Capitalists don’t care about the environment. Industry, agriculture and commerce have long exploited nature’s resources. The pursuit of profit pays scant regard to the underlying cost of using up the planet’s capital.

That’s the familiar story that we hear about capitalists. But a growing number of voices are claiming that big business and nature in fact make perfect partners.

Intelligence Squared, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, brought together some of the world’s leading conservation experts, along with voices from the worlds of finance and industry, to ask whether working in tandem with nature is the soundest investment that business can make.

CHAIR

Matthew Taylor - Chief Executive of the RSA and soon-to-be Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation

FEATURING

Tony Juniper - Sustainability adviser

Nick Dearden - Director of the World Development Movement

Peter Kareiva - Chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy

Jeremy Oppenheim - Senior partner at McKinsey

Lucy Siegle - Ethical living columnist for The Observer

This event was recorded at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, in London, on the 9th of February 2015

—

We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be.

Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us @intelligence2.

And if you’d like to support our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations, as well as ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today.

Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Money can grow on trees: what's good for nature is good for business 01:02:30 Share

Intelligence Squared

Shownotes Transcript

Money can grow on trees: what's good for nature is good for business