Beyond Sustainability Report

How Businesses are Rewriting the Rules for Change. A new report from the Skoll Centre and Natura.

Beyond Sustainability:

How Businesses are Rewriting the Rules for Change

Inside a collective of companies reshaping the future of business

A report by Mary Johnstone-Louis for the Skoll Centre and Char Love for Natura

What comes after “sustainability as usual”? For business today, few questions are more important. Pathbreaking companies around the world continue to reimagine ownership, governance, and business models. In so doing, they spotlight extraordinary opportunities for innovation. This report offers a snapshot of what is possible when businesses driven by bold ideas gather, and how this can reshape the future of business.

Mary Johnstone-Louis Senior Fellow in Management Practice and Skoll Centre Fellow, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY 2

The journey to regeneration is not a path to walk alone. In nature, we see the importance of relationships in creating a healthy, thriving living system with a focus on interdependence over independence. At Natura, we are actively exploring new ways to walk alongside businesses that share our values. We’re proud to be part of this collaboration - a place where we can learn, connect and grow together.

Angela Pinhati Chief Sustainability Officer, Natura

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY

WHO GATHERED AND WHY?

Central to the Skoll Centre’s mission is the question: “How can we effectively and responsibly catalyse impact at scale, scaling up while also scaling deep?”

Seven highly innovative companies – Oatly, Ecosia, Generation Investment Management, Tony’s Chocolonely, Patagonia, Triodos Bank, and Natura are convening to build insight on just that. Launched with a two day event at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and co-hosted by sustainability pioneer Natura and the Skoll Centre, the group is sharing their unique efforts and transformative potential across a range of sectors from technology to finance to agriculture and consumer goods. 1

These companies are diverse, yet united by a shared commitment to use their business to drive systems change. This goes well beyond sustainability as usual. Within the group, some companies describe themselves as a coalition of firms working towards regenerative business or a regenerative economy, while others self-identify as examples of “imperfect businesses”, emphasising that even companies perceived to be working on the cutting edge of corporate sustainability face challenges and feel they have room to go further.

We have no formal corporate social responsibility or

sustainability team. Our entire business strategy aligns with our environmental and social commitments.

Participant

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY

Natura Awards and Recognition: https://ri.naturaeco.com/en/esg/awards-and-recognition/ 1

This gathering of companies kicked off with three main objectives: to deepen trust between the participating companies, facilitate mutual learning, and identify collaborative projects, including opportunities for research. From the outset, participants have articulated a need to transcend more traditional approaches to corporate sustainability, underscoring interest in transforming incumbent environmental, social, and economic systems through business. Key priorities across the group include leveraging diverse sectoral strengths, enhancing pathways for collaborative action, and identifying onramps for other companies to come alongside their work. Participating companies have articulated a desire not to “go it alone”, acknowledging that the innovations they have built will have a greater impact if they collaborate. The interplay between commercial outcomes and systems-level goals has emerged front and centre in the firms’ conversations, as has the theme of the power of entrenched industry norms. The need for creative thinking and mutual support to amplify their impact has been clear, as is the appetite for a platform for businesses like theirs to work together to take even more effective action on systems-level goals.

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY ‘REGENERATION’?

The term ‘regeneration’ has multiple meanings. Three key elements that animate this work:

Creating positive impact for people, communities and planet (Das & Bocken, 2024) 2

Not just ‘sustaining the status quo’ - actively engaging in the creation of positive impact in their own business and at a systems level (Konietzko, 2020) 3

While the idea of regeneration typically describes agricultural practices… when extended to business, the goal of regeneration “is to make systems better, to give back more than is taken, to replenish the planet’s natural resources, and to render communities and society more equitable (Marquis, 2024) ” 4

Ankita Das and Bocken, N. (2024) Regenerative business strategies: A database and typology to inspire business experimentation towards sustainability, Sustainable Production and Consumption, 49, pp 529-544, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2024.06.024 2 Konietzko, Jan, et al. “A Tool to Analyze, Ideate and Develop Circular Innovation Ecosystems.” Sustainability, vol. 12, no. 1, 5 Jan. 2020, p. 417, https://doi.org/10.3390/su12010417 3 Marquis, Christopher. “How Regeneration Is Redefining Business.” Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2024, ssir.org/articles/entry/regenerative-business-models 4

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY

KEY QUESTIONS FROM PARTICIPANTS ON HOW TO COLLABORATE AND ADVANCE SYSTEMS CHANGE:

How can businesses move from reactive to proactive strategies in advocating for systems change?

When, how, and where should companies that are doing this work strategically use their collective voice to maximise influence and impact?

Which mechanisms and strategies are most effective for mutual support among companies focused on systems change?

Which frameworks and/or tools can help businesses scale up while ensuring deep integration and authenticity of regenerative practices?

How can companies transparently measure and communicate their impact to encourage wider adoption of regenerative approaches?

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY 6

What makes participating companies unique?

While companies who have joined this collective conversation have strong sectoral diversity, they share a series of common characteristics. Each business has a culture which is rooted in its purpose and mission. In many cases, this appears to encourage people in the business to develop a mindset that draws attention to systems-level challenges in their industry, and pushes for creative solutions to these. Often, this culture can be traced back to the company’s origin story and the values instilled by its founders. Perhaps as a result of this culture, each participating company has developed one or more strategies or business models centered on addressing systems-level goals. These innovations exemplify how firm-level innovations can generate impact that scales both wide and deep. Many corporations aspire to create positive social or environmental outcomes but struggle to align these ambitions with financial value creation. Through ongoing collaboration, this collective of companies can offer insights into how firms can pursue systems change goals via innovations within their businesses.

What does it mean to be a company built on the idea of change?

Participant

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY

A simple framework helps to identify links between specific strategies and the systems-level goals these actions target. For example, Tony’s Chocolonely, a company that experienced year-on-year growth of 33% in 2024 , has a clear systems change focus: to end exploitation endemic in the cocoa supply chain in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. To deliver on this mission, the company has developed a business model innovation that enables other cocoa buyers to source via its Tony’s Open Chain, a comprehensive supply chain solution. Tony’s Open Chain works according to five procurement practices, including proactively identifying and addressing cases of deforestation, child labour, and forced labour. 5 This pre-competitive collaboration now includes more than twenty companies, including some of Europe’s larger supermarkets, and represents an example of a firm-level action with a clear systems-level goal. Between them, participating companies – “Mission Allies”, in Tony’s language – offer multiple examples of strategy and business models rooted in systems change, including within governance, performance measurement, and advocacy.

Our board members are values-driven and have extensive discussions about balancing financial health with mission- driven initiatives.

Participant

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY

https://uk.tonyschocolonely.com/pages/annual-fair-report 5

COMPANY

FIRM-LEVEL INNOVATION

SYSTEMS-LEVEL GOAL

The financial system serves the real economy and provides finance at scale to enhance the key transition areas Social and environmental exploitation endemic to the cocoa supply chain is accurately tracked and effectively addressed Ensure nature finance reaches biodiversity hotspots through scalable adoption of climate/nature positive technology solutions and infrastructure designed with regenerative principles in mind

Dedicate 100% of profits to reforest the planet and create standard-setting quality nature and energy projects

Tony’s Open Chain

Capital is directed to five key areas where transition is required: food, resource, energy, society and wellbeing

Integrated Profit & Loss (IP&L) accounting for social, human, and natural capital impacts across the value chain

Climate, nature, and social externalities are priced into capital markets and visible to consumers

Offers oat-based alternatives to dairy products and uses them and its brand to raise awareness about the impact of food and aim to normalise plant-based eating

Shift to plant-rich diets and a plant-centric food system, with benefits for climate, nature, and human health

Brand focus on addressing climate change and protecting nature

Increased awareness and resource for environmental protection and restoration

Generation Investment Management

Climate, nature, and social externalities are priced into capital markets

Long-term, risk-adjusted investment strategy

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY

INSIGHTS SO FAR

This collaboration has offered a unique chance for companies to learn from one another. In a trust-based peer learning environment, participants openly share lessons, challenges and strategies that enable them to build interventions to achieve systems-level goals. They articulate both an individual and shared ambition for impact at scale, showcasing the need for firm and sector-level specificity in tandem with broader cooperative approaches. By detailing specific initiatives and the strategic choices underlying their approaches, each company offers practical, road-tested models for scaling up and scaling deep.

GOVERNANCE INNOVATION Insights from Technology

In Ecosia’s innovative model, all profits from search engine ads are directed to reforestation projects. Their Golden Share steward ownership model enables the company to maintain these commitments long term, overcoming a key barrier to impact at scale. Ecosia strategically uses its voice as a player in the tech sector to raise awareness about the climate crisis and promote regulations that protect user choice and fair competition for purpose-driven solutions such as Ecosia. Instead of using its trees for carbon offsetting, Ecosia focuses on ensuring the right trees are planted in the right place, providing long-term benefits, such as food and sustainable income streams to the 345 communities Ecosia works with across key biodiversity hotspots in 35+ countries.

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY 10

GOVERNANCE INNOVATION Insights from Food and Agriculture

Tony’s trailblazing Tony’s Open Chain supply chain initiative, is designed to eradicate poverty, illegal labour, and environmental degradation in cocoa production. Their governance model, overseen by Mission Guardians , preserves company integrity in terms of mission focus. Tony’s emphasised the need to balance systems-level impact with operational scalability and the strategic approach to partnering with larger, conventional industry players to achieve lasting sector-wide change. 6

https://uk.tonyschocolonely.com/pages/mission-lock 6

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY

GOVERNANCE INNOVATION

Insights from Food and Agriculture BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION

Insights from Apparel

Outdoor apparel company Patagonia’s ownership and governance model enables it to prioritise ecological objectives. The company emphasises the importance of grassroots activism as well as direct-to-consumer storytelling. Current priorities include harmonising impact objectives with financial performance, decarbonising supply chains, and effectively engaging with politically diverse stakeholders through strategic and unconventional partnerships.

Oatly positions itself as a climate solution company with at least 90% of its products qualifying as climate solutions. Oatly aspires to use its voice, partnerships and advocacy to challenge outdated norms, break down regulatory barriers and push for fair market conditions for a plant-centric food system that operates within the planetary boundaries. Scaling regenerative agricultural practices to address nature, climate and farmer livelihoods is key. Through climate labelling for consumers and advocating for this across all food and drink, Oatly focuses on transparency and awareness about the impact of food and drink. Outlining their focus on science-backed operational strategies, Oatly notes a short-term challenge: scaling rapidly versus reducing their climate footprint per litre annually.

Generation Investment Management

BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION

Insights from Asset Management BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION

Insights from Finance

Triodos’s approach to banking is rooted in the dual mission of financing change and changing finance. The company’s focus is sustainable finance, advocacy for financial transparency, and ethical banking. They aim to enable and accelerate the most vital transitions, such as the food, energy and resource transitions. Triodos manages competitive pressures from traditional financial institutions and develops pricing structures that effectively communicate the value of their specialised financial services.

Generation’s investment thesis majors on sustainable and climate-conscious investments8, utilising strategic advocacy to influence change at the systems level within finance. The company is adept at spotlighting challenges posed by financial regulations, especially around transparency and compliance. Their strategy includes rigorous climate investment criteria emphasising emission reductions.

https://www.patagoniaworks.com/press/2022/9/14/patagonias-next-chapter-earth-is-now-our-only-shareholder 7 https://www.generationim.com/our-firm/our-mission/ 8

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY 12

IMPACT MEASUREMENT INNOVATION

Insights from Beauty and Wellness

Natura has a multi-decade history of sourcing from the Amazon, and recently “recalled” its sustainability strategy in favour of a more ambitious Regeneration Vision 2050 . 9 The latter places a strong focus on the business’s impact on human rights, biodiversity conservation, and scaling of circular economy practices. Natura’s Integrated Profit & Loss (IP&L) methodology is critical for measuring corporate impacts across social, natural, and human capital. Natura also engages in proactive advocacy and policy engagement, as well as engaging their shareholders as a listed company.

We are known as a pace setter, yet we are not perfect. No one has a perfect model. How do we bring our models mainstream while at the same time acknowledging the ups and downs we will inevitably face?

Participant

https://uk.tonyschocolonely.com/pages/mission-lock 9

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY 13

KEY TENSIONS

As pioneering businesses grow in influence, they face tests of integrity, resilience, and leadership that shape their ability to deliver on their mission. The participating companies identified several consistent tensions. The way in which companies navigate these challenges impacts not only the fate of individual businesses but also how effective that business is as a force for systems change.

Protecting the founding culture

Building from core values as the business grows in size and complexity, especially when the business is rooted in strong founding stories.

Bringing others along

Bringing diverse stakeholders, from customers to policymakers to industry peers, along as systems change partners without being perceived as “selling out” by the core base.

Changing systems from within

Navigating incumbent market realities while pushing for transformative change.

The cost of standing out

You have to take [clients and investors] step by step through a series of hard questions in this shift to new ways of working: What does it mean to build a business for the future?

Managing heightened scrutiny from media, investors, and the public when “doing good” attracts heightened expectations and even criticism.

Guarding against misinformation

Navigating disinformation in fast-moving digital environments where narratives can quickly distort.

Participant

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY 14

TOWARDS A REGENERATIVE APPROACH

Companies using business to reach systems-level goals offer insight into what can be understood as a “regenerative approach” for corporations. In our interpretation, this entails a corporate commitment to take action that “goes beyond” the status quo to deliver systems change. This view of the term emphasises a holistic and proactive regeneration of environmental, social, and even economic systems. It opens space for diverse strategies for change encompassing leadership, sourcing, and ecological regeneration, as well as work with consumers, technology, and activism.

FRAMEWORK FOR IDENTIFYING CORE CHARACTERISTICS OF REGENERATIVE BUSINESS MODELS 10

PURPOSE

NETWORKS

OWNERSHIP

REGENERATION

IMPACT What is the impact of the organization on society and the natural environment? What is the impact of the business on wider sustainability transition? How is it measured and communicated?

Why does the organization exist?

What are its networks?

Who owns the organization?

What exactly is being regenerated?

What purpose is it in service to? Is it focused on maximizing financial returns, or on a living purpose bigger than itself?

How does it relate to its customers, members, staff, volunteers, suppliers, neighbours, allies? Are they aligned with its purpose and values?

Who owns the assets that it holds? Is it owned by a founding entrepreneur, a family, shareholders, the state, or its own employees?

Which aspect of the business model is regenerative? What strategies are being

employed by the organization to be regenerative?

Das and Bocken. “Regenerative Business Strategies: A Database and Typology to Inspire Business Experimentation towards Sustainability.” Sustainable Production and Consumption, vol. 49, 1 Sept. 2024, pp. 529–544. 10

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY 15

Regeneration is all about relationships. We need to do this together and find opportunities to work collectively.

Participant

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY 16

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

Today, three themes stand out from the group’s reflections on how systems-change focused businesses can act together for greater impact.

Char Love Chief International Advocacy Officer, Natura and Executive in Residence at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

True collaboration between businesses who are pioneering strategies for systems change requires deep trust. When this trust is present, it is possible to have candid exchanges about challenges and, at the same time, develop mutual support to shape public narratives with a credible, collective voice. Trust, Collective Voice, and Shared Action for Systems Change:

This group has coalesced into a community of practice, connecting virtually and in person to strengthen interpersonal connections and share highlights as well as emerging tensions. The trust within the group is strong, and there is power in this space that allows for open exchange and joint problem-solving. Through in-person gatherings from London Climate Week, hosted by Volans and the Skoll Centre, to corporate headquarters hosted by Triodos, the group continues to share their insights and work to create ‘onramps’ for other organisations to learn and build on their innovations. Led by Patagonia, the group is also developing a shared advocacy charter, which will enable participating businesses to act together in a structured and strategic way when it comes to advocating to policymakers. This group is committed to business as a tool for systems change and to inviting others to join on this journey.

Redefining Leadership and Identity:

Participating companies are exploring how to define who they are as a collective and how to “show up” in a rapidly shifting business landscape. They seek to model fresh, authentic, and adaptive leadership, attending to commercial imperatives and systems change effectively.

Global Exchange for Systems Impact:

Bridging perspectives from the Global North and South, the group is mapping its collective contribution to systems change, supporting one another’s “moonshots,” and creating case studies and teaching tools that both educate future leaders and inform policy.

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY 17

ONGOING REFLECTIONS

Mary Johnstone-Louis Senior Fellow in Management Practice and Skoll Centre Fellow, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

As I reflect on my experience co-convening this collective conversation of remarkable businesses, I am struck by the vision, candour, and practical determination present every time we gather. These companies, diverse in sector and geography, share a commitment to wrestle with the hard questions that define what it means for business to pursue systems change in practice. None claim perfection. Instead, participants stay laser-focused on how much they would like to achieve, creating space for authentic learning and collaboration. The questions that have surfaced in our collaboration thus far point us towards the work ahead. Given incumbent market realities, how can business continue to effectively build strategy for systems change in tandem with commercial goals? This question highlights the urgency of shifting from defensive positioning to shaping markets and policy conditions. Relatedly, the question of when, how, and where companies strategically use their collective voice remains central, as participants recognise the power of aligned advocacy but also the need to focus on the systems they each know best.

Overall, my time with these companies highlights the need to more clearly understand mechanisms and strategies that enable firms to achieve systems-level goals. No single business can deliver systems change alone, and the question of trust is ever-present: how can companies communicate progress on systems-level goals in ways that are authentic and inspiring, while acknowledging the work is ongoing? Taken together, these questions form a research and practice agenda that bridges governance, advocacy, measurement, and organisational culture. While each company participating in this collective is uniquely placed to deliver change through its own strategy and business model, any future of “regenerative business” will be written through shared inquiry, iterative practice, and collaboration.

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY 18

ABOUT THE SKOLL CENTRE

Based at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, the Skoll Centre equips entrepreneurial leaders to catalyse systemic change within and beyond business. Over the past 20 years, the Centre has become a global hub for social entrepreneurship, innovation, and impact. We bring researchers and practitioners together to generate insights on leading and organising, financing, measuring, and scaling impact, and we incorporate these insights into learning programmes for entrepreneurial leaders at Oxford and worldwide.

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY 19

ABOUT NATURA

Founded in 1969, Natura is the leading brand in cosmetics, personal care, and direct sales in Brazil. Recognised for its sustainable business model, the company has worked in the Amazon Rainforest for more than 20 years, helping to conserve 2.2 million hectares and generating benefits for more than 10,500 families.

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY 20

PARTICIPANTS

Agnes De Rooij Triodos

Aisha Raheem Saïd Business School

Anette Mikes Saïd Business School

Belinda Borck Tony’s Chocolonely

Caitlin McElroy

Caroline Reid

Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment

Oatly

Diana Mangalagiu Saïd Business School

Ed Grattan Triodos

Gillian Grainge Patagonia

Jessica Jacobson Skoll Centre

Juliane Reinecke Saïd Business School

Julie Calkins Generation Investment Management

Kevin Miner Saïd Business School

Kitty Pandya Tony’s Chocolonely

Louise Brierley-Ingham Patagonia

Louise Kjellerup Roper Volans

Marya Besharov Skoll Centre

Menna Clarke Skoll Centre

Paul-Antoine Hourticq Saïd Business School

Pranav Dalmia Saïd Business School

Sophie Dembinksi Ecosia

Tim Knight Oatly

CONVENORS

Angela Pinhati Chief Sustainability Officer, Natura

Char Love Chief International Advocacy Officer, Natura and Executive in Residence,

Geraldo da Sousa Sustainability Strategy Lead, Natura

Mary Johnstone-Louis Senior Fellow in Management Practice and Skoll Centre Fellow at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY 21

Explore videos that bring to life the report

WATCH NOW

www.skollcentre.org

Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22