What we do
The Dragon Capital team, together with our partners and networks, works on economic incentives, valuation and policy to make biodiversity and nature visible and salient in decision-making by individuals, business, financial institutions, and government. We use methods from economics and finance in combination with expertise in the physical and natural sciences to evaluate policy, understand the measurement and importance biodiversity and isolate instruments that work to reduce degradation and restore biodiversity.
The DC Chair is concerned with biodiversity loss wherever it happens, be it bird diversity in the UK and Europe, the tropical forests of the global south or marine environments. The DC Chair also sees biodiversity loss as an ethical issue in that it affects people and future generations. We address the ethical issues. We bring theory, data and empirical methods to bear on the problem of global biodiversity loss.
Biodiversity economics
The study of biodiversity economics explores how economies are embedded in nature, how nature and biodiversity can be integrated into economic-decision making and incentives. Biodiversity and nature are typically invisible in (external to) day-to-day decision making: consumer purchases, production, financial decisions, government policy, investment and regulatory change. The resulting pattern of economic behaviour and policy making is consequently unsustainable and subjects society to excessive risks and inequalities. Biodiversity economics addresses critical gaps in our current understanding of the economic values, benefits and costs that society derives from biodiversity, not just for current generations but also future ones. Biodiversity economics is unavoidably inter-disciplinary as a result. Economic insights are tempered and informed by the physical and natural sciences, as well as other social sciences, such as philosophy and ethics. The idea that the economy is embedded in the environment means that not only must economic models be underpinned by ecological insights (dynamics, irreversibility, non-linearity and tipping points) but any interventions to address biodiversity loss need to be informed of the realities of economic actors and the potential for unintended and perverse economic responses to seemingly sensible policies. Biodiversity economics uses the full range of theoretical and empirical tools to understand the dynamics of the economy and nature, the impact on the economy of biodiversity loss, the institutional and behavioural determinants of biodiversity loss and the causal nature of policy interventions; i.e. what works to achieve policy objectives. These are the perspectives that the Dragon Capital Chair draws from. The importance of this field was highlighted in the seminal Dasgupta Review on the Economics of Biodiversity commissioned by the UK Treasury in 2021.
Networks and affiliations
BIOECON
BIOECON (Biodiversity and Economics for Conservation) is an interdisciplinary network which seeks to advance economic theory and policy for biodiversity conservation. The 23rd Annual BIOECON Conference: Biodiversity, Finance and Economy was held at the University of Exeter in September 2022. Leading economists, lawyers and scientists are assembled through BIOECON to work on the design and implementation of cutting edge economic incentives for biodiversity conservation.
UKNEE
The UK Network of Environmental Economists brings together environmental economists from academia, consultancy and public and private sectors to foster closer relationships, follow recent developments and share experience. The UKNEE network organises and hosts monthly webinars, shares news through a free monthly newsletter, operates the Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy (JEEP) and hold a yearly conference, Envecon.
EAERE
The European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists is an international scientific association. Founded in 1990 and holds annual conferences across Europe. It contributes to the development and application of environmental, climate and resource economics as a science; to encourage and improve collaboration and communication between scholars, researchers, policymakers and students; and to develop and encourage cooperation across universities and research institutions.
Grantham Research Institute
The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment was established by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2008, as a world-leading multidisciplinary centre for policy-relevant research and training on climate change and the environment. It brings together international expertise from across the LSE and beyond, with representatives from the fields of economics, finance, geography, the environment, science, law, international relations, development and political science.
SDSN
The UN’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) works under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General. It mobilizes the world’s universities, think tanks, and national laboratories for action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. It also empowers societies through free online education and translates scientific evidence and ideas into solutions with accountability.
ISPONRE
The Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment (ISPONRE) is a research agency on strategies and policies, under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), with headquarters in Ha Noi, Vietnam. Its aims are; to research, propose and develop strategies and policies in the areas of MONRE’s mandate; to conduct scientific and technological research, to provide consultancy services and training courses on natural resource management and environmental protection, in accordance with the Law.
InResearch.online
InResearch.online is a team of academics and educators using applied economic theory and statistical methods to study how people feel, think and behave. The team conducts independent research with the aim to inform the design of public policies for the benefit of the people they serve. In addition to the advance of scientific knowledge, one of our goals is to make the realities of the people we study known to others.
LEEP Institute
The Land Environment, Economics and Policy Institute (LEEP) is home to the Dragon Capital Chair and located within the Department of Economics in the University of Exeter Business School. Founded in 2016, it is a thriving inter-disciplinary research group, where core economic skills combine with the natural, physical, social and data sciences, as well as expertise in impact facilitation and partnership development.
LEEP delivers policy-focused academic research, outputs and tools that drive real world change, helping to solve local and global environmental challenges.
University of Exeter Business School
The UK’s leading Business School that prioritises leadership for a better world. This ethos is infused in everything the School does, including teaching students how to use sustainable and responsible business principles to become successful leaders.
Named Business School of the Year in the 2022 Times Higher Education Awards, known as the “Oscars” of higher education, this accolade is among the most prestigious in the industry, in recognition of the School’s commitment to addressing the climate crisis.
Photograph: The LEEP Institute, Xfi Building, University of Exeter
Photograph: University of Exeter Business School
Partners and funders
