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WHAT WE DO

Redesigning finance in service of life

The challenge

Signs of ecological decline and climate disruption are intensifying. We are in a time of great unravelling, but also of potential renewal. The direction we take will be shaped in large part by how we redesign our financial system.

Over the past decade, nature finance has moved rapidly into the mainstream. New funds, standards and markets are emerging at pace. Yet the underlying logic of risk, return, and growth remains unchanged, and continues to deepen inequality and drive ecological breakdown.

Mobilising more capital will never be enough if finance itself is not redefined and reimagined.

Over the past year, we have built a community of courageous explorers ready to ask: what would it take to redesign finance in service of the living world?

Our sense-making journey so far

A gathering in the heart of an ancient woodland. Inspiration drawing on the intricacies of the natural world. Stretching our imagination beyond the boundaries of the current system. Exploring bold new ideas to finance nature’s regeneration.

Justin Adams OBE Announced CBA Fellow for Reimagining Nature Finance
January 2025
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Essay: Designing for Life
September 2025
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Imaginal Studio: Wytham Woods
September 2025
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Justin Adams OBE Announced CBA Fellow for Reimagining Nature Finance
January 2025
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Essay: Designing for Life
September 2025
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Imaginal Studio: Wytham Woods
September 2025
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The emerging seeds of the future

Half a dozen seeds started to take shape at our gathering in Wytham Woods, with several cross-cutting themes emerging. Conversations and further development are ongoing, including on the following threads…

An imaginal process for transformative change

Bringing the IPBES call for deep shifts in values, power, governance, behaviour and finance alive through imagination and shared inquiry in the run-up to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity COP17.

A portfolio of regenerative projects

Identifying and supporting real-world initiatives that stretch today’s financial logic and demonstrate what regenerative, life-aligned finance looks like in practice.

A boundary-pushing finance vehicle

An evergreen structure that prices stability over stretch returns, embeds nature and future generations in decision-rights, and recycles surpluses to society.

Nature tokens in Gabon

A bioregional treasury and token designed for a major landscape in Gabon, aligning investment with ecosystem function, community benefit and long-term resilience.

Finance redesigned through Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs)

Decentralised, tech-enabled, place-rooted governance that values invisible labour and rebuilds the social–ecological commons through trust-based collaboration.

Wytham principles for finance in service of life

A set of practical principles co-created by the Wytham participants and led by the University of Oxford to begin to guide financial institutions toward life-centred decision-making and accountability.

"At the root of the degenerative economic system we've inherited — if you chase to the source of the issues — it so often comes down to the extractive design of finance and its clash with the dynamics of thriving life."

Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics

Our partners

A woman sits on a wooden chair holding a microphone, in front of a large piece of cardboard with the title 'history of the future' written on it, in additional to many coloured post-it notes.

What methodology underpins our approach?

Real transformation requires us to walk a twin trail, pushing the boundaries of current systems, whilst daring to dream beyond. Our approach combines well established and emerging methods — from systems thinking, group genius and design thinking to inner development, collective imagination and kincentric leadership.

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