John Crowley
Understanding the challenges of ecological transition and the practical tools to achieve it
John Crowley is the President of PHGD, a consulting firm in ecological transition, with a portfolio of interests in renewable energy and environmental regeneration. With 18 years of high-level international experience within the United Nations system, as well as previous careers in hydrocarbons and academic research, John combines the vision that produces new ideas with the business acumen that makes them work in practice. An experienced speaker, equally comfortable in English and French, John provides both technical and general audiences with a conceptual and practical understanding of the challenges of ecological transition. Between 2003 and 2021, John worked for UNESCO, where he was responsible for programs on the ethics of science and technology, global environmental transformations, and the management of social transformations. From 1995 to 2002, John was a Research Officer at the National Foundation for Political Science (Center for International Studies and Research), specializing in political theory and comparative politics. From 1988 to 1995, John worked for Total, first in Strategic Management, then in exploration and production in the North Sea Department.
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Measuring the Invisible to Succeed in the Ecological Transition
If the ecological transition appears costly - perhaps too costly in the eyes of some for them to be willing to engage in it - it is because its costs and benefits are poorly measured. Essential elements of economic calculation, particularly natural capital, are most often completely overlooked. Yet the tools exist, both technical and conceptual. And when we use them, we are better able to assess the costs and benefits of engaging in the ecological transition. To understand this, it is important to focus on four questions. 1. How, traditionally, do we integrate elements of natural capital into public and private accounting? Answer: we do not, just as we do not integrate human capital. 2. What tools do we have today to do better? Answer: powerful and technically sound approaches that allow us to appreciate the value, for example, of ecosystem services based on the human and technological costs they avoid. 3. How, in practice, do we use such tools? Answer: it is complicated, because we can only define something as "capital" if we assign someone the responsibility for its creation and maintenance. Taking the notion of natural capital seriously opens the complex and essential debate on the legal status of non-human entities. But fortunately, we can make concrete progress without having to solve everything. 4. Does assigning an economic value to non-human entities pose a problem? Answer: yes, if that is all we do. Indeed, economic value is only one dimension of value, which itself can only be understood through the values that make certain things appear important or precious to us. Fully thinking about the ecological transition means equipping ourselves with technical valuation tools, while never forgetting that they are just tools.