SUSTAINABILITY HUB presents: ETH Zürich, From Sustainability to Regeneration

How to integrate new skills and cultures into the outdoor industry

The concept of sustainability is inherent to the outdoor industry. Its business model relies on the idea of intact nature. But while “less is more” has become a favoured narrative, sales in the sector have continued to grow steadily in recent years – especially during the pandemic when the outdoor community had a feeding frenzy.

Facing a balancing act between scaling-up and environmentalism, the industry is heading for its next leap in evolution. The guiding question being: How to direct consumer habits and industry practices towards regenerative ways of doing business in line with nature? Emerging answers clearly reach far beyond being eco-efficient and socially just. They involve new models of thought, living the questions about long-term strategies rather than quick-fix solution finding. Tobias Luthe from ETH Zurich – together with leading figures from the field – discusses how to integrate new skills and cultures into the outdoor industry that could become a forerunner of an alternative regenerative economic system.