Why net zero is no longer enough.

It became a performance metric, a branding tool, a line in shareholder letters. But in 2025, investors are asking different questions:

What exactly are you restoring?
Is your strategy subtractive or generative?

Three Business Mindsets

1. Conventional
   → Minimizes legal risk and reputational harm
2. Sustainable
   → Optimizes efficiency – less energy, fewer emissions
3. Regenerative
   → Gives back more than it takes – socially, ecologically, structurally

Many firms now claim regenerative intent. Few understand what it requires – not about planting more trees, but about redesigning the purpose of enterprise.

The critique is growing:
Net zero targets often rely on offsetting schemes that delay structural change. Emissions reporting remains patchy. Scope 3 footprints are still largely unmeasured. Biodiversity is treated as an afterthought.

What’s missing is systems feedback.

Regeneration as Business Logic

Regenerative business starts from different assumptions:

• Does our product regenerate soil, air, or trust?
• Does our governance decentralize accountability?
• Are we measuring not just less harm – but more repair?

Firms like Ecosia, and Holcim (through circular cement pilots) offer early answers. Not perfect, but directional.

This shift reshapes core decisions:

• ROI becomes return on integration, not isolation
• Resilience is built through loops, not forecasts
• Teams are designed for intent, not efficiency

And it changes what boards should ask next.

Net zero got us moving.
Regeneration keeps us rooted.

The future needs better systems.