6 October 2008 | Barcelona, Spain
Panel discussion at the IUCN World Conservation Congress Financial institutions are increasingly engaging on environmental issues. However, at an initial scoping meeting of UNEP FI’s Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services workstream, a number of barriers to the serious engagement of the finance world – and therefore companies more generally – on the issue of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services were identified:
- lack of comprehensive valuation of ecosystem services;
- lack of tools for companies to assist in their management of their impacts on biodiversity and associated ecosystem services; and
- lack of tools for the finance sector to evaluate impacts and reward good behaviour through increased shareholder value.
A study commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and the European Commission in 2007 – The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity (TEEB) – indicated that from 2000 and 2050, society will use ecosystem services with a total equivalent value of around £40 billion from land based ecosystems alone. This panel discussion, held as a side-event to the IUCN World Congress brought together experts from the private sector, academia, NGOs and government to consider the implications of these findings for the private sector, outline current private sector responses, identify key gaps in knowledge and action, and catalyse action to address these gaps. Detailed Event Summary (PDF: 212 KB) Chair:
- Mike Kelly: Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, KPMG Europe LLP
Presenter & co-chair:
- Annelisa Grigg: Director of Environmental Markets, Fauna & Flora International
Presentation: Ecosystem Services : Public policy developments, emerging tools and barriers to action (PDF: 1 MB)
Panellists:
- Stuart Anstee: Principle Advisor, Environment, Rio Tinto Australia
- Simon Brooks: Vice President, European Investment Bank
- Sagarika Chatterjee: Associate Director, Governance & Sustainable Investment, F&C Asset Management
- Rudolf de Groot: Associate Professor, Wageningen University, the Netherlands
- Craig Hanson: Deputy Director, People & Ecosystems Program, World Resources Institute
- Sachin Kapila: Biodiversity Advisor, Shell
- Roberto Pedraza: Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda Mexico
- Pavan Sukhdev: Managing Director & Head of Global Markets, Deutsche Bank
- Susan Steinhagen: Programme Manager, Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services, UNEP Finance Initiative
- Emma Stewart: Business for Social Responsibility