in the prevailing market paradigm are astonishing. Take the TEEB study led by Pavan Sukhdev–which stands for The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, which concludes that the degradation of the Earth’s ecosystems and biodiversity due to deforestation alone costs us natural capital worth somewhere between $1.9 and $4.5 trillion every year.

Around the world, a growing array of innovators is experimenting with possible solutions for business, investors and governments. They range from scientists co-developing cutting-edge research on the economic function of ecosystems, like the Andrew Mitchell of the Global Canopy Programme; investment ratings for companies which are led by institutional investors, such the work of Annelisa Grigg of the Natural Value Initiative; and new ways of quantifying and measuring progress like the work of Mathis Wackernagel of the Global Footprint Network or the Stockholm Resilience Centre’s work on Planetary Boundaries; through to technology firms creating open-source mechanisms to track the state of the biosphere, whether Google’s new Earth Engine or Cisco’s Planetary Skin Institute.

The Biosphere Economy will map and engage a growing number of these innovators and entrepreneurs, helping cross-connect them with each other—and with the mainstream business, financial and public sector players they must now engage.

Join the Biosphere Economy Facebook group here.