Regeneration

What is regeneration?

Human activities continue depleting natural resources and polluting the biosphere. To preserve living conditions, sustainability is necessary but not sufficient: we also need to restore the damages done.

Regeneration is the set of processes responsible for keeping life in good health through the maintenance, renewal and restoration of natural assets. It impacts all living organisms of an ecosystem, from microorganisms to large populations, including humans.

With the term “regenerative,” we intend the processes needed to protect, revitalize, restore the primary production and conditions for life on planet Earth.

Regeneration represents the fourth “R” of an extended circular economy path: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Regenerate.

Regenerative Model

We promote a model which, while ensuring production, preserves and revitalizes ecosystems and produces profitable environmental and social co-benefits.

Rebuilding the carbon stock is the only way to decarbonize the atmosphere, as well as restoring biodiversity, which is responsible for ecosystem resilience and health.

We need to minimize resource depletion and to eliminate the residues which accumulate in the environment, preventing its spontaneous regeneration and, if necessary, to trigger regeneration whenever it does not start naturally.

Education is key to raise awareness on the importance of ecological transition and to bring about a cultural change.

Scopes

The regenerative model can be applied to different sectors, from natural resources management to manufacturing.

Non-conventional/regenerative agriculture One of the most relevant sectors, both in terms of climate mitigation and adaptation. It enriches the soil with organic carbon, removing CO2 from the atmosphere and improving soil biodiversity and health, and consequently, makes it more resilient and less dependent on agrochemicals.

Land and water systems protection and restoration It entails recovering abandoned cropland, reforesting the Earth's surface, safeguarding and enhancing biodiversity, and saving aquatic systems from eutrophication.

Carbon sink restoration Carbon sinks play a key role in keeping the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere at manageable levels. Restoring them requires Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) technologies, soil carbon enrichment, aquatic carbon storage and mineralization of organic sediments.

Urban regeneration It can positively impact both the environment and society. It entails less pollution, less CO2 in the atmosphere and more vegetation, contributing to better air quality, thus, better health. Regenerated cities and neighborhoods are designed to be more inclusive, leading to a reduction in criminality, resulting in an increase in happiness and well-being of the population.

Regenerative materials innovation and sustainable manufacturing The scarcity of raw materials and natural resources calls for a reconsideration of manufacturing systems and resource exploitation. Replacing mineral resources with regenerative ones is one solution, paired with cutting edge research in artificial photosynthesis, biochemical recycling, and direct air capture.

Dual benefit

The transformation to a regenerative model requires a ‘dual impact economy’: an economy where socio-economic and socio-ecological development go in parallel. It is based on the ‘one health’ approach, which considers the health of the Planet as deeply interconnected with human health.

In a regenerative economy, the concept of well-being embraces both health and happiness: these should be at the same time the origin and the objective of all regenerative actions.

This regenerative model also requires a new ethic framework, which recognises interdependence as a key driver of all human activities towards a shared and durable prosperity.

“Only a new economic paradigm can solve the crisis humanity faces.

This paradigm has to be regenerative.”

Discover our model

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