Intersecting Externalities: Climate Change, Natural Capital, and Human Well-Being

Ben Groom was invited to the Washington-based environmental economics research and think tank, Resources for the Future. He presented work from the NERC BIOADD and  NERC RENEW projects on how to measure and value biodiversity joint work with the Dragon team: Sarah Meier and Ben Balmford, LEEP affiliate Michela Faccioli and BIOADD co-investigator at the LSE and Dragon affiliate Frank Venmans. Ben Groom presented work from WP1 of the BIOADD project introducing the concept of the value of a statistical species. This was preceded by work comparing expert and public preferences for biodiversity and illustrating how cost effective policy outcomes differ radically depending on the biodiversity metric pursued. The intention of the meeting as a whole is to guide natural capital valuation in the (UC Davis) and Marc Conte (Fordham University), is ongoing. This Summer School covers recent theories and empirical approaches of discounting future benefits and costs, with a special focus on uncertainties surrounding environmental outcomes.