The Real Global Capital Market

摘要

What is the largest capital market on Earth? It is not the New York Stock Exchange, Euronext or even all the stock markets of the world combined. Global debt markets are much bigger than the world's equity markets of course, but they are not it either.No, the biggest capital market on Earth is the Earth itself. We have been trading its assets for longer than we have understood the concept of money, but we have still to learn how to value it consistently. Nonetheless, we recognise it is worth much morethan the US$ 225 trillion in assets on all of the world's financial markets combined.We currently manage our financial assets for growth, but natural capital assets are shrinking. The rate of species extinction is 100 to 1,000 times the normal background rate — a level not seen since the last major extinction event 6.6 million years ago. Over 40% of people in 2050 will be living in river basins under severe water stress. There are an estimated 400 dead zones in our oceans, where we have depleted the oxygen necessary to support marine life, and we are overfishing roughly 80% of marine fisheries.The ongoing degradation of critical eco-systems and the resulting loss of the Earth's biodiversity are compromising this natural capital market. Much more than just an accounting entry, nature provides essential benefits and services — and not just in the resources that we extract and consume, such as minerals, water and air. River beds and marshes filter and clean water; unimaginable numbers of bacteria convert nitrogen from the air into nitrogen that feeds plants, and then bees provide life-giving pollination services so we can grow our food. We degrade these services at our own cost — forcing ourselves to turn to substitutes such as water treatment works and fertilizers.Where ecosystem degradation reaches global scale there are no substitutes to be found. Indeed, what is now evident is that we are pushing the planet beyond its boundaries. The Planetary Boundaries framework was published in 2009 by a group of 28 internationally renowned scientists, supported by thousands of researchers, and defines nine key areas (such as biodiversity loss, ocean acidification and climate change) where we are pushing towards or past safe limits. Crossing these boundaries could generateabrupt or irreversible environmental changes. Respecting the boundaries