The document summarizes a climate summit where participants discussed defining and achieving net positive impact through a restorative economy. They agreed that radical partnerships and collaboration between business, government, and civil society are needed. Business should minimize their impacts and maximize benefits in areas like energy/carbon, forests/biodiversity, and water. Government should support long-term strategies beyond GDP and incentivize sustainability. Further research is recommended on restorative practices and frameworks to incorporate environmental and social value.

1. MOVING
TOWARDS
A RESTORATIVE
ECONOMY
29 SEPTEMBER,
CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS HALL
LONDONCLIMATE SUMMIT 2014
SUMMARY REPORT

2. Climate change, extensive biodiversity loss and global population growth represent the
greatest challenges we are facing in the 21st century.
Together, we have the knowledge, funding and technology available to successfully reverse
these destructive impacts. All groups and people on ‘enterprise earth’ have a role to play in
harnessing our collective resources to transform the global economic model.
On Monday 29th September 2014, the 4th B4E Climate Summit was held in London.
Organised by Global Initiatives in partnership with WWF-UK, The Climate Group, Forum
for the Future and ICAEW, the event asked participants to define net positive impact whilst
agreeing on practical actions for business, governments and civil society, covering energy
& carbon, forestry & biodiversity and water. This document summarises the discussions
and recommendations agreed by participants.
NET POSITIVE IMPACT
Pioneering companies are already demonstrating their capability as a restorative force
to strengthen society, spur innovation and combat climate change. They are replenishing
more water and creating more energy than they use, whilst enabling biodiversity to thrive.
They have chosen to go beyond zero impact and the circular economy by creating
regenerative business models that have a net positive impact on the triple bottom line.
Net positive approaches go beyond traditional CSR in their vision, scale and scope. Strong
investment and innovation requirements mean this cannot be achieved alone.
The concept of net positive is relatively new. Consequently, there is a need for more
sophisticated definitions and universal mechanisms, as well as the ideal political and
financial frameworks, for a restorative economy. Delegates were in agreement that despite
uncertainties, organisations should begin with practical action, with a view to learning
through doing.
PARTNERSHIP AND COLLABORATION
Delegates agreed that radical partnerships and pre-competitive peer-to-peer collaboration
will be critical to achieve the system-level change required. The opportunities arising from
net positive business strategies are only realised through becoming engaged with relevant
networks, both including and going beyond the value chain.
To achieve net positive, business should:
Look at ways to stabilise supplier relationships, enhance traceability and support
suppliers to act sustainably
Begin dialogue with local governments and communities to map impact hot spots and
interdependencies
Ensure that industry bodies, certification schemes and investments align with the
material issues and values of the business
Create products and services to help customers have a net positive impact
Crowd source for net positive ideas among employees and other stakeholders
Be transparent in internal and external communication

3. THE ROLE OF BUSINESS
The Net Positive Working Group, hosted by Forum for the Future, WWF and The Climate
Group, includes innovative companies who are already working towards net positive
outcomes and demonstrating business benefits. There is an important role for pioneering
companies to set an example for net positive and ensure that incremental efficiency
improvements sit within a bolder vision for change.
To support the move to a restorative economy, businesses should:
Help other organisations work towards the same agenda, including those who do not
have a direct operational impact on the environment
Together advocate for a clear, appropriate and stable regulatory framework
Work closely with national governments in their countries of operation to ensure
businesses are both addressing the national agenda and helping to shape it
Demonstrate that business stakeholders welcome and demand both disincentives and
incentives required for transformation in the short and long term
THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
Whilst the international community is currently working towards a global climate
agreement, local and national governments have a significant role to play in the
governance of inherently localised environmental entities such as water and forest.
To support system-level change, government should:
Work more closely with businesses to produce long-term strategies that go beyond GDP
and consider natural capital
Tailor and more widely implement policies that have already successfully produced
restorative outcomes
Ensure that subsidies for sustainability as well as tender processes a) support new
innovative businesses as well as the incumbents, and b) recognise business’ vision for
the future, not just what they have done in the past
Ensure that public procurement policies support net positive strategies
Create ministerial synergies to work towards a restorative economy
Improve communication systems between governments at all levels
THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY
Non-governmental organisations, think tanks and consultancies are connectors between
businesses, governments and communities.
To enable organisations to shape their future operating context, these groups can:
Facilitate sharing of net positive roadmaps
Help to pilot net positive projects, for example customer choice editing and reward
schemes for the purchase of net positive products
Work with government to establish clear environmental disclosure standards
Develop guidelines for the monitoring, (integrated) reporting and verification of net
positive strategies
Explore opportunities to support business in convincing their CFOs and board of the
business logic around a value-enhancing net positive approach
Help to formulate incentives for the achievement of net positive KPIs up to board level
Aid capacity building, training and financial support for natural resource managers,
including indigenous peoples and farmers in emerging economies, to allow them to
benefit from working sustainably

4. RECOMMENDED RESEARCH
Business and government should be informed by the latest science. These key areas are
identified for further analysis:
What restorative business practices can learn from a) nature, b) indigenous communities
and sharing economies, c) innovation sources including start-ups and young people
The applied definition of net positive management across industrial sectors
The feasibility of moving beyond foot printing and natural capital accounting to produce
a framework that incorporates monetary, environmental and societal value
The estimated triple bottom line impacts of modelled ‘climate finance’ options, financial
innovation and economic policy mechanisms (such as re-pricing commodities,
facilitating trade, green bonds, permits and tax)
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A NET POSITIVE ENVIRONMENT
The actions recommended by participants in three event working groups are listed in their
focus areas below. Although, holistic net positive approaches should acknowledge that our
ecosystems are interrelated. More than three quarters of the world’s accessible freshwater
comes from forested catchments, which also play a large role in carbon sequestration.
Potential trade-offs between these ecosystems should be identified, addressed and avoided.
ENERGY & CARBON
Recommendations for business:
Drive energy efficiency and reduce energy use across the entire value chain
If possible, look at capturing carbon and producing renewable energy for others to use
Advocate for sophisticated carbon pricing as well as the mandatory disclosure of carbon
data at a higher quality and quantity
Scope 1, 2, 3 levels of carbon emissions should be covered in measurement
Recommendations for government policy:
Provide a realistic price for carbon with a clear timeline for its depreciating value
Provide favourable incentives for creators of renewable energy, retrofitting and efficiency
Support the decarbonisation of the national grid
Create a policy framework that supports the availability and affordability of clean tech
FOREST & BIODIVERSITY
Recommendations for all:
Produce research that models various approaches to tackling the root causes of
biodiversity loss
Look for restoration opportunities in the areas surrounding those used by business to
ensure that the carbon absorptive capacity is greater than before operations began
Focus initiatives on products that cause deforestation, for example soy and palm oil
Ensure it is more valuable to keep trees standing
Work to address the need for education of business and wider society around the link
between companies and products with the natural world
Demarcate and conserve high value primary forest

5. WATER
Recommendations for business:
Measure and reduce water use, then look at the feasibility of processes such as
desalinisation, pollution prevention, on-site waste water treatment plants
Replenishing water to go beyond net zero impact in the water basin
Raise awareness among suppliers and consumers to help them reduce their own use
Recommendations government policy:
De-commoditise the water market by developing a tiered water pricing structure that
takes into account localised factors of water quality, scarcity and accessibility
Implement price penalties for extraction from water sources such as deep acquirers
Ensure better transparency from water utilities, for example around leaking pipes
Provide geographically-specific caps that are related to environmental indicators like
water flow
Revise safety standards so they ensure public health, but do not inhibit the use of safe
water
Produce regulation that encourages the use of rain and grey water
Rain water harvesting should be included in new building regulations
MOVING TOWARDS A RESTORATIVE ECONOMY TODAY
The net positive agenda sets the future for a business strategy where positive externalities
match financial growth.
Every individual and organisation has something to give and something they can do. The
actions being taken need to be institutionalised, widely communicated and scaled up,
inclusively.
Organiser: Partners:
Event Partners: