What is environmental philanthropy?

 

Environmental philanthropy refers to supporting general interest causes linked to environmental conservation and to the ecological transition, which has become urgent and imperative. It means being an actor of change and supporting conservation nonprofits and NGOs.

Even though environmental philanthropy is very slowly on the rise, it remains the “abandonned child” of philanthropy in France, representing only 7% of overall sponsorship (Admical 2020 Barometer: Corporate Sponsorship in France).

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Why choose environmental philanthropy?

For Compagnie Léa Nature, business interests and ecology are not mutually exclusive, quite the contrary. Environmental philanthropy is an integral part of Compagnie Léa Nature’s reason for being. The current health crisis has reinforced our position in this respect, which is to pursue our support to environmental nonprofits and help them stabilize their budgets so that they can pursue their actions in the field.

Environmental philanthropy allows us to achieve ambitious objectives in terms both of the actions we take to limit our environmental impact and the support we provide to organizations working to facilitate the ecological transition.

 

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Environmental philanthropy and the 1% for the Planet initiative

Compagnie Léa Nature’s environmental philanthropy is mainly implemented through our brands’ participation in the 1% for the Planet initiative. Compagnie Léa Nature is a long-standing European contributor to this initiative and stands as its leading donor in France.

Our first two organic brands became members of 1% for the Planet in 2007, followed by all the group’s organic brands developed since then.

Today, 18 brands have joined in and donate 1% of their sales to environmental nonprofits each year. Since 2007, we have funded 1,900 environmental projects, totaling 13.5 million euros dedicated to preserving the planet.

Environmental philanthropy: working with nonprofits to identify emerging priorities

We have been developing our environmental philanthropy policy for the past 15 years, and have therefore fine-tuned our expertise in this respect.

The nonprofits we support allow us to improve our knowledge of environmental issues and sharpen our technical or legal skills for example.

Our continued partnership with environmental organizations allows us to focus on emerging priorities.

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Most significantly, this means that we have developed an acute awareness of priority issues to be addressed (ecofarming and solidarity-based agriculture, biodiversity, health/environment, climate, forestry and ecological transition), and namely, which major challenges are to be faced during the ecological transition.

Compagnie Léa Nature also believes in working with committed organizations and advocacy groups that act for the common good. We therefore support initiatives such as Surfrider, Canopée, Impact 2020, Friends of the Earth, Alternatiba, and others. This support reflects our commitment to our values and to being stakeholders of the change we want to see.

The nonprofit ecosystem is growing as the key players of the transition work hand in hand: nonprofits and NGOs of the Social Economy, independent collaborative and citizen media, foundations and philanthropic organizations, namely members of 1% for the Planet.

Marina Poiroux, Director of Environmental Philanthropy at Compagnie Léa Nature

"Over the next 5 years, we will be taking on the same battles, it is an ambitious task ! One of these is fighting against imported deforestation, such as the ravages of palm oil for example, because in addition to planting new trees, it remains equally important to preserve our existing habitats and primary forests. New consumption trends of the future may contribute to deforestation if we do not pay attention to this point.
Other major issues are land grabbing, food resilience and territoriality combined with local production to the extent possible so that each region is self-reliant. The planet needs everyone, and each individual has a role to play in this ecological transition to develop more respect for our life-sustaining Earth."