A presentation of Terrafiniti's IPO for the Earth concept to an international audience at the Salzburg Global Seminar. An audio of the presentation is available here: http://soundcloud.com/salzburgglobal/joss-tantram-edited

1. 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

2. Overview
 Context – Towards 9 Billion
 The Golden Hour for humanity
 The Earth IPO
 Strategy
 Competition
 Ownership & revenue
 Evolving market purpose

3. “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

4. 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?

5. “Human judges can show
mercy. But against the
laws of nature, there is
no appeal.”
Arthur C Clarke
A Golden
Hour for
humanity

6. 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.

7. “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

8. 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?

9. 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.

10. 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?

11. 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.

12. “Gather the
flowers, but spare
the buds.”
Andrew Marvell
Strategy

13. 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.

14. “The principal
point of cleverness
is to know how to
value things just as
they deserve.”
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Competition

15. 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,

16. 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.

17. 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

18. 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.

19. Evolving
market
purpose
“We could have
saved the Earth but
we were too
damned cheap.”
Kurt Vonnegut

20. 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.

21. Email: joss@terrafiniti.com
Towards 9 Billion Blog:
www.terrafiniti.com/blog
Making business sense of sustainability