Why would a 35 year old successful businessman, managing more than 10,000 employees across 25 countries, take the time to write a book about humans and their relationship with the environment? Well, it’s quite simple: we are messing up the planet and we’re running out of time. Environmental disasters, pollution peaks, species going extinct, temperature rises… The effects of climate change are increasingly apparent and we have no choice but to rethink our relationship with the ecosystem.
This sense of urgency led Mr. Delmas to write “Planète A — Plan B: Faire société pour l’essentiel”, as he reflects on the future he wants to create and leave to his children. The book gives a thorough analysis of our complex relationship with the planet over the years and puts forward solutions to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable world.
The role of the corporate world
Mr. Delmas grew up in Lozère, a region in southern France largely dominated by countryside where he lived in harmony with nature. However, as he got exposed to the business world, he identified a clear disconnection between humans and their environment. “Humans used Nature as a means to elevate themselves. As a result, Nature became dependant on human actions” he says. “Companies need to consider the ecosystem as a priority good, rethinking the way they exploit resources.”
Leading an industrial company comes with the responsibility of developing a production system which is profitable. However, it also comes with the responsibility of choosing the right direction in the long term in an increasingly complex and changing environment. “It’s important to create jobs while preserving and even enriching the social and environmental prosperity. All three aspects of sustainability are essential: Social, Environmental, Economical”. As Mr. Delmas shares his vision of entrepreneurship, he emphasizes on adding value and improving the quality of life rather than exploiting resources and degrading the environment.
We live in a time where consumers are encouraged to point out companies with a poor social and/or environmental consciousness. This doesn’t make much sense. Companies are the ones who need to drive progress and lead the way towards a more responsible consumption model. “If there’s one entity that has the resources and the means to change things, in addition to politics and the associative world, it’s corporations. They were part of the problem for many years, they must be part of the solution.”
Understanding key words:
Ecology → Science of interdependence between living beings and their environment (Google)
- Oikos: “home” in Greek
- Logos: “Science of” in Greek
Economy → Careful management of available resources (Google)
- Oikos: “home” in Greek
- Nomi: “Management of home” in Greek
With the years, the managing system (the economy) of the home became more important than the ecosystem (our planet). Sadly, our current managing system drives less progress and produces more negative impacts on our home. This can’t last forever.
What happened in the past ?
Humans always had a complex relationship with nature. Since our species shifted towards a hunter-gatherer behaviour, coming up with strategies to kill animals to prosper and expand, we observed disturbing impacts on the ecosystem. Let’s rewind a bit through human history to better understand today’s world.
-8000's: Mesopotamia, the domestication of nature.
- Neolithic period and the birth of agriculture as hunting takes time and isn’t convenient. It’s a big step in the relationship between people and nature. Humans are dependant on many external factors.
- They decided to cultivate food instead, saving time, energy and making room for other activities.
- Humans began to understand how valuable Mother Earth actually was in terms of food.
- 70000 people on earth at the time.
1000's: Balance despite all
- No fundamental changes.
- Increasing yield but not a huge deal.
- 300’000 million people, enough resources for everyone.
1500's: Big thoughts are shaping the world
- Era of exploration, philosophy, curiosity, experimentation, development of Science.
- Humans want to understand and master nature. Everything needs to be explained through Maths, Science, Chemistry to optimize the exploitation of natural resources.
- Philosophical, scientific and religious currents place humans above Nature. Books from the time portrait Humans as a species dominating Nature, fauna & flora.
- 500–600 million people on Earth.
1800’s: Birth of industrialization
- 300 years later, Science works its magic and we discovered new things.
- The knowledge acquired paired with the discovery of new natural resources such as coal and then gas allow us to develop new technologies and radically transform the world.
- Economy grew exponentially. Industrial revolution dramatically accelerated productivity levels but at the same time the negative impacts on the planet.
- Massive rural exodus to find jobs and improve quality of life. Instead of focusing exclusively on producing food, shelter and medical goods, humans began to generate profit and get richer. Agriculture is still very important but not the main focus anymore.
- About 1 billion people on Earth.
1900: Always forward
- Exponential growth continues. Huge technological advances: telecommunication, electricity, transportation, agriculture.
- Despite wars and numerous political turmoils, Science advances and the sharing of thoughts is driving progress.
- 400 years of scientific advances are bringing the human species to the next level. Countries are getting organized into political systems that allow to better control populations. Emancipation of labor force and brains.
- People are getting more knowledgeable and smarter, allowing progress to keep its exceptional pace.
- About 1.6 billion people on Earth.
1950: Antropocena: era of control of Humans on Nature
- The planet is considered as a sum of resources that humans can use to prosper and evolve.
- We’re starting to realize the planet has limited resources and adaptation is required.
- Dramatic growth of global population is undeniably positively correlated to the frightening carbon emissions levels observed in recent decades.
- Fossil fuel is one of the main reasons Humans were able to develop so fast but now, relying on this resource isn’t viable at all and is causing more damage than progress.
- 2 billion people on Earth.
1950–2020: Financialization of our world
- 1970: Margaret Thatcher puts in place liberal measures facilitating globalisation and exchange of information and resources.
- Money becomes fictional while it was material for centuries.
- Disconnection between material and non-material. Value of something material becomes monetised by something non material. Fundamental breach between Humans and Nature.
- Now, we’re facing a second breach, even scarier: The Social one.
- Digitalisation makes our lives easier but at the same time, favours a disconnection between people.
Three schools of thought
Ecocentrism/ Biocentrism→ Interdependence with the ecosystem. Humans are part of the ecosystem. All are equal.
Anthropocentrism → Humans have control on all other living beings.
Multicentrism → Humans, as they’re the most intelligent species on earth, have the responsibility to ensure the balance and prosperity of the system
The last one, Multicentrism, is the thought pattern needed in the corporate world to facilitate the transition to a more sustainable world. “We can’t only take into account the interest of the shareholders, the customers or even the employees.” insists Mr. Delmas. We need to care of ALL stakeholders.
Towards a new era: La Citessentielle
We need to redefine our way of being human. We need to shift from a short term vision towards a long term vision, thinking about the legacy we want to leave to future generations. What you’re building in terms of identity, social inclusion, environmental norms not only has to last for decades but centuries. We need to stop taking everything for granted and start understanding we’re only passing through planet Earth. It’s essential to leave it in a better shape than before, certainly not the opposite.
Developing an altruistic vision of life is fundamental. Reconnecting with each other is fundamental. Caring for each other should be our main focus in order to prosper as a species and be happy.
7 principles to get back on track
- For a regulation of carbon emissions
- Current carbon emissions are destroying the ecosystem. We need to address this issue right away.
- Breathing is our first essential need. Logically, it our duty to make sure the air we breath remain pure and pollution free. Regulating carbon emissions is a no-brainer.
- Covid has reminded us of how fragile and vulnerable we actually are. Without our breath, we die. As simple as that.
- For an increase of biodiversity
- Not only preserving biodiversity, but enriching it.
- It contributes heavily in the balance of our ecosystem, therefore there’s no other choice but to take better care of it and boost its growth.
- For a reasonable agriculture and food consumption
- Urgent to rethink the way we do agriculture and the way we consume food products. 1/3 of the food we produce is either wasted, thrown away or lost. This needs to stop.
- Consuming LOCAL is essential.
- For a circular economy (buy/ consume/ recycle)
- Consumptions is driving the economy, but a healthy economy won’t save the planet.
- Important to increase regulations in favour of a responsible, socially-fair and eco-friendly consumption.
- For a reasonable mobility of goods and people
- Industry of transports based on carbon, a famous pollutant.
- A restructuring of the global supply chain is needed. Buying a Zara t-shirt in Lausanne, made in Bangladesh, packed in Mexico and then shipped to Switzerland shouldn’t be possible in 2022.
- Ultra Nationalisation is not the goal here, for obvious reasons, but reducing the abusive exchange of goods is a no-brainer.
- For an economic and social restructurization of territories
- Big cities are largely overpopulated → more pollution, more social inequalities, mental health issues, crimes and unhappiness.
- Important to capitalize more on territories outside megalopoles.
- For an eco-citizen focused education system
- Education is the main engine for transformation of lifestyle and consumption.
- Important to create awareness towards social and environmental challenges and use education as a call-to-action.
Drivers of change
- Numerical energy
- Latest technologies allowed for a better understanding of our world and an increase of productivity levels.
- Digital → Efficiency, interconnection, improvement.
- E.g., regulation of carbon, measures of consumption, pollution, activation of AI to increase efficiency (especially in agriculture).
- Multi-centric companies
- Companies often compared through KPI’s, productivity levels…
- However, GDP is sometimes wrongfully associated with social progress and human development. It once led to progress, but is has now more disadvantages than advantages.
- Time to change the way we measure success.
- International organisations
- A leadership race is on between several organisations on a mission to regulate how the world evolves.
- In recent years, organisations such as the UN, WHO, WEF, the World Bank shaped the world we know today. They have the key to accelerate the transition into a new, more fair and responsible model.
- Collaboration is the main challenge.
- A new indicator considering environmental impact
- Delmas thought of GDR (Gross Domestic Result), a remastered version of GDP that takes into account the carbon cost for the planet.
- GDR = GDP (Gross Domestic Product) - NDCC (Net Domestic Carbon Cost).
- If there’s one major ecological challenge in the 21st century, it’s the regulation of carbon emissions.
The planet is suffocating and it’s about time we do something about it. We have no choice but to change our current economic model, based on the intensive and unreasonable exploitation of natural resources. Instead, we need to come up with a model that takes much better care of people and the planet.
A long term vision is needed and that’s where companies and leaders of the world come into place. We stand at a pivotal moment for Mankind and they’re the ones who need to take their responsibilities to drive change. At the same time, it is important that we ALL play our part to accelerate the transition into a more sustainable world.
