Tuesday 21 July 2009 10:06:02 pm

***UPDATE NOTE: 14XC Unveils “Investor Trading Interface”, go to: www.14xc.com/investor.html

- Property Tax and Sustainable Development

Proposition 13 and the Property Tax Revolt took place in California in 1978. In 2008 California became “ground-zero for the subprime mortgage industry” (CNBC).

The first UN Earth Summit on Sustainable Development was held in Sweden (1972). At the 35th G8 summit in Italy (2009) politicians had failed to legislate the peaking of emissions by 2015 as recommended by the IPCC in order to avoid catastrophic climate change.

- Sustainable Business Logic

The 2nd Earth Summit held in Rio ‘92 defined sustainable development as an ultimate paradigm: Integrate 1. economic growth, 2. social responsibility and 3. environmental protection. This translated into sustainable business logic and the triple bottom line.

However in 2003 Business Ethics Quarterly stated “The concept of triple bottom line turns out to be a good old-fashioned single bottom line plus vague commitments to social and environmental concerns.”

- Economics Dominates

Fair Value Accounting (GAAP {FAS 157}), the Sarbanes–Oxley Act and the German Corporate Governance Code work on one dimension of the triple bottom line in appropriately valuing assets following the inevitable failure of the unsustainable (e.g. Enron, Worldcom).

At Göteborg 2001 EU heads of state added ‘Environment’ to the ‘Economy and Society’ to establish these “Three Pillars” central to ‘Lisbon’, the EU Strategy. In 2009, economics dominates the current iteration entitled “Growth & Jobs”.

On July 2nd 2009 the European Commission proposed a €100 – €500 million EU micro-finance facility consisting of €25,000 loans for potentially 45,000 Start-Ups (less than 1% of EU Start-Ups) over 8 years. Sustainability assessment is not required for debt approval.

- Environment & Social, Volunteers

For the business community, international quality standards for the two neglected dimensions have emerged including in 1996, ISO 14,001 (Environment) and due in 2010, ISO 26,000 (Social Responsibility). However, the ISO system is voluntary.

- US and Corporation Tax in Europe

Early 2009 the Obama Administration restricted some tax havens and unveiled recessionary stimulus after sub-prime mortgage crises induced near collapse of global capital markets. Meanwhile indigenous Italian Start-Up and tax rates are among the highest in the world.

- Connect the Dots – Before Earth Summit 2012

ISO fundamentally considers Sustainable Development central to its global vision: “materialize the aim of ‘one standard, one test and one conformity assessment procedure accepted everywhere’” and will by 2010 offer standards on the all three dimensions.

Before proposed Earth Summit 2012, 14XC.com intends to affect structural change at the seed level by providing high potential Start-Ups access to a Seed Capital Exchange (and up to 250K in funding) with controlled volatility “Seed Stocks” directly linked to sustainability indicators aligned with ISO.

*** UPDATE NOTE: 14XC Unveils “Investor Trading Interface”: www.14xc.com/investor.html
(Feedback is invited at the 14XC blog http://social14xc.ning.com/

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