We live in a time of rampant pollution and waste, resource scarcity, biodiversity loss, and warming global temperatures.

Without action, climate breakdown could displace hundreds of million people by 2050 and result in a disastrous loss of biodiversity. In crafting a way forward for future generations, we are faced with an enormous task: redesigning our systems—and fast.

But the good news is that changemakers around the world are championing alternative ways of living. Many of these are inspired by nature itself, as well as traditional, indigenous, and pre-industrial practices that hinge on careful resource use and management—necessitating respect for and emulation of the natural environment.

This is where the regenerative economy comes in. Now is the time to bring clarity to this transformative concept to help us move from theory to action.

With RESPOND Insights we aim to contribute to the transformation by adding data-points and insights at the intersection of sustainability, business, and innovation.

Through its Expert Workshop Series 2022, RESPOND, the BMW Foundation, Circle Economy, and SYSTEMIQ aimed to foster the dialogue around the transition towards a Regenerative Economy. In this workshop series, we brought together experts on new economic models, business leaders, innovators, and changemakers from various sectors of society.

Regeneration is not only about the natural ecosphere, it is about restoring the social tissue and our very own wellbeing as human beings. It is an invitation to rethink the theoretical framework that guides our relationships with each other as well as our interdependence with the planet.

As one of the most fundamental underlying systems of society, the economy, in particular, is presented with the necessity — and opportunity — to re-invent itself and align with a regenerative worldview. The prevailing economic model, built on a short-sighted and linear system of extraction, overconsumption and exploitation, is starting to transform in front of our eyes.

 

‘Our financial and economic systems need to align with the only system that has stood the test of time, and let that be the guiding principle. That is nature.’ – Laura Storm (2022)