businesses need to make up for lost time

The glassmakers Duralex and Arc, very large consumers of energy, temporarily turn off certain ovens and put their employees on partial unemployment: energy prices are unsustainable for them. Large retailers and the agri-food industry have already held out their begging bowl to the state: they are demanding a tariff shield. Water is also a problem. In the Netherlands, this summer, Microsoft caused controversy by underestimating the water consumption of its data center.

Since the beginning of summer, the climate crisis and energy is catching up with businesses. The time when they took the virtuous path of CSR out of conviction, for their image and at their own pace seems to be over. “Today, this is a sustainability issue: if companies do not initiate their transformation, do not change their model, they risk disappearing”, asserts Dominique Carlac’h, vice-president of Medef. The consulting firm run by this former athlete surveyed 190 of her clients. Their current priority…