Pricing the Priceless The Financial Transformation to Value the Planet, Solve the Climate Crisis, and Protect Our Most Precious Assets

Praise for PRICING THE PRICELESS

“This is a deep meditation on the state of the biosphere and the role humankind has played in bringing it to where it is today. What makes the book remarkable is that it is informed by an extraordinary, exploratory life. DiPerna’s personal experiences have moved her to initiate and engage in remarkable endeavors to create institutions that encourage us to conserve Nature. This is a deeply moving piece of work.”
—SIR PARTHA DASGUPTA, Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus of Economics, Cambridge University, and author of The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review

“DiPerna explores with lyricism the paradox of pricing the environment. As each year of feeble climate action adds to decades of drift, we’re now sensing the reality of thresholds which money cannot smooth away. As she makes vividly clear, there is much to gain if we can reorganize our economies, redesign systems, and refit our landscapes in time, to build a fairer, more sustainable way of life for all.”
—CAMILLA TOULMIN, Senior Associate and former Director, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED); Fellow, Institute for New Economic Thinking

“Everybody knows that if a valuable resource is ‘free,’ it will be overused and eventually depleted. But, with hard-to-pin-down resources such as air, wildlife, and the beauty of nature, it’s challenging to design markets that conserve and allocate them efficiently. In Pricing the Priceless, DiPerna describes how she and her Chicago Climate Exchange colleagues have taken a big step in that direction, to the lasting benefit of all.”
—LAURENCE B. SIEGEL, Director of Research, CFA Institute Research Foundation and author of Fewer, Richer, Greener: Prospects for Humanity in an Age of Abundance

“DiPerna has the soul of an explorer and the mind of an environmentalist, educating the reader about the role of emissions trading in combating climate change. It is all about pricing and she nails it. At every stop in her worldwide journey, we learn about the real-world convergence of finance and the environment. It is a great read for the public who wants to understand the role of markets in fostering social goals and addressing an existential issue.”
—DR. RICHARD L. SANDOR, Chairman and CEO, Environmental Financial Products, and Aaron Director Lecturer in Law and Economics, University of Chicago Law School

An exciting exploration of the new frontier of finance, to value the planet and protect what has too long been treated as free and taken for granted--the natural assets we need and love most

In Pricing the Priceless: The Financial Transformation to Value the Planet, Solve the Climate Crisis, and Protect Our Most Precious Assets, renowned environmental strategist, speaker, world traveler and author Paula DiPerna brings a unique voice and optic to de-mystify and unveil today’s most fascinating financial disruption—pricing the priceless to flip conventional ideas of how we value natural assets and why. She asks the provocative question long ignored: Why do we value the indispensable atmosphere at zero, but dispensable production in the trillions? She digs into alternatives, with real-life examples from around the globe of fascinating and pioneering financial innovations—controversial and paradoxical, but essential. In the book, you’ll travel from rainforests to Wall Street, Board Rooms to the Vatican, coral reefs to mangroves to China’s carbon markets. Timely, adventurous, eclectic, and accessible, Pricing the Priceless brings alive the critical financial transformation that will determine future planetary health and social stability.

With power, clarity and real-world experience, the author also examines:

• Fascinating new financial inventions and experiments—insurance, bonds, markets, investment funds—all aimed at pricing what is precious and vital to human well-being
• How the great current intergenerational shift in wealth and attitudes is redefining investment trends and the idea of what constitutes wealth and return
• How climate change and other urgent environmental problems now require entirely new financial thinking to trigger solutions
• How once-radical ideas about measuring economic progress are now re-imagining the very purpose of capitalism
• Why finance needs critical re-invention to remain credible in the face of increasing public skepticism of business-as-usual economic practice

A can’t-miss read for thought leaders, business executives, investors, activists, and entrepreneurs, Pricing the Priceless is a landmark that will shape the world and future, bridging the tangible and intangible to answer a critical question of rising economic and social inspiration: What is money for?