GGKP Knowledge Update – Media Debate: What Makes Your Country Wealthy? New Approaches to Measuring Wealth and Well-Being, A Sustainable Food Future, Blue BioTrade, and more

Jay OwenBeyond GDP, Transforming Finance

“Ethical Markets highly recommends this Newsletter and upcoming events on new ways to measure wealth and progress, these issues on which we have worked for decades!

Hazel Henderson, Editor “

KNOWLEDGE UPDATE

 

December 2018 – Issue 10

Media Debate

What Makes Your Country Wealthy?

 

Has national wealth been miscalculated for decades? Could some countries be wealthier than previously understood because of their natural and social assets? What will happen to our economies if we don’t reverse environmental degradation?

 

Until recently, a country’s ‘wealth’ has been understood in narrow terms (e.g. GDP). Now, Ministries of Finance, national statistics offices, policy units, and corporations are starting to account for wealth in different terms. For the first time, natural and social capital are being quantified alongside productivity. The approach could revolutionise what it means for a country or business to be profitable. It has the potential to overhaul historic divisions between rich and poor countries, or profitable and unprofitable companies, as credit rating agencies and investors shift behaviour.

 

On 9 January (6:00 PM SAST / 5:00 PM CET), the Green Economy Coalition (GEC), the Green Growth Knowledge Platform, and the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) will host a televised debate on CNBC Africa, bringing leaders from business, politics, and NGO’s together to ask – have we been getting “wealth” wrong all these years?

 

The debate is held in the wake of the GEC Global Meeting, “Giving Everyone A Stake in the Green Economy“, and will mark the kick off of the 2019 PAGE Ministerial Conference, “Advancing Inclusive and Sustainable Economies“.

 

More details are available on the GGKP website:

ggkp/event/page-ministerial-conference-2019-media-debate-what-makes-your-country-wealthy

 

 

REGISTERNew Approaches to Measuring Wealth and Well-BeingBeyond GDP: Measuring What Counts 
A new OECD report, “Beyond GDP: Measuring What Counts for Economic and Social Performance”, looks at progress made over the past 10 years in collecting well-being data and using it to inform policies. An accompanying volume, “For Good Measure: Advancing Research on Well-Being Metrics Beyond GDP” presents the latest findings from economists and statisticians on selected issues within the broader agenda on defining and measuring well-being. Both reports are authored by the co-chairs of the 2009 Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Progress (the “Siglitz-Sen-Fitoussi” Commission), Joseph E. Stiglitz, Jean-Paul Fitoussi, and Martine Durand.

 

Read the report

Inclusive Wealth: Manufactured, Human, and Natural Capital

The 2018 edition of the UN Environment “Inclusive Wealth Report” presents the Inclusive Wealth Index, which looks at the manufactured, human, and natural capital of 140 countries, and assesses the changing health of these assets over a quarter of a century – a massive dataset that covers almost an entire generation. This report builds on two previous editions, “Inclusive Wealth Report 2014” and “Inclusive Wealth Report 2012“, which provide guidance and insight for policymakers on how their economies are generating income, how depreciation and reinvestment are affecting capital stocks, and whether system trajectories are sustainable.

 

Read the reportThe Changing Wealth of Nations: Building a Sustainable Future

“The Changing Wealth of Nations 2018: Building a Sustainable Future”, published by the World Bank, tracks the wealth of 141 countries over a 20 year period (1995-2014). These national wealth accounts include produced capital, 19 types of natural capital, net foreign assets, and human capital. Several chapters discuss new work on human capital and its application in development policy, as well as elements of natural capital that are not yet fully incorporated into wealth accounts: air pollution, marine fisheries, and ecosystems. This book builds on the first edition, “Where is the Wealth of Nations? Measuring Capital in the 21st Century?“, published in 2006.

 

Read the report