Regeneration: Why businesses are moving beyond sustainability and thinking about regrowth

1 Sustainability is out, regeneration is in. According

to a 2019 survey by ReGenFriends, nearly 80%

of US consumers prefer “regenerative” brands to

“sustainable” brands. Gen Y and Z consumers find

the notion of “sustainability” too passive. They want

to buy from regenerative businesses that embody

and practice the three noble qualities found in all

living systems: renewal, restoration and growth.

Regeneration goes beyond sustainability by creating

a deeper and wider socioeconomic impact.

2 Sustainable brands strive to just do less harm

to the planet. Regenerative businesses go beyond

sustainability and fight to do more good to society

and the planet. Specifically, regenerative firms seek

to boost the health and vitality of people, places and

the planet simultaneously in a synergistic manner.

In doing so, there is a growing body of evidence to

suggest that regenerative businesses can achieve

far better financial performance and impact than their

sustainability-focused peers.

3 In the Amazon, we find an example of how

regeneration works in practice. The murumuru is

a palm tree that grows in the Amazon forest. The

Amazon’s indigenous peoples chop this palm tree

down and use its wood to produce and sell items

such as brooms. As it happens, we can obtain a

highly moisturizing butter from the seeds of this palm

tree, which is very efficient at repairing and renewing

damaged hair. The value of these seeds is seven

times greater than that of this palm tree’s wood. As

such, people in the Amazon can generate seven times

more economic value by preserving the murumuru

tree than cutting it. Businesses are taking notice.

Natura, a Brazilian cosmetics firm, is collaborating

with Amazonian Indigenous people to ethically source

murumuru butter for a variety of hair care products,

using their traditional farming techniques. This

mutually beneficial collaboration means indigenous

communities are regenerating themselves and the

planet along three complementary dimensions:

economic, socio-cultural and environmental.

4 But it’s not just natural ecosystems that can benefit

from prioritizing regeneration. Human ecosystems,

too, stand to benefit. Regenerative businesses also

strive to boost the health and vitality of individuals

and communities, especially in aging societies.

Take Japan, a country that is aging rapidly. 30% of

its population is already over 65. The average life

expectancy of its citizens is 84 years. Sadly, longevity

doesn’t promise vitality.

5 Meiji Yasuda is Japan’s oldest largest life

insurance firm. During Covid-19, the firm realized that

its true mission should be to boost people’s vitality

rather than protect them from death. In April 2020,

the firm launched a 10-year plan to evolve the life

insurance firm into a life regeneration company. This

strategy calls for prolonging the healthy life expectancy

of its clients and vitalizing local communities across

Japan where the firm operates. Meiji Yasuda is

investing in new partnerships and technologies

to promote preventive healthcare in Japan. For

instance, it teamed up with the National Cerebral and

Cardiovascular Center in Japan to develop new digital

tools that can help its clients anticipate and prevent

cardiovascular problems.

6 To get buy-in from internal and external

stakeholders, businesses should explain how

their triple regeneration strategy – the synergistic

revitalization of people, places and the planet –

could yield great economic and social value for all

stakeholders. Visionary food companies and apparel

makers like Danone, General Mills, Eileen Fisher,

Illycaffè and Patagonia are investing in regenerative

agriculture. They are doing it not only because it

drastically reduces water use and emissions, boosts

soil fertility and improves animal welfare, but also

because it enhances the livelihoods of financially-

challenged farmers.

7 Promising place-based economic development

initiatives exist in disadvantaged communities

across the US that use a holistic approach to

regenerate people, places and the biodiversity

altogether. By joining these initiatives, businesses

can accelerate their own transition to a regenerative

model. For instance, Reimagine Appalachia (RI) is a

multi-stakeholder coalition that aims to revitalize

abandoned coal mines and restore the natural

ecosystems in Appalachia. RI is supporting the

Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative, while

also creating jobs and economic opportunities in the

region.

8 Given the climate urgency, it is time that

businesses think and act beyond sustainability. They

must evolve into regenerative businesses that renew,

restore and grow people, places and the planet

synergistically.

Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/06/businesses-are-moving-beyond-sustainability-welcome-to-the-age-ofregeneration/. Retrieved on: Jun 14, 2024. Adapted.