BUSINESS NEWS LESSONS

Can we save the environment

with economics?
1 Warmer

a. In pairs, discuss why the following might be effective ways to measure the importance of
looking after the environment.

• Volume of carbon in the air

• Centimetres of increase in ocean levels

• Dollar value of natural resources

• Degrees of change in global temperatures

2 Key words and expressions

a. Complete the definitions using these words taken from the article. Find the key words in the
article to see them used in context. They appear in the same order.

activism  biodiversity  capital  climate change  consensus  emissions
fiscal  guesstimate  imperative  number crunching  resilient  shift

1. relating to money and financial matters, especially taxes

2. valuable resources that are not money such as houses

3. a change in something, for example in someone’s ideas or opinions

4. the act of taking part in activities to achieve political or social change

5. the variety of different types of plant and animal life in a particular region

6. something that is extremely important and urgent

7. substances, especially gases, that go into the air

8. able to quickly become healthy or strong again after a problem

9. to calculate the size amount of something when not all the facts are available to you
Intermediate

10. work that involves doing a lot of calculations, especially when you think this is boring

11. agreement among all the people involved

12. the factors affecting the world’s weather so that it is becoming warmer
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 BUSINESS NEWS LESSONS
Why we need to put a number on our
natural resources
PEOPLE FIND IT EASIER TO CONSIDER NATURE WORTH PROTECTING WHEN WE ASSIGN A FINANCIAL
VALUE TO IT
1 Economists at the mighty International Monetary
Fund used to joke that the institution’s acronym
should actually stand for “It’s Mostly Fiscal.” No
wonder: the IMF is (in)famous for fretting about
countries’ budget plans, tax policies, growth
strategies and capital flows.
2 Last week, however, the IMF’s managing director
Kristalina Georgieva discussed how some of its
employees have branched into an unlikely pastime:
whale-watching.
3 “We have economists studying whales,” she told
a panel organised by the Paulson Institute, a
foundation created by Henry Paulson, former US
Treasury secretary and Goldman Sachs luminary,
that often champions environmental causes.
4 One of these economists is Ralph Chami, an IMF
official who has studied how whales sequester CO2,
removing it from the atmosphere, as part of an IMF
analysis of the value of natural capital — the world’s
stock of natural resources. (Whales apparently
sequester 33 tonnes of CO2 over a lifetime.)
5 Does this matter? Some mainstream economists
might mutter about mission creep. But the initiative
is worth noting. It reveals a subtle but striking shift in
the global green debate that is now underway and
that will be an important topic at this week’s annual
UN general assembly.
6 In the past few years, the world has woken up with
a vengeance to the problem of carbon emissions,
thanks in part to activists such as Greta Thunberg,
who has inspired a generation to campaign against
fossil fuels. But now Paulson and Georgieva are part
Intermediate
of efforts to expand the focus of this activism from
a narrow debate around emissions towards a wider
one around biodiversity and natural capital.
7 Quite apart from the moral and spiritual imperative
behind the drive to protect nature, people such as
Paulson argue that there are two additional points:
destroying nature not only hurts the economy but
Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
also makes it harder to combat the emissions we’re
now trying to reduce. Conversely, protecting nature
makes the planet more resilient to environmental
shocks and negative changes.
8 With that messaging in mind, the Paulson Institute
and the IMF are now scrambling to put some
tangible numbers around the contribution of
natural capital. A report from the Paulson Institute,
the Nature Conservancy and others last week
suggests that 30–50 per cent of the planet’s species
will vanish by the middle of the century without
action — and that the bill to prevent this would be
$600bn-$820bn a year.
9 It also points out that the World Economic Forum has
guesstimated that $44tn — about half — of global
gross domestic product depends on natural capital,
while the value of forests in terms of carbon capture
alone could be $100tn.
10 Now, some observers might argue that affixing dollar
signs to nature is ridiculous, not to mention immoral,
since it implies that the only things that matter are
those that carry a price. In any case, these numbers
entail so much guesswork that they are apt to
seem fantastical.
11 However, Paulson insists that number crunching is
needed: “The problem is that people assume that
natural capital is a free good, and if you don’t put a
value on it, they will value it as zero.”
12 What is really interesting is that this new drive to
quantify the issue reflects another imperative: the
topic of biodiversity might yet turn into a tool that
could forge some modicum of consensus on “green”.
13 While the issue of climate change and carbon
emissions tends to be politically polarising,
particularly in countries such as the US, talking
about biodiversity is often less contentious.
Some Republicans, for example, find it far easier
to embrace policies labelled as “environmental
protection” than “climate change”.
Continued on next page
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 BUSINESS NEWS LESSONS

14 So too on the international stage. Discussions
about climate change often spark a blame game
between countries such as the US and China, since
they raise questions about who is responsible for
emissions — previous high polluters or nations busily
developing now — and thus who should curb them
most aggressively. US President Donald Trump and
Chinese President Xi Jinping traded barbs over this at
the UN this week.
15 Discussions about biodiversity, however, tend to focus
more on mitigation and resilience. This can still spark
fights (as seen during the recent battles between
Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and environmental
activists around rainforest destruction in the Amazon),
but overall they tend to be less stark.
17 Of course, such hopes might yet turn out to be naive,
given that the Covid-19 pandemic is distracting
policymakers — and cutting the level of financial
resources available to protect nature or anything
else. But there again, the pandemic has also shown
clearly the cost of ignoring science and our global
connections; indeed, those championing biodiversity
argue that the spread of zoonotic diseases — ones
that jump from animal to human, such as Covid-19
— is partly a result of our lack of respect for
natural capital.
18 Either way, it’s worth remembering the whales; if
nothing else, they show how orthodoxies can change,
even in economics.

16 “We can argue about what is causing climate change

. . . but we cannot argue about what is happening
now,” says Paulson. “So I think you will find people
coming together and saying, ‘What do we need to
do to protect against climate shocks like storms and
forest fires?’”

Gillian Tett, September 23 2020

© The Financial Times.
All rights reserved. Articles republished from the Financial Times.

Glossary
tangible (adj)
important and noticeable
mitigation (n)
a reduction in the harmful effects of something
orthodoxy (n)
an idea or practice that is accepted by most people as being correct or usual
Intermediate

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3 Understanding the article

a. Choose the best answer for the questions from the options given.

1. What have economists from the IMF recently been studying?

a. activism

b. whales

c. politics

2. What is ‘natural capital’

a. the value of the world’s natural resources

b. the greenest place on Earth

c. the money that the environment could generate

3. How do Henry Paulson and Kristalina Georgieva want to change environmental activism?

a. They want activists to stop talking about carbon emissions.

b. They want activism to focus more on biodiversity and natural capital.

c. They want to end it.

4. How much is it estimated to cost in order to save 30-50 percent of the Earth’s species?

a. $100tn

b. $44tn

c. $600bn-$820bn

5. What could help political parties agree on green issues?

a. talking about ‘environmental protection’ rather than ‘climate change’

b. talking less about biodiversity

c. investigating who is responsible for emissions

6. Which of the following statements is Henry Paulson’s opinion:

Intermediate

a. He thinks that people can come to an agreement on the causes of climate change.

b. He thinks that people don’t care enough about the storms and forest fires that are
happening now.

c. He thinks that people want to work together to prevent the natural disasters that are
happening now.
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 BUSINESS NEWS LESSONS

4 Business language – Verbs commonly used in business

a. Rearrange the letters to make verbs from the article. The paragraph clues are given to
help you.

Paragraphs 1–3

1. darncheb noit

2. masphoinc

Paragraphs 6–8

3. angcipam

4. stingoyerd

5. tomacb

6. maringscleb

Paragraphs 12–14

7. regof

8. creemab

9. skrap

10. bruc

b. Write the correct verb next to its definition. You can look back at the article to see the words
in context.

1. to develop a successful relationship, especially in business or politics, with another country,

organization, or person

2. to damage something so severely that it no longer exists or can never return to its normal state

3. to control or limit something that is harmful

Intermediate

4. to take action in order to try to stop something bad from happening or a bad situation

5. to publicly support or defend a set of beliefs, political aims, or a group of people

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6. to start doing something new or different

7. to completely accept something such as a new belief, idea, or way of life

8. to make something happen, especially something involving violence or angry feelings

9. to try to achieve political or social change by persuading other people or the government to do

something

10. to hurry or try very hard to get something, often competing with other people

c. In pairs, ask and answer the questions below using the verbs from above.

• How do you forge new business relationships?

• Which new areas do you think your company should branch into?

• What is the best way to combat negative behaviour in a team?

• How should a company curb any excessive spending?

5 Discussion questions

• Do you think it is possible to put a price on nature?

• How can talking about ‘environmental protection’ be more effective than talking about
‘climate change’?

6 Wider business theme – A business meeting

a. In pairs or small groups, write down how the opinion of economists and environmental
activists might be different about the following:

• natural capital
Intermediate

• the future of environmental activism

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b. In your groups, imagine that you are in a meeting about ways to increase people’s awareness
of the actions needed to protect the environment. Divide yourselves into economists and
environmental activists and put forward the following perspectives:

Economists: You believe that the planet should be protected and that people only understand the
importance of something once it has been given a financial value.

Environmental activists: You believe that the planet should be protected and that animals and
wildlife should be respected not for their value but because they are living things.

c. Discuss your opinions on natural capital and environmental activism. Can you agree on some
next steps? Share the results of your discussion with the class.
Intermediate

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 BUSINESS NEWS LESSONS
Can we save the environment
with economics?
Key:
Title of the lesson: Can we save the
1. fiscal 7. emissions
environment with economics?
2. capital 8. resilient
3. shift 9. guesstimate
Level: Intermediate (B1–B2)
4. activism 10. number crunching
Time: 60–90 minutes 5. biodiversity 11. consensus
6. imperative 12. climate change
Groups: one-to-one, small groups,
whole class 3. Understanding the article

Business topics: developing a strategy a. Ask the students to choose the best answer for the
questions from the options given. Explain to the
Business language focus: verbs commonly students that the questions get gradually more difficult.
used in business
Key:
Skills: reading, speaking, writing 1. b 4. c
2. a 5. a
Materials: one copy of the worksheet 3. b 6. c
per student
4. B
 usiness language – Verbs
commonly used in business
Overview: This lesson is based on an a. Ask the students to rearrange the letters to make verbs
authentic article from a trusted news source. and to use the paragraph clues to help them find the
The article talks about how economists are
verbs. Explain that in Business English they are often
studying biodiversity in order to put a value
used to describe objectives, goals and strategies.
on natural capital. By doing this, they hope to
broaden the scope of environmental activism
and encourage polarised political groups to Key:
work together to save the planet. 1. branched into 6. scrambling
2. champions 7. forge
3. campaign 8. embrace
4. destroying 9. spark
1. Warmer 5. combat 10. curb

a. Ask students to discuss how the different ways b. Ensure that students check their answers for activity
to measure the importance of looking after the a before matching the action verbs to their definitions.
environment could make people aware of what Have them look back at the article to view the verbs
needs to be done. See how they feel about the in context.
idea of putting a financial value on natural resources.
Key:
2. Key words and expressions 1. forge 6. branch into
Intermediate

2. destroy 7. embrace
a. This article contains a lot of vocabulary that will be 3. curb 8. spark
challenging for the students. If necessary, have them 4. combat 9. campaign
work in pairs to complete this. Students can use the 5. champion 10. scramble
context of the article to understand the words so
mention that the words are in the same order as in c. Ask students to work in pairs asking and answering
the article. the questions given using the verbs from above. Make
sure that students speak in complete sentences.
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5. Discussion questions

Have students work in groups to discuss the questions.

If they need to be prompted, encourage them to consider
some of the following as an example:

• ethical reasons why some people feel uncomfortable

putting a price on nature
• how activists might react to the change in direction
away from ‘climate change’
• the possibility to unite people of opposing viewpoints

6. Wider business theme – A business

meeting

a. Put the students in pairs or small groups and ask them

to write down how economists and environmental
activists might have different opinions on natural
capital and the future of environmental activism.
This is a complex topic with tricky vocabulary. However,
provided students have completed these notes, they
should be prepared with ideas.

b. Ask the students to divide themselves into economists

and environmental activists, within their groups, and
begin the roleplay of a meeting. Monitor the roleplays
closely and be available to step in to prompt students
for their opinions. When students share the result
of their conversations with the class, make sure
both the economists and environmental activists are
well represented.
Intermediate

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