Research

IIRC

Introduction:

r3.0 is collaborating with the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) on a White Paper on the shift from Monocapitalism to Multicapitalism: the existing economic regime focuses exclusively on financial capital, with emergent trends toward economies that integrate the multiple capitals — natural, social, human, manufactured, intellectual, and financial. Building on this concept of Multicapitalism first proposed by r3.0 Advocation Partner Mark McElroy (and fellow MultiCapital Scorecard author Martin Thomas) in 2014, r3.0 is spearheading the drafting of the White Paper that will integrate and further flesh out approaches for applying the “carrying capacities of the capitals” — or thresholds delineating the ongoing viability of ecological and social systems. The White Paper, which is due out by the end of 2019, will be vetted by project Advisors, including Eva Zabey (WBCSD); Fiona Reynolds (PRI); Veronica Poole (Deloitte); Jeremy Nichols (Social Value International); Mark Gough (Capitals Coalition); Sean Esbjorn-Hargens (MetaIntegral); and John Fullerton (Capital Institute).

Release Information:

“It’s been a long time coming,” writes Bill in the Author’s Foreword (quoting David Crosby) about this, our first White Paper: From Monocapitalism to Multicapitalism: 21st Century System Value Creation. More than three years, to be precise. But we think it’s worth the wait — and hope you agree! The project started as a partnership with the International Integrated Reporting Council; when we delivered the final draft, they considered it an “important and provocative paper.”

So provocative, in fact, that IIRC recognized they would need to request significant changes to be able to publish it under their name, and they showed respect by refraining from asking us to dilute the message to satisfy their more conservative base, and instead invited us to publish it solo.

We believe this is an integral part of the story of this paper: Multicapitalism, the concept conceived by our Advocation Partner Mark McElroy (and his partner Martin Thomas) predicated on the fact that the multiple capitals all have carrying capacities, is an inherently provocative notion that challenges the core underpinnings of status quo Monocapitalism, with its commitment to shareholder primacy, perpetual growth, and privatization of value.

We believe that if political expedience requires us to disregard the carrying capacities of the capitals, then we must reject this “political world” (to quote Bob Dylan, as the White Paper does), and instead embrace the “material world” (more like George Harrison’s than Madonna’s) that reconciles thermodynamic realities with ethical imperatives — as this Multicapitalism White Paper does. Enjoy!

Multicapitalism Whitepaper