Catalyst for ecological evolution
Chances Conseil
Stéphanie Lux created Chances Conseil in 2017 to accelerate the ecological evolution of public and private companies, local authorities, national and international organizations.
Areas of expertise: knowledge of sustainable development issues, understanding of the forces at play and the art of negotiation.
Chances Conseil offers services ranging from diagnostics to the implementation of an ecological development strategy for a company, a region or a national or international organization, including the creation of stakeholder ecosystems who will support and further its development.
Vision: Contribute to the ecological evolution of subnational governments, businesses and national or international organizations.
Mission: to question and create encounters that will enable companies, local authorities and organizations, as well as their leaders, to broaden their field of view and guide them towards finding solutions that respect the planet and people.
Stéphanie Lux
I wasn't born an ecologist, I became one
[This is the first sentence of “Titanic Syndrome”, the 2009 film that will lead me to work with Nicolas Hulot..]
A taste for the common good
I started working early in the late 1980s. With a background in history, I then turned to communications. Listening, understanding and conveying what I learn in a way that is clear and comprehensible to the greatest number of people has always come naturally to me. I soon turned my attention to subjects, companies and local authorities working on issues relating to the public interest.
I understand what I can do.
Distinguishing the incidental from the essential
Between 1997 and 2000, I worked in a number of ministerial cabinets (Prime Minister’s cabinet, Land and Environment Planning, Research, and then Agriculture and Fishing), taking part in the adventure of this unique plural majority that Lionel Jospin has united around him. This experience enabled me to acquaint myself with the workings of the French State and its administration, which are both subtle and complex. My passion for Law then found expression as a parliamentary attaché, defending the bills of a government that did not have a clear majority in Parliament.
The art of negotiation: quickly distinguishing between what must absolutely be preserved and what can be abandoned, and how to convince others./blockquote>
All truth is provisional...
Between 2001 and 2008, I went back to communications and became Director of Communications for Inserm (Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale: National Institute for Health and Medical Research) and then Ifremer (Institut Français de Recherche et d’Exploitation de la Mer: French Institute for the Research and Operation of the Sea). It was easy for me to publicize both the research being carried out and its results, as well as the conditions that encouraged to the advancement of knowledge. In the research field, we made progress on the basis of knowledge acquired through work carried out by others – even if it meant questioning it. And we did this while respecting the intelligence of others, through structured work and coherent, well-argued reasoning.
All questions are worth asking, provided they are based on coherent reasoning.
From Nature to Biodiversity: caring for the living fabric of the planet
In 2008, I took the leadership of the first Regional Agency for Nature and Biodiversity. It was created in the Ile-de-France region (Natureparif, now ARB Ile-de-France). The initial project was a response to the demands of naturalist organizations in this highly anthropized region, who are fighting vigorously and courageously to preserve the last remaining areas of nature that have survived urbanization and intensive agriculture. With an annual budget of 3 million euros, I recruited a team of naturalists and engineers. Together, we were enriching the project: from the protection of species and natural areas, we were expanding the theme of nature in the city. We didn’t settle for simply adding green spaces and ponds to our concrete cities, we were looking at tackling the issue of a city’s natural footprint through the materials used to build it, and the networks deployed to transport the flows of people, energy, water and goods needed to keep it running.
Seen from a populated area, protecting our environment lies in our everyday choices. The overlap of laws, regulations and standards weighs heavily on these behaviors. It often happens that certain rules run counter to the objectives of other laws and regulations. I discovered the power of local action in terms of understanding the issues, implementing public policy and mobilizing the community.
Think global, act local.
From 2013 to 2017, I joined Nicolas Hulot and became one of his two advisors in his mission as Special Envoy of the President of the Republic for the protection of the planet. Our objective: on the eve of COP21, “to raise international awareness about the urgency of the ecological crisis”. I wanted this position because Nicolas Hulot co-directed “Le Syndrome du Titanic” with Jean-Albert Lièvre. The film makes a compelling – some would say anxiety-provoking – diagnosis of the close links between the ecological, economic and social crises. For 3 years, we have pleaded (a lot) and acted (a little). In the last year of François Hollande’s presidency, I joined the cabinet of Ségolène Royal, President of the COP Climate and Minister for the Environment, Energy and the Sea, as Advisor in charge of relations with NGOs.
The power of communication, the ability of major international events in pushing forward laws, standards and regulations. I also noted the difficulty in translating decisions taken at international level into concrete action, and even greater difficulty in clearly understanding how financial announcements and promises reach the countries for which they are intended, in order to irrigate concrete projects.
Before setting up Chances Conseil, I had the occasion and privilege to imagine and build some fine projects. Here are just a few of them.
Natureparif 2008 to 2013
The Île-de-France Regional Agency for Nature and Biodiversity was born of the political will of the Europe-Ecologie-les-Verts group of elected representatives on the Île-de-France Regional Council. It has been endowed with significant resources.
Other regions in France and Europe had already set up agencies, organizations and structures dedicated to nature conservation. Most of them had been created in high-stake regions, either because of the degradation of abandoned mining or industrial installations (Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Alsace), or because of their exceptional natural heritage (Rhône-Alpes). Île-de-France is by far the most densely populated region in France. It’s also one of the smallest in terms of territory, so its natural spaces are rare.
Limiting the agency’s mission solely to the protection of endangered species and natural areas, given the human and financial resources allocated to us and the emerging trends elsewhere in Europe (Sweden, Germany, Switzerland), was not commensurate with the capital region’s ambitions.
With a team of naturalists, scientists and engineers, the regional agency’s strategy was to focus on the issue of nature in the city.
The challenge of protecting nature has been broadened to include the preservation of biodiversity – in the sense of preserving what constitutes the basis of life on Earth, by emphasizing the complex interactions that govern the “living fabric of the planet”.
This strategy was reflected in:
- setting up a biodiversity observatory with and for naturalists in Île-de-France;
- regular meetings organized for and with regional players to identify the most virtuous practices for biodiversity, discuss the conditions for their success, and learn from the pitfalls encountered;
- organizing European and national events: an annual symposium and the French Capital of Biodiversity Award;
- a plea for recognition of local government action to preserve biodiversity – Nagoya 2010;
- the publication of guides such as “Building while preserving Biodiversity”, “Biodiversity’s balance – A methodology to integrate nature in accounting” and “Economy and Biodiversity, producing and consuming in the bounds of the biosphere”.
Protecting elephants and combating ivory trafficking
Raise biodiversity protection to the same level as the fight against climate changeJune 2013 is the first mission to Africa for Nicolas Hulot in his role as Special Envoy of the French President for the protection of the planet. 3 countries: Gabon, Congo and DRC. Initial objective: to mobilize these countries to reach an ambitious climate agreement in Paris in 2015. On the agenda: meetings with Heads of State and relevant ministers, as well as with companies, environmental protection organizations and scientists. Very quickly, France’s policies to the fight against the trafficking of endangered species, and more specifically against ivory trafficking, was denounced as lax. Back to Paris: indeed, compared to the policies implemented by our American, British and German friends, France is lagging behind. I followed this project as an advisor to Nicolas Hulot. All the efforts of French diplomacy and administration were then mobilized for the climate in the run-up to COP21, and elephant protection was not on the agenda. An Africa-France Summit is scheduled for the end of December 2013. One solution: appeal to public opinion. On July 4th, the newly-appointed Special Envoy published his first article in the daily newspaper Le Monde, entitled “It’s urgent to save the African elephants”. On the basis of this appeal, with the French Ambassador for the Environment, Jean-Pierre Thébault, we worked to i) mobilize French administrations to raise the bar in the fight against the trafficking of endangered species, and ii) prepare a round table in the margin of the Africa-France Summit to mobilize African states around this objective. Results:
- a national action plan that placed France among the most advanced countries in the fight against poaching and trafficking of endangered species;
- chaired by French Environment Minister Philippe Martin, the round table brought together some twenty delegations, including 9 led by their Heads of State and Government. It was held on December 5, 2013.
The Climate Conscience Summit - July 21, 2015
«Mobilizing international opinion on the urgency of the ecological crisis», is one of the objectives of the mission assigned to Nicolas Hulot, Special Envoy for the Protection of the Planet by François Hollande, President of the French Republic. Nicolas Hulot may be well known to French-speaking audiences, but the rest of the world knows nothing about his work. In 2013, climate change is still perceived as an abstract issue, a matter for future decisions. Yet when you consider that industrial investments in energy are planned on a half-century timescale, you realize that it’s our choices today that will shape the world of tomorrow: “We don’t inherit the earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children.”
- What motivation do we have to act now for benefits we can’t see immediately?
- What voices speak to the greatest number of people, across languages, cultures and borders?
- The mobilization of the Bayard Presse Group, then headed by Georges Sanerot, who delegated Agnès Rochefort-Turquin, Catherine Veillet-Michelet and Dominique Lang, journalist with Le Pèlerin and author of the blog https://eglisesetecologies.com/, to accompany us on all our missions to the Vatican.
- The commitment of R20, the network of Regions for Climate, led at the time by Christophe Nuttall and chaired by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
- The unfailing support of Jean-Paul Delevoye, then President of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, which hosted the event.
- The partnership forged with ARC, the Alliance of Religion and Conservation (ARC), of which Martin Palmer was then Secretary General, and which hosted the Summit.
- And the participation of numerous people – French diplomats and volunteers – who, individually, worked to convince and bring together the 40 or so participants representing the world’s religions and wisdoms, as well as political figures, artists, scientists and planet defenders.