News

As companies are faced with pressure and requirements from consumers and regulators about environmental issues, they must make their goods and services compatible with climate, biodiversity and resource issues, whatever their size.

Six months ago, Vert, an independent online news magazine about ecology, took the initiative of proposing the media a manifesto - which has now become a Charter - for « a journalism being up to the ecological emergency ».

This ending summer is bound to be a marker in European populations, politicians and socio-economic actor's minds.

This was the priority objective of the French Presidency of the European Union : it has been achieved. The five mainstay texts of the Climate Package presented by the Commission in July 2021 have passed the decisive stages of examination by the European Parliament and then, during the night of 28th-29th June, the Council of the 27 Environment Ministers took its stand.

Some 240 million vehicles need to be replaced or adapted, while at the same time it will be compulsory to help and support the transformation of a sector that produces 17 million cars per year and provides more than 12 million jobs worldwide.

It is a systemic revolution that will become compulsory on financial, fiduciary and insurance activities : at the end of March, the Wall Street regulator validated the opening of the consultation of a document intended to make the publishing of an annual standardized report about their exposure to climate risk mandatory for listed companies.

The third part of the IPCC report on « climate change mitigation » was passed on Sunday, April 3th. The harsh negotiations to which it gave rise are reminiscent of the difficulties met in validating the last November COP26 final statement.

On February 28th, the authors of the second part of the IPCC 6th Assessment Report about « impacts, adaptation and vulnerability » delivered another strong message : without appropriate responses, nearly half of the world population is already exposed to major climatic risks, the occurrence of which will increase in the next ten years.

The 2021 second half heavy diplomatic sequence (IPCC pre-report, European Commission roadmap, G20 Summit, Cop26) has clarified the international mapping of strategies, trajectories and commitments regarding the climate emergency.

This is an unprecedented situation. Since last autumn, rising energy prices have been hampering the European economic recovery and threatening entire sectors of activity. Ironically, the "nuclear shield" was of no use until the end of January, because of the market mechanisms linking electricity prices to those of gas.

The law to reduce the environmental footprint of the digital sector in France (REEN) was passed in mid-November, at a time when the international community was drawing up a mixed assessment of COP26. The French parliamentarians wanted to "do a useful job" by laying the foundations of a pioneering legislation to control the environmental footprint of the digital sector.

After the publication of the IPCC synthesis for decision-makers and the European Commission proactive "Fit For 55" energy-climate package, ADEME has just made a national contribution to the public debate that completes the understanding of possible scales and futures.

Oppositions are as systematic as they are ideological ! Why do we no longer manage to shed a
minimum of nuance, a precious glimmer of common sense, on the smallest of our social issues ?

All the conditions seemed to be in place for COP26 to reach a global « new deal » to limit global warming to a level close to 1.5°C : the return of the United States as a signatory of the 2016 treaty at the beginning of this year ; then a succession of strong international focuses on climate issues from the summer onwards (presentation of the EU's « Fit for 55 » package,
synthesis of the IPCC's 6th report, final declaration of the G20 summit in Rome).

The rental of the most energy-intensive properties will be banned in France from 2023 onwards.

An electric car that is produced by an American technology company, was the best selling new car in Europe in September 2021.

The bungalow with a garden, a life project for millions of households, was recently described by the Minister of Housing as « an ecological, economical and social nonsense ».

« TPS » that was created in 2010, is an association approved as being of general interest. Chaired by Jean-Marc Jancovici, « TPS » aims at « shedding light on the debate regarding energy transition and working towards an economy free of carbon constraints ».

With an obvious wink, it is on Friday 22 October, World Energy Day, that the French Agency for Ecological Transition (Ademe) has chosen to present a new demanding label dedicated to renewable electricity supply offers: VertVolt.

Europe's new carbon reduction commitment shakes up global benchmarks in the fight against climate change.

Anticipating by a few days the alarming findings of the IPCC to the decision-makers ‘attention1, the European Commission published mid-July a very ambitious political and normative "package" about energy and climate.

"The house is burning", and this is no longer a metaphor. Seven years after its last report, the IPCC is showing alarming projections on global warming and on the imminence of increasingly serious climatic consequences, that are based on enhanced modelling.


The tone is all the more pessimistic as the report notes the early occurrence of aggravating and irreversible phenomena (melting of high altitude glaciers and of the Arctic ice cap, permafrost thaw) that won’t be stopped before hundreds or even thousands of years.

After sixteen months of improvisation and then adaptations, a framework agreement about the organization of remote working within the three Civil Services was signed on July 13th.

With the Covid-19 crisis, consumers’ expectations regarding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are increasing. Interest concerning the environmental impact of products is also growing and now has an influence on the act of purchasing. What is the place of CO2 in consumption practices ? Vetted reviews the present day situation and explains why companies must take this issue seriously because it is here to last.

For several years now, major companies have been announcing their will to become "carbon neutral" or "zero net emissions". Although their efforts are not yet sufficient enough, the annual EcoAct study shows...

CSR, Mission-driven Companies, SDGs... these different acronyms and other words, while they correspond to various building blocks of sustainable transformation, are all part of a single fundamental movement : impact.

Although a utopian vision only ten years ago - when wind power, hybrid vehicles and organic
farming were still in their infancy - the decarbonisation of our economies is now part of a new global race for innovation and competitiveness. The European countries, whose resources in
strategic raw materials are limited, have a specific role to play.

In the midst of a recovery, France has announced its will to become the 1st major decarbonised economy in Europe.

During 2020, the companies that have best overcome the health, social and economic crises are the most advanced in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Tomorrow's companies will most likely be responsible or won’t...

+ 52%, + 68% and even + 800% : here are the respective increases in the stock prices of Netflix, Amazon and Zoom since the beginning of lockdown...

While 6% of companies saw their activity increase during the lockdowns (notably the pharmaceutical industry and retail trade), more than four out of five companies experienced a significant decline in activity of between 10% and more than 50%, particularly in tourism and cultural activities...