Rio+20 Update: @DowChemical, @GM, @KCCorp, @Xerox, @marriotthotels amongst other major firms commit to assigning a value to nature

We're following Rio+20 closely, so it's great to see this news filtering in, of major corporations such as Dow Chemicals, General Motors, Kimberly Clark, Marriott and Xerox (along with 20 others) all signing up to look at how to better "account" for nature in corporate practices.

We earnestly believe that it's not until we account for the environmental impact of firms, that sustainability will truly succeed.

Some estimates suggest the value provided by the environment is something like US$33 trillion, on average per year. Which is more than half of Global GDP.

And that's why we have an increasing clamor of voices demanding a better articulation and calculation of success than GDP, because right now it's just not sustainable. And this is something policy makers are unlikely to be able to implement -- it's more likely that firms will have to proactively learn to account for the environmental and social costs of doing business and modify their value chains accordingly.

Looking forward to the rest of Rio+20.

Photo Source: Inhabitat