The Regenerative Business
Regeneration isn’t a label. It’s a way of being in a relationship with life, land and the future.
It’s time for our strategies to become regenerative.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve talked about regeneration as more than a sustainability strategy.
It’s a mindset shift, a design shift, a shift in what we believe work and business are for. (You can read more at www.carom.com/blog)
But if regeneration isn’t just about doing “less harm,” then how do we know what it is?
What actually makes a business regenerative?
It’s a question we hear often, and for good reason. Unlike “net zero” or “organic,” there’s no universal standard for what regeneration means. And that’s both the challenge and the opportunity.
Because regeneration isn’t a checkbox. It’s a process of becoming.
It’s Not About Being Perfect. It’s About Being in the Right Relationship.
Regenerative businesses don’t extract value from the world. They create the conditions for life both for humans and more-than-humans, to thrive.
That might sound lofty, but it becomes real in the choices a business makes every day:
Do our materials return to living systems or disrupt them?
Does our supply chain nourish the communities it touches or deplete them?
Are we designing for resilience, reciprocity and repair?
A regenerative business asks:
· How can we participate in the health of the whole system rather than just the health of our bottom line?
Regeneration Is a Journey But the Pattern Is Clear
We’ve spent the last several years studying businesses, models and ecosystems. What we’ve found is that while every regenerative organization looks different, they share certain patterns:
They start with place. They know where their water comes from, whose land they operate on, and what local ecosystems they’re part of.
They design for cycles. They don’t just reduce waste. They reimagine how nutrients, energy and resources flow.
They make life more possible. Not just for shareholders, but for pollinators, microbes, soil, rivers and communities.
They embrace complexity. Regeneration doesn’t simplify the system; instead it works with its richness.
They evolve. Regeneration isn’t a static state. It’s a living commitment to learn, adapt and deepen over time.
And perhaps most of all, they don’t ask: “How do we sustain what we have?”
They ask: “How can we leave things better than we found them?”
This Is Why We Built a New Framework
Most business tools today don’t help you ask these kinds of questions.
They focus on efficiency, scalability, or compliance, and not on vitality, reciprocity or planetary wellbeing.
That’s why we’ve been building something new.
Soon, we’ll release the Regenerative Innovation Canvas - a tool to help businesses and teams:
See where they are in their regenerative journey
Explore new pathways to grow life, not just revenue
Align innovation efforts with the needs of the planet, not just the market
It’s built around six planetary categories that define the conditions for life to thrive. It’s not just for humans, but for all living systems. And it’s designed to be both visionary and practical.
Because we believe regeneration isn’t just a philosophy: it’s a design challenge, a business opportunity and ultimately a creative act.
Regenerative Business Is Already Happening Just Not Where You Might Expect
Around the world, we’re seeing organizations begin to make the shift:
A textile company working with native fiber systems and indigenous weavers.
A tech startup powering local energy transitions and local knowledge sovereignty.
A coffee roaster restoring land, water, and ritual - not just margins.
A regional grocery creating food systems that nourish soil, dignity and biodiversity.
None of them are perfect, but all of them are in motion.
And that’s what regeneration is: not a finish line, but a direction.
Regeneration Is the Future of Business—If We Choose It
The old model extracted as much as possible, as fast as possible. But that story is coming undone.
The businesses of the future will be the ones that know how to give back, to restore, to reconnect, and ultimately to turn business into a source of healing rather than just profit.
So when we ask what makes a business regenerative, we’re really asking:
Is this business in service to life?
Shortly, we’ll give you a tool to help answer that.