For a long time, we have measured a company’s success in the same way: How much does it sell? How quickly is it growing? How much profit does it make?
But what if we have been asking the wrong question all along?
What if a company’s true success was measured not only by what it earns, but also by what it chooses to do with those profits?
This is an important question.
Because no company exists separately from the natural world.
Whatever its industry, every business depends on nature in some way.
The food we produce, the raw materials we use, the water we rely on, the energy we consume and even the landscapes that support our economies all depend on healthy ecosystems.
Yet these ecosystems are disappearing before our eyes.
Today, scientists estimate that around one million species of animals and plants are at risk of extinction.
Forests continue to disappear. Wetlands are being lost. The oceans are becoming warmer. Natural habitats are becoming increasingly divided and damaged.
We often talk about biodiversity as though it is an issue that only affects wildlife.
But the truth is that biodiversity is what allows our own lives to exist.
Healthy soils help us grow food. Pollinators support much of our agriculture. Forests help regulate the climate and store carbon. Wetlands naturally clean and filter water. The oceans produce almost half of the oxygen we breathe.
In other words, our entire economy depends on the services that nature provides us with, free of charge.
Protecting biodiversity is therefore not only about protecting animals or natural spaces. It is about protecting the very foundations that allow us to live and thrive.
Fortunately, more and more companies are recognising their environmental impact. They are reducing emissions, rethinking packaging, improving supply chains and investing in more sustainable ways of working.
These efforts are essential.
But we believe that simply reducing our impact is no longer enough.
For centuries, our economy has followed the same pattern: we take resources from nature, turn them into products and create economic value.
However, only a small part of that value returns to the natural world that made it possible.
What if we chose a different approach?
Not as a way to justify continued pollution. Not as a replacement for reducing our impact.
But because giving back to nature should simply become part of the way businesses operate.
After all, if companies benefit from nature every day, should they not also help to protect it?
This idea led Almo Nature to create a different kind of business model.
Today, the company is wholly owned by Fondazione Capellino, a non profit foundation dedicated to protecting biodiversity.
100 % of Almo Nature’s net profits are therefore fully reinvested into biodiversity conservation projects through a model known as the Reintegration Economy, rather than being distributed to private shareholders.
The profits have not disappeared. The difference is that they are no longer the final goal.
Instead, they become a way to support the restoration of the ecosystems on which all businesses depend and, ultimately, on which we all depend.
Is this a perfect model? No.
Is it enough on its own? No.
But we believe it is a step in the right direction.
Imagine if every company dedicated even 5, 10 or 15% of its profits to restoring ecosystems, reconnecting habitats or protecting endangered species.
Instead of only taking value from the natural world, businesses could also help to restore it.
This is the idea behind the Reintegration Economy.
It is not only a different economic model. It is a different way of thinking about the relationship between businesses and nature.
A way of recognising that we cannot continue to take from the planet without giving something back.
For centuries, businesses have been created to generate economic value.
Perhaps the next step is to create that value while also restoring the ecosystems that make it possible.
Not because regulations require it.
Not because consumers demand it.
But because the biodiversity crisis is no longer a distant concern.
It is one of the greatest challenges of our time.
One thing is clear: we cannot continue to rely on nature without helping to protect and restore what it gives us.