Don't give up now!

Group opinion column. Published in La Tribune on Saturday 7 December 2024:

https://www.latribune.fr/opinions/tribunes/ne-lachez-pas-maintenant-1013258.html

You can join the co-signatories of this appeal at the bottom of the page.

Don't give up now!

The economic and associative ecosystem of the transition is sounding the alarm about the budgetary retrenchment of economic and institutional players.

The worsening economic situation, the gloomy outlook, fluctuating regulations and tax inflation have already sounded the death knell for a series of actions, initiatives, programmes, support and investments in favour of biodiversity, the climate and the environment in general. Many associations, consultancies, training centres, research centres and innovative businesses are already feeling the pinch and are sounding the alarm. We are heading straight for a tsunami of demobilisation, discouragement and a crash of the transition economy.

Dear partners, both public and private, who are already working to rebuild the world of tomorrow, stay on deck and on the front line at this crucial moment, when everything hangs in the balance. Keep up your research programmes, your awareness-raising and training initiatives, the events that help ideas and solutions for the future to grow, the experimental programmes, the strategic thinking, the investments in solutions for the future. Some of you were the pioneers and initiators of these initiatives, so don't let your sails drop in the face of an economic gale. Don't stop in midstream, but adapt to the currents and constraints, reorient priorities, focus on concrete actions on the ground, don't suffer, but transform these challenges into new assets. The economic situation must not put the future on hold.

Nature doesn't wait. The planet and humanity do not have the means to postpone these actions and investments, which would have only one consequence, that of accelerating the fall in the price of Vivre sur Terre shares and the cost of future decisions. The effects of climate disruption and the extinction of biodiversity do not follow a slow, linear process; history will be written in violent, sudden and painful stages. Constraints on purchasing power, migratory flows, human health, the cost of healthcare, agricultural yields, quality of life, so-called natural disasters... everything will only get worse if we let up now. No one can enjoy life or build projects on an overheated, impoverished and unhealthy planet.

Investing in the long term and the common good pays off. We now live in a community of linked destinies, and this overturns the paradigms and patterns of thinking that have built our economic growth since the 18th century: our individual economic interests depend on our ability to serve the collective interest, by investing in the common good to keep it in good economic, social and ecological health. The lack of vision and continuity has already done far too much damage to our political credibility, our economic sustainability and our ability to put forward the collective project and narrative that we have been waiting for and putting off for so long.

Tomorrow has already begun. The solutions are there, the alternatives exist, and the work of raising awareness has largely begun. Giving up now would be like refusing to take your profits, it would be like agreeing to lose years of investment and work. The socio-economic ecosystem of the transition remains on deck and mobilised. Economic slackness will decimate its troops, and unlike the tardigrade, it will not restart at the first drop of budgetary water. Slowing down now also means disappointing your own internal mobilisation, damaging your credibility and your appeal to new generations. It also means leaving the field wide open to sceptics on the one hand, and on the other hand to players who will maintain their commitments and take advantage of the future.

The future needs you - don't let it down in the heat of battle, it will repay you a hundredfold.

Co-signatories :

Fanny Agostini, Journalist; co-founder of Landestini
Robin Alauze, Founder and CEO of Lineup Ocean
Marion-Emi Alix, Development Manager - Des Enjeux et des Hommes
Antoine Ambert, PUR Marketing and Communications Director
Marc Amerigo, Co-founder of Zephir Project with Antoine Albeau
Véronique Anger-de-Friberg, President and founder of Forum Changer d'Ere
Arthur Auboeuf, co-founder of Team for the Planet
Vincent Auriac, Chairman of Axylia
Amandine Autret, CSR QSE Director, Astre
Lucie Basch, co-founder of Too Good To Go; President of Climate House
Natacha Baumann, Impact advisor, BNP Paribas Personal Finance
Sandrine Bélier, Director of Humanité et Biodiversité
Anne de Bethencourt, Founder of Reset The World
Thomas Binet, Founder and Chairman of Vertigo Lab
Maxime Blondeau, Founder of Cosmorama
Gilles Bœuf, Biologist; former Chairman of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle; Professor at Pierre-et-Marie-Curie University and Sorbonne University
Gildas Bonnel, Chairman of the Fondation pour la Nature et l'Homme (Foundation for Nature and Mankind)
Fabrice Bonnifet, Chairman of the College of Sustainable Development Directors (C3D)
Marc Bosvieux, ESG Consultant
Allain Bougrain Dubourg, Chairman of the French League for the Protection of Birds (LPO)
Paul Brejon, Consultant
Gaspard Brisac, co-founder of Peas'Up
Valérie Brisac, Managing Director CEM
Olivier de Brossard, Shipwright
Jean-Philppe Camborde, producer, La Belle Société Production
Emilie Casteran, Project coordinator
Marie Cavoit, Citizen
Philippe Chambault, Chairman of SUSTAIN-H
Vincent Chapin, Professor at ISAE-SUPAERO
Tarik Chekchak, Director of the Living Inspired Strategies Unit at the Institut des Futurs souhaitables
Jérôme Cohen, Chairman and founder of Engage
Erick Coll, Chairman of the SeaMedics association, sail emergency aid
Franck Courchamp, CNRS Research Director; CNRS Silver Medal; Grand Prix of the Société Française d'Ecologie & Evolution; Biodiversity Chair at the Collège de France
Jean-Christophe Crespel, Founder of International Impact; Ambassador for the European Union's Climate Pact
Thierry Curty, Co-Chairman of Courant Constructif
Sébastien Darrigrand, Managing Director Centre des Entreprises et de la Communication Avancée (CECA)
Vincent David, Chairman of Max Havelaar France
Rodolphe Deborre, Director of Innovation and Ecological Renaissance, Rabot Dutilleul
Emmanuel Delannoy, co-creator of the Fresque de l'économie régénératrice (Fresco of the regenerative economy)
Arnaud Dragicevic, Professor at Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok)
Stéphane Dugast, General Secretary of the Society of French Explorers
Anaïs Dumaître, Events Manager, Libellule Événementiel
Eric Duverger, Founder of the Business Climate Convention (CEC)
Michaela Emch, Founder Alpine Genius Think Tank
Marion Enzer, Director of Development at Fermes d'Avenir; French Coordinator of the Climate Reality Project
Solenne Faure, Strategic Planner, Lucid
Sébastien Fillol, Regional Director at GSE
Olivier Forlini, Image and reputation management consultant
Alexandra Formeaux, Alma Matter
Françoise Gaill, Vice-Chair of the Ocean & Climate Platform
Jildaz Gallen, Consultant on the ecological transition of port areas Donvor
David Garbous, Founder of Transformation Positive
François Gemenne, Chairman of the Scientific Council of the Fondation pour la Nature et l'Homme
Jean-Pierre Goux, Founder of Biosphere Economics and OneHome; Author of the Siècle bleu and Révolution bleue sagas
Philippe Grandcolas, CNRS Research Director; Professor at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle
Guillian Graves, Chairman of the Big Bang Project agency
Mehdi Guellil, Entrepreneur, Founder of Objectif 100M
Amaury Guérin, Navigator
Frederic Heliot, Managing Director, Les Ciboulettes
Nicolas Hostein, Sustainability expert
Morgane Jacquet, BLUMEI CSR Consultant
Philippe Jaquet, co-founder of esprit collectif
Cédric Javanaud, Managing Director of the GoodPlanet Foundation
Roland Jourdain, Navigator; co-founder of the Explore endowment fund
Galitt Kenan, Director of the Jane Goodall Institute France
Alexis Kryceve, Founding Partner, HAATCH CSR strategy consultancy
Grazyna Lallemand, Founder of 3ec-TV
Armelle Lambert, CSR Project Manager - Sustainable Tourism
Henri Landes, co-founder of Landestini
Emmanuel Le Coz, Managing Director, Minco La Fenêtre Hybride
Charlotte Le Gavrian, Strategic Planner, Cloud Spotting
Guillaume Le Grand, Chairman of TransOceanic Wind Transport (TOWT)
Patrick Le Hyaric, Member of the European Parliament 2009-2019; Director of La Terre magazine
Marine Lejeune, Founder of Lumiver
Florent le Moing Gutter, CSR Consultant
Candice Lizé, Living Creativity Consultant, Yusage & Co
Fabien Lopez, Chairman of Mush, co-founder of Notre Tour and the Perma-economy meetings
Alizée Lozac'hmeur, co-founder and spokesperson for makesense
Francisco Luciano, Co-Managing Director, Ateliers Luciano
Emmanuel Madelin, Director, Entreprendre pour Apprendre Bretagne
Henry François Martin, Co-CEO of Climate House
Céline Mauras, Founder of By Lumen
Frédéric Mazaud, Economics lecturer - Toulouse 3 University
Michel Meunier, Entrepreneurial leader, Janus France activist
Claudio Muskus, Managing Director of Fermes d'avenir
Maika Nuti, Co-Executive Director of Climate House
Antoine Oriot, Citizen
Caroline Oury, Impact Transition Ardennes (ITA)
Alexandra Palt, President of WWF France
Magali Payen, Founder of OnEstPrêt and Imagine 2050
Odile Petit, Founder and President of the Éthosph'R association
Benoît Pinier, TransiScientia; Research engineer; Doctorate in mathematics
Emilie Proyart, CEO & Founder of Sustainably
Catherine Puiseux, Transform2030 (former CSR Director of the TF1 Group)
Charles Puybasset, Founder of We Are One
Benoit Quittre, Chairman of Kaya, Belgian coalition of ecopreneurs
Marguerite Ranjard-Le Saint, Verdancy Founder - CSR consultant & Sciences Po teacher
Kalina Raskin, General Director of Ceebios
Emmanuel Régent, Chairman and founder of Biodiversio
(*) Alain Renaudin, Chairman and founder of Biomim'expo and NewCorp Conseil
Patricia Ricard, President of the Institut Océanographique Paul Ricard
Cédric Ringenbach, Founder of the Fresque du Climat
David Robert, Managing Director of J'accueille by Singa
Raphaël Robil, Chairman of Lemon Interactive
Katia Ronzeau , co-head of the Essec Alumni Sustainable Business Club
Maxime de Rostolan, Founder of Sailcoop; Founder of Planteurs d'avenir
Jacques Rougerie, Architect; Member of the Institute
Mélanie Rougier, Founder of Permaliance and co-founder of JOYin Regeneration
Pascal Rousset, CEO Idellys; co-founder Algorila
Célia Roussin, CEO and founder of Pépite Raisin
Sabine Roux de Bézieux, President of the Fondation de la mer
Brieuc Saffré, co-founder and CEO of Circulab
Fabrice Savel, Editor-in-Chief of La Terre
Marc-André Selosse, Professor at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle; Chairman of the Biogée Federation
Régis Soenen, Director of the Saint - Brieuc branch - CEREMA
Virginie Speight, Journalist
Isabelle Susini, Director of 1% pour la Planète
Céline Touraille, Citizen
Romain Troublé, Director of the Tara Ocean Foundation; Chairman of the Ocean & Climate platform
Philippe Vallette, President of the International Aquarium Network
Christian Vannier, Creator and Director of the International Weather and Climate Forum
Jean-Luc Verreaux, Managing Director, Institut des Futurs souhaitables
Aude Vurcke, Vice-President of Smile For Future