In small teams of about fifteen people gathered in a circle, the participants, standing, express their “feelings” after the workshops of the day. This is called “Base camps”, but we are not here in a training camp for climate activists. All of them are business leaders, rather young, who have agreed to embark on the adventure of ” Business climate convention “(CEC).
Friday evening September 10, in the premises of the Special School of Public Works, Building and Industry of Cachan (Val-de-Marne), these new “conventional” from the business world take stock of the first day of this launch session, dedicated to “Observation on the planetary limits”. Lasting two days, it will be followed by five other episodes, some of which will be held in Lille, Marseille, Nantes or Lyon, to end on June 18, 2022.
“Proof by example”
Directly inspired by the citizens’ convention for the climate (CCC) – the latter delivered, after nine months of work, 149 proposals which inspired the “climate and resilience” law promulgated on August 22, 2021 -, this CEC has set itself the objective of“Make daring and impactful environmental transformation proposals, intended to be implemented in companies”. It does not respond to an order from the Head of State, unlike the citizens’ convention, which had been set an objective of “Reduction of at least 40% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, in a spirit of social justice”.
No quantified proposals, it is a question here of finding solutions in order to accelerate the transformation of the economic model. “The page on CCC has been turned, the work has been frustrating, even though we have made progress. It is insufficient and the companies which represent the economy will have more weight than the politicians, the proof by example will perhaps be more motivating ”, believes Grégoire Fraty, former figure of the 150 of the citizens’ convention for the climate, engaged in this new adventure.
Like its predecessor, the business convention has 150 participants, all business leaders, the total representing “36 billion euros in turnover and 250,000 employees”, with companies ranging from one employee to nearly 70,000. But, unlike the citizens’ convention from which the 150 participants were drawn by lot, the selection of companies was made taking into account the number of employees, economic sectors and regions, in order to ensure diversity. “We received hundreds of applications, but we also met with refusals when we contacted certain companies, especially in the airline sector. One of the reasons being that some bosses did not see themselves committing to a dozen days of presence, with a lot of work during intersessions ”, explains Yannick Servant, member of the CEC steering committee, which relies on 70 volunteers.
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