Companies have answered our questions

One year of meetings with companies

Since the Manifesto's publication in September of 2018, we have had the opportunity to meet with many companies and discuss their environmental policies together. These exchanges have enabled us to gain a global understanding of their positioning in terms of ecological transition.

The timeline below gives an overview of the meetings we have had since September of 2018.

To scroll through it, use your keyboard ▶️

    Air France
    Air Liquide
    Amundi
    Aslog
    BCG
    BNP
    Bayard
    Blackrock
    Bouygues
    C3D
    CMA-CGM
    Convention Lucie
    Décathlon
    EDF
    EGIS
    EPE
    EY
    Engie
    Eurazeo
    Faurecia
    Forum International de la météo et du climat
    Forum Shift Project
    Forum Sustainable Brand
    Groupe La Poste
    Lagardère Travel Retail
    MEDEF
    Michelin
    Nestlé
    PRODURABLE
    Paprec
    Positive Investor Forum
    RTE
    Raise
    SNCF
    Saint Gobain
    Salesforce
    Storengy
    Suez
    Total
    Transavia
    Transdev
    UN PRI
    Veolia
    Vertone
    Vicat
    Vinci
    Vivatech
    Wavestone
>

To go even further...

To further convey the expectations of students and recent graduates, we sent a questionnaire to around 100 CEOs, in order to obtain more precise information on how they take environmental issues into account and to share their replies with the public. The questionnaire covers the « key questions you should ask » before choosing your employer. We mainly targeted larger companies, but many questions are suitable for interviewing SMEs. We will continue to publish the latest incoming responses on our website.

Companies' answers show first and foremost one thing, and it is significant: we, students or recent graduates, are taken seriously and our questions are legitimate.

Discover the companies' answers
Sectoral analysis of responses

... with the right tools

We also know that these replies remain mere declarations, and that greenwashing is never far off. The replies should be read with a critical eye, and to manage this you should equip yourself with certain tools. On this page you will find an anti-greenwashing guide providing you the necessary toolkit.

Read the anti-greenwashing guide

Why publish the companies’ answers?

To test your critical thinking:

These replies provide a good opportunity to test one's critical thinking skills and put the anti-greenwashing guide into practice. The replies have to be applied to their context, namely that companies are trying to convince an audience (us) of their commitments. Hence you should ask yourself: Do companies give satisfactory answers? Do they shy away from the questions being asked?

To know more about these companies:

These answers are above all a guide to understanding the complex reality of what large companies do and don't do, based on concrete cases. However, this sample should not be considered as representative of all existing employers. Large companies find it easier to reply to this type of questionnaire. Thus, the idea is not to find that you will your ideal employer on this list. The latter may be an organization outside the sample we interviewed (e.g. SMEs, associations, local authorities, international organizations, etc.)

These companies have answered our questions

Some of the companies solicited have not (yet) replied to us : Accenture, Accor, Air France KLM, Airbus, Alstom, Altran Technologies, Amazon, Amundi, ArcelorMittal, Auchan, Bolloré, CFEB Sisley SAS, Capgemini, Cartier International SNC, Chanel, CMA CGM, Danone, Dassault Aviation, Deloitte, DS Smith, E.Leclerc, Eiffage, Essilor International, Ernst & Young, General Electrics, Google, Groupama, Havas, Heineken, Ipsen, JC Decaux, Lagardere, M6, Mazars, Nexans, Nuxe Groupe, Pernod Ricard, Rallye, RATP, Rémy Cointreau, Sanofi, Swiss Life, TechnipFMC, Transavia, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and Vicat !

As soon as they are willing to provide us with their answers, we will be happy to publish them.
Please note: some companies answered us only in French. The translation of their answers is therefore not available on our site, which presents them in their original language.

Logo Aéroports de Paris (ADP).png
Aéroports de Paris (ADP)
Transportation
Air-Liquide-logo-2017.png
Air Liquide
Industry
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Atos
Digital
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AXA
Insurance
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Banque Publique d'Investissement (BPI)
Bank
BNPP.jpg
BNP Paribas
Bank
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Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
Business services
Bouygues_logo.png
Bouygues
Buildings and Public works
Groupe_BPCE.png
BPCE
Bank
Logo Casino.jpg
Casino
Large-scale distribution
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CNP Assurances
Insurance
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Dassault Systèmes
Industry
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Decathlon
Large-scale distribution
Électricité_de_France_logo.svg.png
EDF
Energy
Logo Egis.jpg
Egis
Business services
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Eiffage
Buildings and Public works
ENGIE_logo
ENGIE
Energy
Logo Faurecia.png
Faurecia
Transportation
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Fnac / Darty
Large-scale distribution
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Galeries Lafayette
Large-scale distribution
Carrefour-logo-vector.png
Groupe Carrefour
Large-scale distribution
Groupe Rocher.jpg
Groupe Rocher
Cosmetics, Luxury
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Hermès
Cosmetics, Luxury
HSBC-Logo.png
HSBC
Bank
1200px-Kering_logo.svg.png
Kering
Cosmetics, Luxury
Logo KPMG.jpg
KPMG
Business services
Groupe La Poste
La Poste
Logistics
legrand-logo.png
Legrand
Buildings and Public works
600px-Logo_Groupe_Les_Mousquetaires.svg.png
Les Mousquetaires
Large-scale distribution
l'oreal.png
L'Oréal
Cosmetics, Luxury
LVMH-logo.jpg
LVMH
Cosmetics, Luxury
Michelin-logo-1440x900.png
Michelin
Industry
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Orange
Telecommunications
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Orano
Energy
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Pierre Fabre
Pharmaceuticals
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Procter & Gamble
Large-scale distribution
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PSA
Transportation
PublicisGroup_logo.png
Publicis
Communication
Logo Rabot Dutilleul.png
Rabot Dutilleul
Buildings and Public works
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Renault
Transportation
NOUVEAU_ SAFRAN.jpg
Safran
Industry
Saint-Gobain.jpg
Saint-Gobain V2
Buildings and Public works
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Schneider Electric
Industry
images.jpg
SEB
Industry
Logo SNCF.png
SNCF
Transportation
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Société Générale
Bank
Sodexo.svg.png
Sodexo
Agro-food industry
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STMicroelectronics
Industry
Logo Suez.png
Suez
Water & Wastes
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TF1
Communication
Logo Thales.png
Thales
Transportation
Total.svg.png
Total
Energy
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Transdev
Transportation
Valeo.png
Valeo
Transportation
veolia.png
Veolia
Water & Wastes
Vinci_logo.png
Vinci
Buildings and Public works
1280px-Vivendi_logo.svg.png
VIVENDI
Communication

Share you analysis

The companies’ replies are an excellent starting point to put the anti-greenwashing guide into action and question companies’ strategy. If you wish, you can share your remarks and your analysis through this online form. This feedback will show companies that students and recent graduates truly consider whether or not the company take the ecological transition seriously. With your contribution, we will be able to publish a critical review of the answers received from employers.

Go to the form
Sectoral analysis of responses

Anti-greenwashing guide

Why this guide?

Today, most companies say they are committed to the environment. How can we avoid being fooled by the misleading rhetoric of some companies?

  • To engage more critically with the strategy and commitments of companies, one must first ask the right questions. What carbon accounting is in place? Is the model and purpose of the company's activities still valid given the ecological emergency ahead? etc. On this page, you will find the answers to these questions from a large number of major companies, enabling you to obtain relevant information on the level of commitment to the transition.
  • However, asking these questions is not enough: once the answers to these questions have been obtained, it is important to be able to distinguish between real and fake engagement and to detect greenwashing attempts more broadly. We have therefore created the anti-greenwashing guide.

Wait, what does greenwashing mean?

Greenwashing is a communication and marketing strategy where ecological arguments or frameworks are put forward and used to build an eco-responsible image, when the reality of the facts differs or is insufficient in light of the messages communicated to the public. The environmental approach initiated by the organization is either almost non-existent, partial, or weak.

Greenwashing is therefore a problem of argumentation, which can take different forms, such as: no argumentation, confused discourse and lack of transparency, or an exaggerated and disproportionate representation compared to reality.

How to detect greenwashing

The questions asked to companies are relatively specific, and they target relevant information on their activities and commitments. However, it is necessary to remain vigilant when reading the answers and to pay attention to the arguments deployed:

  • Does the answer address the question being asked?
  • Is there an ecological argument? Is it verifiable and understandable? Is the stated commitment truly ambitious or is it a facade?

Some things to watch out for:

One year of meetings with companies
Less bad or more good ?
A question of priorities
A matter of proportionality
The scam of related data
The conjuncture illusion
The compensation scam as a miracle solution
Define the framework of the problem

Our comparison of companies' environmental commitments by sector

In October 2019, the collective Ecological Awakening sent a questionnaire to a hundred or so major French groups in order to take stock of the state of play in terms of the environmental strategy of these companies. Following the responses from more than fifty companies, Pour un Réveil Écologique decided to go further in studying the groups' environmental strategies and in passing them on to students by carrying out sector-based analyses.

For the moment, these analyses are only available in French.

Analysis note - Are the major luxury and cosmetics groups up to the challenge of the ecological emergency?

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More and more students and recent graduates want to work for an employer whose activities are environmentally and socially useful. The health crisis we are experiencing in 2020 is pushing us to rethink our economy to make it both more resilient and more sober in the face of the crises that threaten it. The collective Pour un réveil écologique has therefore investigated the ecological commitments of four major groups in the French luxury goods and cosmetics sector: L'Oréal, LVMH, Kering and Rocher.

Analysis note - Large-scale food distribution: hyper ecological or hyper irresponsible leaders?

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At a time when climate disruption, the collapse of biodiversity, the scarcity of resources and the intensification of pollution are getting worse, more and more young graduates are turning to ecologically viable and useful jobs. The food distribution sector remains attractive in this sense: providing quality food accessible to all is essential, unlike other sectors of activity. However, large-scale food distribution has an ecological cost linked to production and distribution methods that can be questioned. To this end, Pour un réveil écologique has analyzed the ecological commitments of three major French groups: Carrefour, Casino and Les Mousquetaires.

Green finance, a marketing argument for financial players

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Financial institutions say they are committed, but are they really doing it? Following the study of the environmental strategies of 4 institutions and a round table organized in June 2021, we analyze that financial actors do not engage in relevant transformations of their activities with regard to climate issues. On the contrary, the banking and financial sector still accelerates global warming through its financing. We focus on the scam of green finance which is used for greenwashing, on the dependence on fossil fuels and determine two main factors of inertia: the lack of training of employees and the remuneration of decision-makers insufficiently indexed on ecological criteria.

To go even further...

Waking up our institutions

10 key points
of the latest
IPCC report
Discover