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Tony Juniper gives his thoughts ahead of the ADBA National Conference 2013

Ahead of the ADBA National Conference 2013 (3 December, Westminster), we asked session chair Tony Juniper, Sustainability and Environmental Advisor, TonyJuniper.com Ltd what he is currently working on, what he would do if he was Chancellor and much more. Here are some of his responses:

What do you think the strengths of AD are? How does it fit into what you want to achieve over the next two years?

It is a closed loop technology. This is a vital aspect of how we will achieve a sustainable society. The fact that it is about innovation and job creation really assists in making the economic case for environmental transformations.

If you were to become the Chancellor what would you change and why?

I’d introduce national accounts that reflect the state of natural capital and social well-being. Crude measures of growth are a big part of the continuing problem, as they render invisible the downsides of how we presently do ‘development’, including social exclusion and depletion of environmental capital. If we measured these things more clearly in an economic sense then we’d be in a far better position to manage them from a policy point of view.

Realistically, what are the top three things you want to achieve in the next two years?

To re-position the environment versus economy debate so that we stop talking about false choices and instead discuss how to achieve the real integration between the two. I’d like to publish a new book on that as well. Second, I’d like to help some real leaders on the private sector side of this to achieve commercial success through sustainability. Third, I’d like to fix my schedule so that there is a better fit between work and some other things, especially some fishing and bird-watching.

What are you working on at the moment that you’re most excited about? Why are you so excited?

I am quite excited about the potential for approaching environmental challenges using economic tools. If ecological and economic challenges can be brought closer together we’ll have a much better chance of solving the very considerable environmental problems we have.

Hear more from Tony Juniper

Tony will be chairing the session ‘Can we afford not to recycle nutrients and organic matter?’ at 11.30 – 13.00. View the full programme.

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