The teaching put the emphasis on the crucial part corporations must play in achieving sustainable development, namely through measuring and internalizing their externalities, for long-term growth strategies that benefit not only shareholders, but the society at large. For more information on corporate action, visit http://www.corp2020.net/.
Crunchy Takeways:
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) simulation: Participants were introduced to LCA as a toolkit to measure corporate externalities and assess environmental impacts all along the value chain, from cradle to grave. A live simulation on the LCA software materialized the assessment for all the components of a 500ml orange juice bottle!
Ecosystem Services Valuation Live Exercise: After having depicted two possible scenarios for the development of a valley in India – namely the conversion of the valley into a National natural park (S1) and the construction of a hydropower dam, operated by a private company, for the production of electricity (S2) – each participant had to estimate the economic added value of one ecosystem service of their choice, be it water regulation, ecotourism, employment, or soil conservation, over 50 years, and to choose a discount rate to apply. By concretely engaging the participants into calculating the economic value of ecosystem services, this exercise made patent the imminent necessity of valuing ecosystem services, along with corporate externalities. Please click here to consult the results of this live exercise.
Kate Raworth’s stimulating presentation on the Doughnut Economics: Participants had the opportunity to engage with Kate Raworth on the Doughnut economic model, and to discuss the modalities for getting Humanity into the doughnut, through achieving a regenerative and redistributive design of resource use.
In a Nutshell…
…this training course, by delivering high-quality lectures and workshops, built a strong case for the necessity to transition to a “green and equitable economy of permanence”. Valuation techniques, methods, and ethics formed a solid triptych for making of participants knowledgeable, professional, and active torchbearers of corporate true cost accounting and the necessity to protect our natural resources.