William Collins An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2019 Copyright © Dieter Helm 2019 Dieter Helm asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780008304478 Ebook Edition © March 2019 ISBN: 9780008304485 Version: 2019-02-04 To Sue, Oliver and Laura, as always, and to Amelie of the next generation in the hope that the natural environment she will inherit will be in better shape for her to enjoy. They paved paradise And put up a parking lot With a pink hotel, a boutique And a swinging hot spot Don’t it always seem to go That you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone They paved paradise And put up a parking lot Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell, 1970 I thought it would last my time – The sense that, beyond the town, There would always be fields and farms, Where the village louts could climb Such trees as were not cut down; I knew there’d be false alarms [ … ] Things are tougher than we are, just As earth will always respond However we mess it about; Chuck filth in the sea, if you must: The tides will be clean beyond. – But what do I feel now? Doubt? Selected verses from ‘Going, Going’ by Philip Larkin, 1972 Contents
Introduction: Our natural capital inheritance
PART ONE: The Prize and the Risks
Chapter two: Business-as-usual
PART TWO: Building a Greener Economy
Chapter three: Restoring rivers
Chapter four: Green agriculture
Chapter seven: Nature in the towns and cities
PART THREE: Principles, Paying and the Plan
Chapter nine: Paying for pollution
Conclusions: Securing the prize
