Sustainability is the Why and Regeneration the What of ESG Strategy

ESG refers to environmental, social, and governance criteria which relate to an organisation's operations that socially conscious investors use to evaluate potential investments. With the recognition that the integration of ESG criteria into an organisational strategy can be financially beneficial, sustainable investing and reporting are now mainstream business activities.

With so many competing frameworks and reporting standards available for leaders to choose from, I wanted to use this opportunity to explain how Holonomics is working at a strategic level to help businesses implement their ESG goals in an agile and impactful manner. The first step is to help leaders explore the central concepts of sustainability and regeneration, which at times can be perceived as conceptually different practices.

We do not separate or distinguish sustainability from regeneration, but integrates them into a singular approach which we can understand through Simon Sinek's Golden Circle.

The Golden Circle always starts with the Why, and for the context of ESGs, we have found no better starting definition that that of the Future-Fit Benchmark, which defines a future-fit business as one that "in no way undermines the possibility that humans and other life will flourish on earth forever".

The strength of the Future-Fit Benchmark lies in the way in which it translates systems science into a practical, free-to-use tool designed to help business leaders and investors respond authentically and successfully to today’s biggest challenges. The benchmark was created to answer the two following questions:

1. How would we know a future?fit business if we saw one?
2. How can we tell how far away a business is from being future?fit?

Within these two questions we see the central definition of sustainability. The Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford English Dictionary define sustainability as follows:

Both dictionaries have the same concept of sustainability as a primary quality (Oxford defining sustainability as "the ability to continue or be continued for a long time". If we then look at the definition of regeneration, the tion part of the word suggests action, shifting from the being of sustainability to concrete doing.

ESG strategy can now be understood as the need for organisations to ensure that their operations sustain life on earth through the adoption of regenerative operations and business practices. The way in which this can be put into practice, the how, will be different for each organisation and their wider social, economic and ecological context. But by taking a systemic approach, their positive impact and can be measured and evolved by integrating Future-Fit Benchmark criteria into corporate reporting responsibilities.

An example of this holistic and systemic approach which does not separate sustainability from regeneration can be seen in Martin Brown's foreword to the recently published Rethinking Sustainability: Towards a Regenerative Economy:

"In essence embracing regenerative sustainability is embracing deep change, not only for the built environment processes and buildings, but for people and for the planet. It is vital that regenerative sustainability is seen as holistic, and should not be approached in the siloed fashion business as usual sustainability has been addressed, but to recognise the complexity of ecosystems, and the role and responsibility that we and our buildings have within our highly connected planetary ecosystems. Wrapped up within social and ecological systems are the concepts of being culturally rich and economically just" (reference).

We therefore end up with three interlinked concepts—sustainability, regeneration and Sustainable and Regenerative Practices—which can all be located in the golden circle.

Many organisations are now understanding the need and importance of developing an authentic and genuine ESG strategy, but often face the challenge of knowing where and how to start this level of transformation. For this reason we developed The New 4Ps—Platforms, Purpose, People and Planet—as a practical and inclusive framework to leaders people understand the major trends shaping the business ecosystems and the importance of a systemic approach to creating a high impact strategy. The New 4Ps provide a new set of economic principles for organisations wishing to transform themselves digitally and culturally, and can be utilised prior to any design, strategy and marketing initiatives.

A second example of the way in which sustainability and regeneration have been integrated can be seen in the way in which Holonomics has been working with 1STi and Vai a Web to help leaders understand strategic implications of ESG initiatives through our expanded amplified conception of Deep Tech. Leaders and businesses now need to understand the way in which a new digital economy is being created and how it is transforming the way we think about value creation in business and society. And that means that we need to understand how Deep Tech is creating new economic and business models for the future, ones which are sustainable and promote regeneration socially and economically.

As we explain in our new book, Deep Tech and the Amplified Organisation, Deep Tech is the next phase of the digital economy, a new form of innovation that is more inclusive, purpose-driven and regenerative through deep technology based on universally shared human values and deeply integrated into society.

Deep Tech solutions are not just about the technology, they are also about the way in which they can be used to develop new ways of seeing the world. This is what makes them truly profound, rather than highly advanced or complex. We need transformational mental models in order to open us to new levels of creative thinking. And for this to happen, we need to understand that sustainability and regeneration are not two parallel streams of thinking, but two dimensions that flow in and out of each other in a manner that helps organisations to evolve from shareholder-focused enterprises to future-fit businesses whose operations and initiatives repair ecosystems and restore vitality to society.