Paula participated in the Bellagio residency program in 2016. During this residency, she worked on Pricing the Priceless: The Financial Transformation to Value the Planet, Solve the Climate Crisis, and Protect Our Most Precious Assets (Wiley, 2023). She has served as President of the Joyce Foundation and Vice President for Recruitment and Public Policy at the Chicago Climate Exchange, which pioneered emissions trading and environmental markets worldwide. Paula has also served as a consultant to the World Bank and LEAD International.
A few words with Paula
“Conversations with others while at Bellagio were invaluable. They enabled me to learn about the work of others, helping me avoid too much self-analysis. At the same time, the cross-cutting flavor of the conversations brought me new questions, often provocative and challenging, which helped me reframe and focus better on my objective: to communicate a new and provocative ‘big idea’ that touched and would affect many sectors. My core concept was how to ‘price’ attributes of nature that, by definition, cannot be priced, which is today’s most important paradox in my view. Hearing about the work of others was so inspirational and reminded me of the creative vastness of human endeavor, which also added to my desire to do my best work.”
Synopsis
In Pricing the Priceless, Paula DiPerna asks a provocative and long-ignored question: Why do we value the indispensable atmosphere at zero, but dispensable production in the trillions? She digs into alternatives, offering real-life examples from around the globe of fascinating and pioneering financial innovations – methods that are controversial and paradoxical, but essential. In the book, you’ll travel from rainforests to Wall Street, Board Rooms to the Vatican, coral reefs to mangroves to China’s carbon markets. Timely, adventurous, eclectic, and accessible, Pricing the Priceless brings alive the critical financial transformation that will determine future planetary health and social stability.
Explore More
To find out more about Paula’s work, you can watch her discuss Pricing the Priceless with PBS, or you can visit the Joyce Foundation website.
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August 2023
Welcome to a special edition of the Bellagio Bulletin, where you’ll have a chance to hear from leading voices within the alumni network on one of the greatest global challenges of our time – the ethical application and governance of artificial intelligence. We hope you’ll find their points of view as illuminating as we have […]
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