The Times journalist Tom Whipple attended the launch of the Natural Capital Committee (NCC) at the Royal Society on Monday 26th November 2012. His article, following discussions at the event with Defra Secretary of State Owen Paterson MP and an interview with NCC Chair Dieter Helm state that:
‘Economists have begun preparing to include a value for ‘natural capital’ in Britain’s GDP calculations by 2020, a move that promises to be the greatest change in national accounting practices since their creation 70 years ago. The idea might not have poetry in its soul but Owen Parterson, the Environment Secretary, argued at the Royal Society this week that putting a monetary value on nature could be the best way to save the poetry- and soul of that nature for future generations’
The full article is available, on subscription, at the Times online.