The climate crisis rages on. “Do less harm” / “do no harm” just aren’t enough anymore.

Unfortunately, we're way past the point of being able to prevent severe changes to our planet which will result in loss of life. It's already happening. According to the World Health Organisation, climatic changes are already estimated to cause over 150,000 deaths annually. This number might be already be incredibly conservative, and the figure is only going to rise each year.

Sustainability, or 'sustainable business', is far too passive. It implies that your business will be able to keep operating and that it will do so with minimal harm, or no harm, to people and planet.

As Tim and I look to grow Avery and Brown, we have our sights set on a new target: being a regenerative business.

Restoring the health of people, places and planet

We want Avery & Brown to be a business which gives back more - much more - to society and the planet than what it takes from them. And now is the time to do it.

We’re young enough, small enough and therefore agile enough to achieve this. We don’t yet have any major systems and processes in place that need overhauling. We’re a remote service-based business; all we need is an internet connection and we can work with businesses anywhere in the world. We don't have any complex supply chain issues to overcome. We’re currently a team of two.

In other words, we can just get cracking.

The business is only 8 months old, but the impact we’ve already had by helping our sustainability-focused clients to grow is tangible. The work we do for our clients will continue to be highly impactful. That’s a given.

The real changes will emerge from how we operate and making sure that everything we do is aimed at being regenerative. Giving back to both people and planet.

A road map for regeneration - please feel free to use this

As with anything in life, you've got to start somewhere and take that first step.

We have created the 'mind map' below as a starting point for ourselves. We will use this and add to it as and when we think of new ideas and initiatives we'd like to be doing as a regenerative business. It has already helped us to have a productive conversation and identify the support we will need from our wonderful community of sustainability professionals we are lucky to have.

Please do feel free to download and use this as a starting point for your own regenerative business journey.

All we ask in return is that you refer back to us whenever talking about it to others, and that you share your own journey as well so that we can all learn from each other and accelerate the transition to regenerative businesses as the new normal.

Good luck! We will be there to support you.