Bertarelli Summer2024 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 75
ECO NO M ICS
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leaders, who, if they can do the
amount of things they are able to
do with so few resources, I think
that should inspire everybody to
know they are able to make this
kind of change. It’s not time to give
up on the planet. Individuals have
this great ability to really move the
needle on the environment. And so
collectively, I think we can do it.
Film has become a really big
part of telling the stories of these
projects. We’ve had some early success there, too: One of our early
films just won an Emmy for Best Nature Documentary.
The film was being shot around one of our projects
called Wildcat. And I just came back from the Amazon with Jane Goodall. We’re working on two different
films with a couple of filmmakers. I love conservation
work, and it is exciting, but I also love telling the story
of what’s possible for nature.
RE W I L D I NG
money or allowed you to operate
in their communities, because you
will have an impact on their lives,
the species they might depend on,
or the nature of the ecosystems
they live in. The second thing about
reporting is that it helps you articulate what you are doing, and that
helps you to know if you’re doing
the right thing. Corporate reporting
forces you to be considered, selfconscious, and really think about
what you are going to say. The
thing that formal reporting does is
it allows people to meet you, to find out what you are
doing. And that is really energizing.
It’s scary to be open and transparent about what
you do. Maybe you think that your head is going to get
shot off if you put it above the parapet. But invariably,
with corporations that are open and have well-founded
projects backed up with data, people are receptive and
even offer to help.
The second thing that I think is really possible is
that in our work, we’ve integrated the principles of
restoration science into our recommendations for what
you might choose to disclose as a company. And those
two things—reporting, and integrating restoration science—can work together.
Dasilva: When I came into investing in conservation,
I looked at many different groups doing the work. But
some of those boots-on-the-ground, grassroots projects
that Re:wild supports, and that we really believe in—
these are folks that are doing a lot of their work with
almost no budget. Give them an annual budget and they
can hire a team that can do five years of planning. I recognize the entrepreneurialism in these projects. I was
able to mentor some of these conservationists and contribute a business perspective. But it was exciting to see
them grow a team and go from a string of losses on the
ground to a string of wins. That has a big influence not
just on the project, but also in the surrounding communities as they see the conservation project thrive.
There are some incredible stories inside these projects. For example, one of our projects is in Trinidad
and it focuses on leatherback turtles. Leatherback
turtles migrate from the Caribbean islands all the
It’s not time to give
up on the planet.
Individuals have
this great ability
to really move
the needle on the
environment.
And finally, Nicholas?
Nicholas Freudiger: I’m one of the three co-founders of ID Gèneve Watches. So ID stands for a new
identity in the world of luxury. When I talk about Swissmade watches, what usually comes to mind is quality,
wealth, and eliteness. But we have built the first impactnegative watch brand, only using circular materials. So
for example, we have launched a watch that uses zero
mining materials. We use 100 percent recycled stainless
steel sourced locally that has a far lower impact than
the industry average. I strongly believe that the private
sector can act to bring about a transition in industry to
sustainability, especially startups.
What are the most promising opportunities for businesses, and for business owners and founders and
CEOs, to help them believe in restoration? And is there
any way we can make that even more attractive?
Bebbington: I have two promising things. Firstly, I
think corporations should be less shy. Your accounting and reporting isn’t very sexy. But providing corporate reports and transparency about actions has
three really important effects. The first effect is that it
gives accountability to people who may have given you
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