From Less Harm to Net Positive: How Regenerative Business Models Are Rewriting the Rules of Corporate Strategy

Jul 14, 2025

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Beyond Sustainability—The Age of Regeneration Has Arrived

Sustainability is no longer enough.

For decades, the corporate world has focused on minimizing harm—reducing emissions, offsetting impacts, and maintaining compliance. But with ecological systems on the brink, inequality on the rise, and trust in institutions declining, leading businesses are embracing a new paradigm: regenerative business models.

These models go beyond reducing footprints. They aim to create conditions for life to thrive—socially, economically, and ecologically. Rooted in systems thinking and ecological regeneration, regenerative strategies challenge linear, extractive logic and usher in circular, inclusive, and life-centered approaches to value creation.

At McBride Corp Mexico, with over 20 years of experience in ESG strategy across sectors like banking, mining, retail, energy, and IT, we are guiding companies through this radical but essential shift. In this essay, we delve into the what, why, and how of regenerative business—unpacking its systems logic, benefits, and steps to implementation. We also explore how McBride’s ESG Strategy Development service helps businesses operationalize regeneration without greenwashing or losing strategic clarity.

1. What Is a Regenerative Business Model?

A regenerative business model is designed not just to minimize negative impact, but to actively restore, renew, and revitalize social and ecological systems while generating economic value.

Unlike traditional or even “sustainable” models, regenerative businesses:

View themselves as living systems, not machines.
Create net-positive impacts on soil, water, air, biodiversity, and community health.
Operate within planetary boundaries while enhancing human dignity and inclusion.
Value relational wealth—trust, knowledge, wellbeing—as much as financial capital.

Think Patagonia investing in ecosystem health through regenerative agriculture; or Interface, the carpet company, restoring marine biodiversity while eliminating net carbon from its supply chain.

2. Systems Thinking: The Core Operating Principle

At the heart of regeneration lies systems thinking—the ability to perceive the business not as a silo, but as part of a larger, interdependent whole.

Why Systems Thinking Matters:

Unmasks root causes instead of treating symptoms (e.g., water scarcity due to land degradation).
Enables cross-scale awareness, connecting global risks with local actions.
Encourages long-termism, valuing future generations and deep resilience over short-term profits.

In ESG strategy, this means mapping interconnected risks: how climate affects supply chains, how workforce health ties to productivity, how biodiversity loss impacts operational continuity.

At McBride, we apply systems thinking in all ESG Strategy Development projects—using stakeholder maps, risk interdependency models, and regenerative indicators tailored to each client’s context.

3. Ecological Regeneration: Rebuilding the Earth’s Capacity to Heal

Regenerative businesses recognize nature not just as a resource, but as a partner. They aim to restore ecosystems’ ability to self-renew.

Pillars of Ecological Regeneration in Business:

Soil health restoration through regenerative agriculture or landscaping.
Watershed restoration with catchment-sensitive operations.
Biodiversity enhancement via rewilding, native planting, and habitat corridors.
Carbon drawdown through bio-based materials and agroforestry.

For companies in extractive sectors like mining or agriculture, regeneration might mean rebuilding forests and soils post-extraction. For manufacturers or retailers, it could involve circular packaging, organic sourcing, and habitat-friendly logistics.

Our ESG Strategy Development framework includes diagnostic tools to evaluate land impact, carbon sequestration potential, and partnerships with local NGOs for regenerative co-design.

4. Regeneration and ESG: Complementary, Not Conflicting

There is a misconception that ESG frameworks and regenerative thinking are at odds. In fact, they are deeply compatible.

How Regeneration Strengthens ESG Strategy:

E: Goes beyond emissions to consider the full ecological impact and healing capacity.
S: Prioritizes equity, inclusion, and community flourishing, not just social compliance.
G: Demands participatory governance and stakeholder sovereignty, reducing top-down extractivism.

McBride helps clients bridge the two by:

Aligning regenerative goals with GRI, SBTN, and TNFD indicators.
Updating materiality matrices to reflect regenerative opportunities.
Embedding regeneration in climate disclosures and board charters.

5. The Business Case for Regeneration

Regeneration isn’t just a moral imperative—it’s a strategic differentiator in the age of disruption.

Tangible Benefits:

Resilience: Regenerative supply chains are adaptive and locally rooted.
Brand equity: Consumers trust brands that invest in the commons.
Investor attraction: Purpose-driven funds seek regenerative value.
Talent retention: Younger generations want meaningful work aligned with planetary health.
License to operate: Regenerative models build trust with regulators and communities.

In sectors like real estate, food, apparel, and energy, regenerative leadership can unlock new markets, reduce long-term costs, and align with SDG-driven finance instruments.

6. Implementation Roadmap: From Theory to Practice

Regenerative transformation isn’t instant. It requires bold vision, organizational commitment, and iterative action.

Step-by-Step Roadmap:

Commit: Secure C-suite buy-in and embed regeneration into core purpose.
Diagnose: Conduct regenerative impact and dependency assessment (RIDAs).
Map Systems: Identify leverage points using systems tools (stock-flow diagrams, feedback loops).
Co-Design with Stakeholders: From suppliers to communities, engage voices from across the system.
Prototype Initiatives: Test soil health programs, inclusive governance models, or regenerative sourcing pilots.
Scale and Align: Integrate into supply chain, reporting, procurement, and hiring processes.
Measure and Evolve: Track ecological and social vitality indicators, adapt over time.

McBride’s ESG Strategy Development service guides companies through every stage, supported by digital tools, data dashboards, and on-the-ground facilitators across Latin America and beyond.

7. Real-World Case Snapshots

A. Agroexport Firm’s Regenerative Transition

In Central America, McBride supported a fruit exporter in shifting from conventional monoculture to regenerative agriculture. Results:

Soil organic carbon increased 19% in 2 years.
Water use dropped by 32%.
Worker wellness indicators improved 3x.

B. Circular Construction in Mining

For a mining consortium in Mexico, McBride co-designed a regeneration framework integrating:

Local material loops (reuse of mine tailings in construction),
Ecosystem regeneration plans post-closure,
Circular employment programs with local artisans.

Conclusion: Regeneration Is the Future of Strategic Leadership

Sustainability helped companies “do less bad.” Regeneration invites them to “do more good.” It is a profound shift from scarcity to abundance, from extraction to partnership, from control to collaboration.

Corporations that embrace regenerative business models are not just future-proofing their operations—they are actively co-creating the future. They’re becoming stewards, storytellers, and system changers.

At McBride Corp Mexico, we help visionary leaders step into that role—with tools, insight, and real-world experience across sectors and cultures. Whether you're just beginning your ESG journey or ready to rewrite your strategy around regeneration, we’re here to build the path with you.

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