Sustainability means perpetuating the vital conditions of our planet, which are all provided by ecosystem services and maintained through spontaneous regeneration. As such, there can be no sustainability without regeneration.
The only way to restore the planet’s regenerative capacity is to reduce Human’s ecological footprint, which is now too high.
The current linear, extractive model fuels a vicious cycle that destroys natural capital in order to create economic capital and has already crossed most of the safe limits of planetary boundaries.
What is needed, therefore, is a regenerative model that transforms this vicious cycle into one that is virtuous, producing social and environmental benefits, rather than damage, while creating economic value.
RSF Regenerative Model fosters regeneration through circularity, investments in nature restoration and conservation, for the well-being of people and Nature.
Since society, the economy, and nature are deeply interdependent, a systemic approach is needed to manage the complexity of the polycrisis we are experiencing. The regenerative model proposed by RSF aims to rebalance the planet’s regenerative capacity with the human ecological footprint in order to break the vicious cycle of natural capital depletion and transform it into a virtuous cycle of regeneration at all levels.
The more we understand how dependent humans are on nature, the more we can reduce our ecological footprint through a circular consumption model. Fewer natural resources will be depleted and less waste will be generated. Together with nature restoration and conservation, we will facilitate regeneration, which in turn will enable ecosystem services to thrive and, ultimately, foster our well-being.
"There is no sustainability without regeneration": a Manifesto from an Entrepreneurial viewpoint.
The extractive economic model is no longer compatible with the health of the planet and people: it is time to regenerate the natural capital, reduce humanity’s ecological footprint and promote a shared well-being.
The Manifesto of the Regenerative Society Foundation, signed by Co-Chair Andrea Illy and Scientific Director Paolo Vineis, aims to lay the foundations of a new paradigm capable of generating lasting value for all.
Read the scientific paper published on Anthropocene Science 3, 179–188 (2024), Springer.
From the differences between “regeneration” and “sustainability,” to the negative impacts of the Anthropocene, to the conditions and pillars of a regenerative model, with policy recommendations for each stakeholder involved.
Discover the key messages in the Manifesto’s digest and below.
The Regenerative Society Foundation acts with an interdisciplinary, bottom-up, and systemic approach.
We are living in a polycrisis (social, economical, and environmental) and all three dimensions are inextricably linked. Therefore, as expressed in the RSF Manifesto, we need to address these challenges altogether, getting rid of the typical “silos” approach.
This requires an organized commitment of private business, including investors, the civil society and governments.
“Only a new economic paradigm can solve the crisis humanity faces.
This paradigm has to be regenerative.”