Financing a Green Economy

1
Financing a Green Economy

• Dimensions of SRI

2
Stages of Environmentalism

• Conservation
• John Muir

3
Stages Environmentalism

• Regulation
• Rachel Carson

4
Stages Environmentalism

• Investment
• E.F. Schumacher

5
Finance Regulation

• Preferential access to credit investment
  capital one of the most important elements of a
  postindustrial incentive/disincentive structure
  
• Crucial connection to emerging indicators of real
  wealth
  
• Need for an alternative financial system

6
Investment What would a green or knowledge-based
economy look like?

• Focus on Services (human environmental need)
  nutrition, access, illumination, education, etc.
  
• Organization in closed loops the ecosystem
  model.

7
Investment 3 primary concerns

• limiting social environmental destruction
• taking control over our earnings savings
• financing regeneration
• despite Clean Tech, increasingly a small
  business/community concern
  
• community investment key
• a values-driven business issue

8
Basic Problems

• Prevalence of short-term over long-term
  investment
  
• Single bottom line full costs and social- eco-
  benefits are invisible.
  
• Lack of Democracy input from stakeholders
  financial control by ecopreneurs
  
• Speculation The Casino Economy

9
Debt, Illth Casino Economy

• Chronic crisis of effective demand and the role
  of debt in postwar world.
  
• Relationship of monetary to material economy
  interest rate standard
  
• Info technology funny money
• Necessity of new monetary innovations community
  currencies, Interra, etc.
  

10
Speculation Mainstream SRI

• Is the stock market primarily concerned with
  investment?
  
• Role of share price in performance of
  investments
  
• How can qualitative factors be included in
  performance?
  

11
Who Does Corporate SRI?

• Faith community, churches
• mutual ethical funds for individual retail
  investors
  
• Institutional investors (pension funds)
  interested in SD.
  
• Commercial banks concerned with social and enviro
  risk in project finance and lending

12
How Much Is Happening?

• 350 firms in EU for retail investors .5 of
  total assets
  
• 3-5 of institutional investors
• eco- and social banks credit unions

13
Values-Driven Business SRI

• Debate about going public
• Beyond bootstrapping? How can we finance
  smaller-scale green alternatives?
  
• Debt vs. Equity
• New enterprise networks institutions
  development banks, loan funds, etc.
  
• Local Stock Markets?

14
NGOs Profit

• A path for self-reliance?
• Dangers
• Hybrid networks and institutions?