Money, Moss, and the Meaning of Wealth: Rob Gardner’s Vision for Rebalancing Earth and Finance

When Rob Gardner talks about finance he envisions rivers, systems, flows, and opportunities. Perhaps that’s the geographer in him. Or maybe it’s the result of a uniquely global upbringing marked by hyperinflation, supermarket sticker races, and hiding US dollars in film canisters in 1980s Argentina. Either way, Gardner’s approach to finance is holistic. Now, with Rebalance Earth, he's on a mission to bridge the worlds of wealth and environmental restoration by turning nature into an investable asset class.

Insured losses from natural disasters are climbing, putting increasing financial pressure on companies to adapt and avoid rising insurance premiums. Advances in technology are driving the development of innovative insurance products designed to manage nature-related risks. According to UNEP FI, nature finance has grown elevenfold over the past five years, signalling growing investor interest in solutions that respond to environmental volatility.

Listen to the full interview on the podcast. 

From Dollar Bills to Deutsche Bank

Gardner’s early education in money stemmed from witnessing how fast it could disappear. As a child in Argentina, his family navigated 1000% inflation by converting cash into dollars and hiding them around the house.

By age seven, he knew the exchange rate for every South American currency. “I thought everyone did this,” he jokes, recalling his father’s nighttime visits to houses that looked straight out of Narcos.

This crash course taught Gardner two fundamental financial lessons, money must be earned and then protected. It wasn’t until his time at Deutsche Bank that he discovered a third - how to grow it.

Financial Education

Throughout Gardner’s financial career from investment banking to pensions to asset management was the realisation that financial literacy is the differentiator between those that have control over their finances and those that don’t. He compares financial health to physical physical health. “Over half of divorces and mental health issues have money at the root,” he notes.

It’s not about how much you earn, Gardner argues, it’s about what you do with what you have. His framework, ‘Earn it, Keep it, Grow it’, is a mantra he’s lived by, and one he now teaches through his book Freedom. Whether it’s saving the first 20% of your paycheck, avoiding lifestyle inflation, or steering clear of credit-funded crypto, Rob has spent much of his career sharing financial knowledge he believes has been kept behind closed doors.

Rebalance Earth 

In 2022, Gardner co-founded Rebalance Earth with the goal to make nature investable. At a time where we have lost 70% of global biodiversity, and nature is worth more dead than alive, Gardner is trying to place financial value on nature's finite resources and encourage investment in protecting them.  

Rebalance Earth aims to change that by redefining nature as infrastructure. From sponge-like sphagnum moss that reduces flooding and stores water, to oyster reefs that clean water and protect coastlines, Gardner wants to create revenue-generating models based on ecosystem services.

“If we can make nature an investable asset class in the same way that real estate is, or the same way that property is, then all of a sudden the big asset owners of this world, these big pension funds can start to make a 2 % allocation. That will create a huge flow of money to protect and restore nature. But this isn't philanthropy, so they don't invest in real estate.”

By creating investment-grade financial products around these services, Rebalance Earth hopes to make nature restoration economically rational. He envisions a future where investing in peatlands, rivers, oyster reefs, and forests is as routine as buying shares in tech stocks. “We want to be managing £10 billion by 2030,” he says.

“Not just to deliver 10% returns, but to build resilience for the other 98% of your portfolio. Climate resilience. Water security. Biodiversity.”

Robert Gardner’s vision is ambitious, build a financial system where investing in nature is financially prosperous. It’s not just about creating new markets, but about reshaping what we value and why. In a world increasingly shaped by climate risk and ecological decline, building a more sustainable future requires financial instruments that can help deliver the changes outlined by science and called for in policy.

Listen to the full interview on the podcast. 

Know a company doing great work in sustainability? Rob Gardner will be judging the RISE Awards on 6th November, the perfect platform for founders to showcase their impact and connect with leaders like him.