As we know, the systems in which we currently live keep producing climate change, biodiversity loss, and land desertification. These are three symptoms of the same issue: the disproportionate valorisation of short-term profit maximisation over other values, pressuring nature way beyond its own regenerative capacities. As it becomes acknowledged that singled out innovations cannot – alone – halt and reverse these interconnected triple crises, more and more organisations are looking into developing systems change approaches, connecting the dots between interconnected solutions and blended investment architectures to implement them. Let’s explore the transformational potential of systems change approaches and systemic investing.
"Systems will produce for us the things we value."
A system is an ensemble of parts - be it people, organisations, species, landscapes, cells or any other parts - interacting with one another, according to patterns of behaviours, culture, values, governance and more. Put simply, systems are complex nodes of interdependencies. Systems change focuses on disrupting these patterns and interdependencies to shift the values this system produces.
In order to create the low-carbon, climate-resilient, fair and inclusive future the world needs, systems change approaches shift the challenge from funding the development of new solutions toward funding ways to coherently and systemically weave solutions we already have and what is yet to come. In other words, systems change approaches are about shifting from the single asset paradigm to a coherent network of solutions that can truly disrupt a system by embracing the complexity of that system (behaviours, values, governance, resource management, etc.).
As explained by Dominic Hofstetter, traditional impact investing is steeped in the single asset paradigm. Embracing the complexity of a system calls for a different funding approach: a portfolio approach of diverse capitals aligned behind a shared vision of change.
While no blueprint currently exists for achieving a nature-positive status by 2030, the imperative for profound economic transformation is undeniable. In this path towards change, one question keeps coming back: who should bear the financial risk of that transition?
Kirsten Dunlop demonstrates that systems change approach inherently limits risks. Indeed, a dynamic portfolio of multifaceted solutions and investments, reinforcing and mutually supporting one another, fundamentally embodies a principle of risk reduction while enhancing transformative effects towards a nature-positive future.
Systems change and systemic investing challenge us to confront rooted behaviours. They invite us on a holistic and critical reevaluation of how we interact with our environment and how we take part in the multiple systems that forge it.
"In a world where the scale, complexity and interrelatedness of change are so far beyond linear, our best possible bet is to embrace the whole lot, invest in relationships, and learn faster than the pace of change."
