Point of view. France must adopt "natural capitalism", by Amory Lovins and Lionel Bony, Le Monde, 09/05/09
The current economic crisis shows the limits of an approach centered on short-term financial gains at the expense of long-term prosperity. Traditional capitalism only values two kinds of capital, money and goods, but ignores the value of two other forms of capital, people and nature. However, using and making the four types of capital grow (money, goods produced, people and nature) allows businesses to earn more money while contributing to general well-being, present and future.
This change in approach can go through the adoption of "Natural Capitalism", a concept proposed ten years ago by Hunter Lovins, Paul Hawken and the author of these lines. The transition to natural capitalism involves four changes in our industrial and commercial practices:
1. A drastic increase in the productivity of natural resources: reducing the waste that characterizes the flows of raw materials, from their extraction or harvest until the end of life of consumer goods represents an important economic opportunity. Companies that fundamentally rethink how they design their supply system and production model can improve the productivity of the natural resources they use 5, 10, or even 100 times, compared to their competitors.
A recent Rocky Mountain Institute project for a data center manager illustrates this idea. The new data center that we have designed consumes 75% less electricity, costs 10% less to build and of course much less in operation; it will generate more revenue per server and per unit of area than a conventional data center. Inaugurated next September, this center will allow the company to meet customer demand more cost effectively; it will serve as a model for the renovation of its existing centers; it will allow it to reduce its carbon footprint.
2. A transition to production models inspired by nature: natural capitalism does not aim simply to reduce waste, it proposes to eliminate the very notion of waste. This ambition can be achieved by setting up "circular" production systems, based on what is done in nature, where any product at the end of its life becomes a nutrient for the ecosystem, or for the manufacture of another product.
A good example of this concept is that of Patagonia, one of the leaders in mountain clothing in the United States. In 2005, the company launched, in collaboration with Teijin, a Japanese manufacturer of fabrics and fibers, a program which allows the recovery and recycling of its polyester clothing. This program invites consumers to return their used clothing to the store. These are in turn woven into garments of the same quality as those made from the initial raw material. Clothing made from recycled fibers saves 76% of energy and 71% of greenhouse gases compared to the production cycle of traditional clothing.
3. The establishment of economic models based on services: traditional economic models are centered on the production and sale of goods. Rather, with natural capitalism, value comes from a constant flow of services from business to consumer. A good example of this model is chemical servicization, where the supplier does not sell the chemicals themselves, but the service they render.
The service provider's remuneration is then linked to the quantity and quality of the services provided, and not to the volume of chemicals sold. When Raytheon, one of the main defense subcontractors in the United States, decided to adopt this type of contract with the chemical manufacturer Haas TCM, the company reduced its purchases and management costs of chemicals. 30% to 40%; it has reduced its chemical waste by 85%; it has virtually eliminated the use of solvents and volatile organic compounds; it has saved $ 400 in annual operating costs.
4. Reinvestment in natural capital: ultimately, businesses must help restore, maintain, and develop the ecosystems of the planet so that they can continue to provide their essential services and maintain the stock of irreplaceable biological resources. This change is likely to create countless economic opportunities. For example, in 2002, New York City was able to avoid spending $ 5 billion by investing in an inexpensive program of ecological restoration of the Catskills Mountains watershed where the city traditionally obtains water, rather than water. construction of a new treatment plant.
Despite these occasional successes, we are still far from a transformation of our economic model. Most companies still behave as if men are the scarce factor of production and nature is the abundant factor of production, as was the case during the first industrial revolution. However, the rare factor has changed since the XNUMXth century: nowadays, men are not rare, but nature has become so. This paradigm shift is observed primarily in the sectors which depend directly on the good health of ecosystems.
We see, for example, the fishing industry now constrained by the number of fish rather than by the capacity of the boats, as is currently illustrated by the fishing quota crisis. Unlike the traditional factors of industrial production, capital and labor, the limiting ecological and biological factors cannot be substituted for each other. Thus, there is no technology or investment that can replace a stable climate or a productive biosphere.
Natural capitalism tackles these problems by reconciling economic and ecological objectives. France has a unique opportunity to adopt this new model. The capacity of this country to put on the market innovations as interesting as Velib ', coupled with certain intelligent interventions of the government such as the bonus-malus (a concept that we had invented at the beginning of the 1970s) show a spirit of project and a certain pragmatism in its implementation.
By marrying its long tradition of innovation and technical prowess, with its more recent intention of reconciling economy and environment (of which he had apparently attested the Grenelle of the environment), France can become the leader in the adoption of natural capitalism. Thus it would considerably strengthen the competitiveness of its economy, the prosperity of its inhabitants and the security of its productive apparatus. It would make a decisive contribution to the safeguard of a livable planet for the human species.
Amory Lovins is co-founder, president and scientific director of the Rocky Mountain Institute, an American energy research center. Lionel Bony is director at the Rocky Mountain Institute.