He helped build one of the most influential pensions and investment consulting firms in the UK.

Then he walked away from it.

In this episode of the Rebalance Earth Podcast, entrepreneur and bestselling author Daniel Priestley turns the tables and puts his long-time friend Rob Gardner in the hot seat.

The two have known each other for more than 15 years. Over that time they have both built successful businesses, navigated the realities of entrepreneurship, and seen firsthand what it takes to turn big ideas into companies that actually work.

But Rob’s latest venture may be the most ambitious yet.

Rebalance Earth is built around a simple but radical idea.

What if nature wasn’t treated as a cost to be protected, but as infrastructure that investors can fund and earn returns from?

In this wide-ranging conversation, Dan pulls apart the origin story behind the company. Why Rob left a successful career helping shape institutional investment through Redington and managing billions of pounds of investments at St. James’s Place. What he saw at COP26 that convinced him the financial system was missing something fundamental. And why he believes the next major asset class could be nature itself.

They explore how oyster reefs can protect supply chains, how restored landscapes can reduce flood risk for railways and cities, and how pension funds are beginning to invest in ecosystems in the same way they once invested in renewable energy infrastructure.

But this conversation is also about entrepreneurship.

About the moment you decide to leave a comfortable career and start again. About building teams, convincing sceptics, and turning a seemingly impossible idea into something that can actually work in the real world.

Because if Rob Gardner is right, the next generation of infrastructure will not be built from steel and concrete.

It will be grown.

And the entrepreneurs who figure out how to finance it will reshape the entire global economy.