Interim Report - TEEB

sustainability reporting. The Carbon Disclosure Project has
been successful in eliciting voluntary disclosure from an
increasing number of corporations and countries year after
year. All these initiatives are, however, based on voluntary
disclosure, and are not followed widely enough to be
considered market standards.
André Künzelmann, UFZ
In Phase II we will reach out to organizations involved in
redefining corporate performance metrics and reporting
standards as we intend to evolve valuation guidance on
corporations’ use of natural capital, including carbon
footprint measurement.
Consumers are a major source of pressures to convert
natural ecosystems to other land uses, especially through
demand for food. Different kinds of foods have dramatically
different ecological footprints (see Figure 4.1). It is difficult
for consumers to incorporate these factors in purchasing
choices unless the products they buy – especially food –
clearly disclose their ecological footprint at the point of
sale. A credible standard methodology is a basic
prerequisite, which we shall explore further with end-user
groups in Phase II. The goal is to identify or evolve
standard metrics for consumer footprint (in terms of
land, water and energy use) which are based on sound
ecology and economics simple enough to understand
and to be implemented by retailers.
IMAGINING A NEW WORLD
It is gradually becoming accepted that healthy ecosystems
maintaining high levels of biodiversity are more resilient to
external pressure and consequently better able to sustain
the delivery of ecosystem services to human society.
Countries and more and more companies and citizens want
to know and understand the reality of the costs of using the
Earth’s natural capital and the consequences of policies on
the resilience and sustainability of ecosystems.
We still face many gaps in knowledge on the status and
trends of biodiversity and the drivers and pressures that
contribute to its loss, but the scenarios we have outlined
on the projected loss of biodiversity, ecosystems and
ecosystem services point firmly to the high risk of further
losses to human well-being and development.
This chapter has highlighted different approaches to replace
society’s defective old economic compass and then to use
the new one: to rethink today’s subsidies, to design policies
and market structures which reward unrecognized benefits
and penalize uncaptured costs, and to share the benefits
of conservation and protected areas in a more equitable
manner. Parts of the evolving toolkit of new economics and
policies are already in place in some countries or regions,
yet others are still under development with initial case
studies showing their potential, but overall a lot more needs
to be done.
Imagine now that these measures were not only applied
in pilot schemes or single countries. Imagine the tiny seeds
planted now growing to majestic trees. Imagine how they
can contribute to improved quality of life in the 2030s
and beyond.
Imagine the growth of human well-being and security that is
not based on higher and higher per-capita GDP and evermore
serious climate and ecosystem disasters hitting the
headlines every morning.
Imagine a secure and stable world with universal access to
clean water and healthy food, with equity in access to
education and income opportunity, and with social and
political security – a world meeting and even going beyond
the Millennium Development Goals.
Biodiversity and ecosystem services are now recognized
as vital infrastructure to achieve human welfare and wellbeing.
We are convinced that The Economics of Ecosystems
and Biodiversity, if used with careful consideration of the
underlying ethical choices, can make decisive contributions
towards safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem services
and improving well-being for us and for generations to come.
“Another world is not only possible, she is on her
way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”
Arundhati Roy, author of The God of Small Things,
at the World Social Forum, 2003
From economics to policies
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