From Observer, August 29:
Once the domain of campaigners, natural capital has entered mainstream finance, reshaping investment in ecosystems worldwide.
Natural capital, the planet’s stocks of soil, air, water and biodiversity, has shifted from the margins of philanthropy into the center of global finance. Once the concern of activists and campaigners, it is now emerging as a recognised asset class. As climate change, biodiversity loss and sustainability pressures mount, governments, corporations and investors are rethinking how to value and invest in ecosystems that underpin our economies.
This represents a profound paradigm shift: nature’s services are no longer just to be protected, but also priced, traded and embedded within financial systems. To understand how we reached this point, it’s worth tracing the origins of natural capital markets in early carbon trading systems, which laid the groundwork for today’s more sophisticated structures—and looking ahead to what the future may hold....
....MUCH MORE
Possibly also of interest:
"The future has become a financial fetish, sliced into probable outcomes to be calculated and bet upon"
You say that like its a bad thing....
"Technocrats Won’t Solve the Climate Crisis" (but will make a ton of money in the attempt)
This is happening right now and it is big, big money. Come get you some....
And from September 2022 a heads-up on what was just around the corner:
Big Money Financial Engineering: Saving The Planet By Securitizing Earth
This is happening right now and if you want in on the action you have to know the game is being played.A couple posts from October 2021 set the stage:
- In Case You Missed It: "NYSE’s new investment vehicle—‘natural asset companies’—will tap into ESG fever"
- Using spatial finance for sustainable development
Which were followed by "What's The Ocean Worth: Putting A Price On Natural Assets"
And here's John Bellamy Foster, Editor of Monthly Review magazine and Professor at the University of Oregon being interviewed on this very topic.
From Monthly Review, July 12:
The capitalist solution to ‘save’ the planet: make it an asset class & sell it
Securitize The Earth: Oil Trader Mercuria Creates A "Nature-Based" Investment Platform
And many many more.
