The planet is experiencing a mass extinction event. Human and business activity are the root cause of species loss and habitat destruction. Ecosystem services, such as essential pollination of food crops through bees, estimated to be annually worth $33 trillion, put at risk due to the mass extinction crisis. As with any material financial risk, it requires risk management tools, disclosure, audit, accountability and monitoring.
Any part of the financial system not incorporating biodiversity, species protection and extinction prevention into its risk management strategy, is failing to acknowledge the potential for financial losses.
In this webinar we introduce extinction governance, a concept based on an inter- and multi-disciplinary effort drawing from the fields of financial accounting, ecology, conservation science, business finance, sustainability science and business governance.
We propose a framework for acting on species extinction. A transformative and emancipatory framework: Appreciating the possibility of using business and its practices - like accounting, ESG and good governance - to overcome the destructive pathways that our current system of capital and industry have been locked into for centuries, and address risks for shareholders and stakeholders alike.
During this webinar we aim to discuss:
- The current mass extinction crisis: background, drivers and solutions
- The cost of an inactive stance on extinction and biodiversity
- Inter- and multi-disciplinary approaches to address the current mass extinction
- The role of corporate governance in addressing extinction risk
Panel:
Jill Atkins, Chair in Financial Management, University of Sheffield
Mervyn King, Senior Counsel and former Judge, Supreme Court of South Africa
Mxolisi Sibana, Senior Programme Advisor, WWF UK
Martina Macpherson, President, Network for Sustainable Financial Markets CIC
Moderator:
Christoph Biehl, Lecturer for Responsible Business, University of Birmingham