Can we make money while saving the planet?

Why has economic growth become separated from the degeneration of our living planet? 

Over the last century, one narrative has dominated: exponential GDP growth. 

The benefits of this growth are undeniable—countless people lifted out of poverty, improved standards of living, and a more connected, prosperous world. However, a more sinister trend is taking place that is directly correlated to our economic growth.

The death of our living planet.

The Living Planet Report, released last month, noted that global biodiversity has collapsed in just 50 years and it’s not just just wildlife and habitats that have been decimated. The building blocks of life that provide and create those habitats- think clean air, fresh water, and fertile soil have all been declining. The things that make our planet an ideal home for living beings - like us.

It’s become a fight and has divided into two distinct sides.

On one side, you have The Planet Defenders: activists and people chaining themselves to tree trunks. On the other side you have The Greedy Bankers, fat cats in their London offices, drunk on growth at all costs.

Activism raises awareness, but struggles to create any real - structural -  change. In fact it can isolate the people we need to persuade. Yet, no amount of money or GDP growth can replace a dead planet.

This narrative of having to pick a side is crazy.

There are no sides when it comes to our planet.

Why am I writing this:

Fearmongering is an unsustainable strategy. Let’s look at it in terms of game theory.

On one end, if you go full eco-warrior, the economy dies, and we all go hungry. Conversely if we go the other way, anti-environment, all capitalism, the planet struggles to support our natural growth until it can’t anymore, and again, we all go hungry.

There’s a third option: working together to find a way to allow economic growth to coexist with the planet's regeneration. Harnessing the creative energy of capitalism to better serve nature. 

It’s time for us to work together. We have the facts, and we know that our only chance is to combine forces. This series is my contribution to bridging the two worlds and creating something I have been passionate about for a long time.

And it’s called Natural Capitalism.

What is Natural Capitalism?

At the heart of it lies the concept of natural value realisation. This is more than just a catchy phrase—it’s a fundamental shift in how we view and interact with the environment. 

Natural value realisation means placing a real, financial value on the ecosystems and natural services we depend on. We need to stop seeing nature as external to the economy and start viewing it as an asset—just like infrastructure, labor, or technology.

If we put a dollar value on every part of our environment—on clean air, forests, and the biodiversity within an ecosystem—then protecting and restoring nature becomes financially viable. The capitalist system, driven by profit, can then work with nature, not against it. 

By making the true value of natural assets visible and measurable, businesses are incentivized to protect, invest in, and regenerate ecosystems. A wetland becomes not just a piece of unused land but an invaluable asset, providing flood protection, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity. A forest becomes a long-term investment, not a resource to be chopped down for short-term gain.

We are already seeing the first steps toward this future, and that is the purpose of this series: to show the possibilities of enterprise in growing in harmony with the healing of the planet. 

Businesses should make money because they’re helping nature, not despite it.

In my vision, the next 100 years will be defined not by the destruction of our living planet but by its regeneration. I envision a future where both GDP and the Living Planet Index rise together—where economic growth works hand in hand with the restoration of our ecosystems. 

This is the future I dream of. 

Natural capitalism is not just a theory—it’s the way forward for both human prosperity and the health of our planet.

This is my dream for Natural Capitalism:

How can you support?

If this resonates with you, then share it with your network. 

The driving force behind natural capitalism is entrepreneurs willing to get creative about how we heal the environment while growing economically.