On the 17^th of October, we hosted an event with our members and partners Wragge & Co. on the rather interesting and thought provoking topic of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) at 142, Holborn.

Chairing the event was Tony Manwaring, CEO, Tomorrow's Company with a brilliant speaker panel of Mr. Pavan Sukhdev and Mr. Herman Mulder.
 
Tony opened the event with a rather cute video of the Photosynthesis Song, which paved way for more serious discussion on the above mentioned topic.

Pavan (of Deutsche Bank and the Green Indian States Trust (GIST)) is the study leader for TEEB, a project emerging from out a discussion at the meeting of G8+5 environment ministers in 2007. He made a fascinating and eye opening presentation detailing a compelling economic case for the conservation of biodiversity, which are highlighted in the interim TEEB report. 

Joining Pavan was Herman Mulder (former Senior Executive Vice President, ABN AMRO, TEEB advisory board), who spoke about how the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity could be embraced by business for recognising potential risks, externalities and new opportunities from his own very personal experience as former Head of Global Risk at ABN AMRO.

You can listen to the speeches here.

You can also listen to an interview with Herman Mulder here.

This event was indeed a milestone, as the recent toppling of the financial markets have forced us to ‘rethink our catastrophic ecological trajectory’, as George Monbiot from The Guardian argues.

Let this be step one – creating awareness – in an organisation’s effort to become an ecologically sensitive force for good.