An IPO for the Earth - Is the Earth an appreciating asset?

Salzburg Global Forum,

Schloss Leopoldskron.

25th June 2013

Joss Tantram

Partner, Terrafiniti LLP/ Towards 9 Billion

Overview

Context – Towards 9 Billion

The Golden Hour for humanity

The Earth IPO

Strategy

Competition

Ownership & revenue

Evolving market purpose

“We are not going to be able to operate

our Spaceship Earth successfully nor for much longer unless we see it as a whole

spaceship and our fate as common. ”

R Buckminster Fuller

Context

Context – Towards 9 Billion

• A positive vision for a sustainable future.

• What if we could welcome 9 billion people rather than fear their arrival?

• What opportunities would this provide for markets businesses and citizens?

“Human judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is

no appeal.”

Arthur C Clarke

A Golden

Hour for

humanity

A Golden Hour for Humanity

• An understanding of the state and health of the planet;

• Deployable resources;

• The social stability and organization that could allow coordinated effort.

“I conceive that the great part of the

miseries of mankind are brought upon

them by false estimates they have made of the value of

things.”

Benjamin Franklin

Earth IPO

Earth IPO – what is it?

• A lens through which to view the critical question of our time – is a sustainable future valuable to humanity?

• A creative thought experiment to explore the dissonance between economic price and sustainable value and answer the following questions .

• Is the Earth a good investment?

• Could investors value the Earth as a going concern?

Earth IPO – founding assumptions

• The Earth is the foundation of all economic value.

• A functioning environment is a prerequisite for a functioning economy.

• That a future market of 9 billion capable citizens is valuable.

• That existing systems can be re-engineered.

Earth IPO – privatisation of the planet?

• An attempt to explore the value of a common enterprise.

• The planet is already bought and sold – shouldn't it be treated as an asset in common ownership?

• Exploring how to embed the value of the Earth’s productive capability to produce water, air, food and wider ecosystem services into finance and economics.

• To wipe out externalities at a stroke?

Earth IPO – compounding the future

• If the Earth was an enterprise it would have:

• a strategy,

• metrics to asses progress,

• a clear understanding of its assets, capabilities, liabilities, market and growth potential.

• And would be valued accordingly.

“Gather the flowers, but spare

the buds.”

Andrew Marvell

Strategy

Earth IPO – the strategy

• For the planet, over the next 40 (ish) years to 2050, to deliver:

• Healthy and thriving ecosystems.

• A global human population of 9 billion capable citizens.

“The principal point of cleverness

is to know how to value things just as

they deserve.”

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Competition

Earth IPO competition – outputs (1)

• Tools to quantify the externalities that limit capacity and opportunities for realising full economic futures,

• research into the links between ecosystem services and the global economy, health and wealth of the world's population,

• tools to identify production technologies and activities that support the provision of ecosystem services,

Earth IPO competition – outputs (2)

• research into the outlook for the planet’s ability to provide ecosystem services from today until 2050 or later based on current technologies and global government policies,

• indications of any changes in technologies and policies that may be required to make the planet a more compelling proposition for investors.

Ownership &

revenue

“No one can be perfectly free till all are free.

No one can be perfectly moral till all are moral.

No one can be perfectly happy till all are happy.”

Herbert Spencer

Ownership and revenue...

(B)earthshare – non-distributable shares assigned on a per person basis upon birth.

Revenue will be from an Economic Capability Fee (ECF), payable by each global citizen to the “planet” once that citizen achieves a pre-tax annual income of £50,000.

The ECF will be levied at 0.5% of total income.

Evolving

market

purpose

“We could have saved the Earth but

we were too damned cheap.”

Kurt Vonnegut

Evolving market purpose

• In a planetary enterprise companies and markets would value:

• People – view a capable citizen as the primary economic actor;

• Abundance - consider the longevity and safety of supply of the resources they depend upon;

• Vitality - act to value and enhance the quality and diversity of the natural capital upon which human life depends, and:

• Interdependence - prioritise mutual equity in relationships with suppliers, customers and other stakeholders.

Email: joss@terrafiniti.com Towards 9 Billion Blog: www.terrafiniti.com/blog

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