Join getAbstract to access the summary!

Economic Factors Underlying Biodiversity Loss with Partha Dasgupta, Simon Levin, and Georg Kell

Join getAbstract to access the summary!

Economic Factors Underlying Biodiversity Loss with Partha Dasgupta, Simon Levin, and Georg Kell

Boston Consulting Group,

5 min read
3 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Economic resilience and dynamism depend on protecting biodiversity.

  • 0.5×
  • 0.75×
  • 1×
  • 1.25×
  • 1.5×
  • 1.75×
1×

Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Hot Topic
  • Insider's Take

Recommendation

Gross domestic product – GDP – tracks the output of an economy. But relying on this sole data point ignores the negative aspects of that output on the environment. In this illuminating Boston Consulting Group podcast, host Martin Reeves interviews economists and sustainability experts Sir Partha Dasgupta, Simon Levin and Georg Kell. Their discussion centers on how economic activity threatens the global ecosystem and biodiversity. Business leaders will find this an authoritative examination of the linkage between environmental and economic vibrancy.

Summary

Global efforts to increase GDP have ignored the risk of environmental degradation through climate change and biodiversity loss. 

Global stakeholders are increasingly recognizing the critical importance of advancing sustainability efforts and mitigating climate change effects. Governments and stakeholders must arrest the damage to natural biodiversity. Economic activity since the Industrial Age has caused serious environmental degradation – in particular the loss of species, ecosystems and natural resources. Throughout history, economic development has not recognized, nor assessed, its negative impact on the environment. Economists have long used one measuring stick of progress: the growth of gross domestic product – GDP. 

...

About the Podcast

Sir Partha Dasgupta is a professor emeritus of economics at the University of Cambridge. Simon Levin is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University and a recipient of the National Medal of Science. Georg Kell is the founding executive director of the United Nations Global Compact and chair of Arabesque Partners. Martin Reeves is chair of the BCG Henderson Institute.

Comment on this summary