LThe outcome of the recent farmers’ movement provides us with a key lesson for our businesses. If ecology remains an “additional” subject to “business as usual”, she will experience the same fate: misunderstood, caricatured, then rejected.
Farmers are exhausted and climatic hazards are becoming more and more extreme. Also imposing environmental standards on them without redefining their future role with them will not work.
Are farmers only there to produce our food? In the world that lies ahead, we need them to conserve carbon in the soil, train new generations and protect biodiversity.
Business leaders are (finally!) taking up the issue of decarbonization. Asking them to take care of biodiversity and other planetary boundaries without rethinking the role of businesses will not work.
Are businesses solely dedicated to producing profit? In the world that is coming, we need them to protect living things, revitalize territories and make work a source of fulfillment.
This will not pass
The teams responsible, within companies, for social and environmental “reporting” (CSR) are already exhausted with thousands of pages of documents and figures to produce. Add to them, with the European directive on the duty of vigilance (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, CSRD), the notion of double materiality, asking them to measure not only the impact of climate change on their economic model, but also the effect of their activities on the planet and humans without rethinking the role of accounting, this will not happen.
Is accounting only used to enhance financial indicators? In the world that is coming, we need it to (re)integrate negative and positive externalities at the heart of company valuations.
Purchasing departments have already compressed all costs, everywhere. Requiring them to add carbon requirements to their suppliers, without rethinking the role of long-term cooperation, will not work.
Is the relationship with suppliers reduced to price negotiation? In the world that is coming, we need cooperation in the form of co-creation, to find solutions in value chains that are too fragmented.
Operational staff on the ground are tired of carrying out decisions that fall (too often!) from above. Suggesting that they also take local initiatives for the planet without rethinking the role of territories will not work.
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