ImpactAlpha, Oct. 28 – Take a deep breath. We’re 60 years into an 80-year paradigm shift away from economic extraction and towards the regeneration of human and natural systems. That process “is going to go absolutely berserk in the next 10 to 15 years,” Volans’ John Elkington said at the Global Impact Investing Network’s “Next Normal Now” (ImpactAlpha is the series’ media partner). “I have rarely seen a concept come up as fast as ‘regenerative,’” says Elkington, an author and sustainability leader who coined the term “triple bottom line” in 1994.
The GIIN’s Amit Bouri said regeneration takes impact investing beyond simply reducing harm and enhancing sustainability. Regenerative practices “help us leverage the power investment to right wrongs, to reverse harm that has been done in the past, to replenish and restore ecosystems and natural stops to critical thresholds.”
- Jubilee justice. With a proven system of rice intensification, Jubilee Justice is helping Black farmers in Louisiana and Mississippi raise yields and income while reducing methane and water use. With Potlikker Capital, Oakland-based Jubilee helps the farmers integrate regenerative farming practices and cooperative ownership with reparative capital in the form of grants, recoverable grants and low- or no-interest loans. “You cannot expect to have the same kind of requirements for people who have been so maligned financially through economic apartheid,” said Jubilee’s Konda Mason.
- Farmland transitions. An evergreen debt fund managed by rePlant Capital in Boulder, Colo., ties the terms of its low-interest loans to biodiversity improvements of soil to help farmers transition farmland to regenerative and organic agriculture. The transition of farmland helps produce “healthier products at scale [that are] more affordable to more people,” says rePlant’s Robyn O’Brien.
- Next Normal Now. Catch up on earlier sessions in the series with, “Inclusion is driving growth in the ‘Next Normal Now’” and, “Wanted: safe, simple, scalable investments to drive capital to climate solutions.”
