Great talk by Professor Dieter Helm at OUCE on 25th November. Optimistic that UK National Accounts will include a Balance Sheet incorporating Natural Capital, and in due course other countries will follow. The stated intent is ambitious - for this generation to leave the natural environment to the next one in at least as good a state (in aggregate) as it was when we arrived.
This is a start. There are even ways to address cross-border leakage, to prevent people just exporting the damage to other countries through supply chains. And the techniques Professor Helm advocates will be helpful to me as Planetary CFO in building, country by country, the World Balance Sheet. But, as a sustainabilitarian, I know that the 'no worse than we found it' ambition will need to be improved in due course. It is stabilisation but doesn't of itself provide a sustainable future. Stabilisation at current levels would shore up the declines, but what will eventually be needed is stabilisation at sustainable levels, in a global as well as local context. I look forward to seeing the work of the next UK Natural Capital Committee. I hope it will address these points, and that it will help demonstrate the value of a Balance Sheet approach to National Accounts. For more info about my views on World Balance Sheet, see my comments here.
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