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Every year on May 22, the UN marks the International Day for Biological Diversity: an opportunity to highlight the crucial importance of biodiversity for our planet and to raise awareness of the urgent need to preserve it. 

For the ENGIE Corporate Foundation, it’s an opportunity to recall its commitment, its concrete actions and its convictions, to showcase its partners and to mobilize ENGIE employees.

More than 30 years ago, in 1992, our Corporate Foundation was created to carry out two major environmental actions: the safeguarding of two major natural sites, the Gavarnie cirque (Pyrenees) and the Pointe du Raz. Biodiversity is more than ever at the heart of the Foundation’s actions and programs for this 7th mandate 2020 2025, and of its two main “Planet for people” focuses.

A necessary awareness

30 years ago, awareness was raised of the fragility of the living world around us.  The United Nations General Assembly then adopted the text of the Convention on Biological Diversity, with the aim of conserving diversity, ensuring the sustainable use of its components and genetic resources, and sharing the benefits arising therefrom in a fair and equitable way.

Gilles Bœuf – ENGIE Foundation company administrator – “Biodiversity is the living fraction of nature in all its complexity”…. ” We are witnessing a steady deterioration in the situation: the collapse in the number of living individuals in wild natural populations is a major scientific fact. In 18 years, we have lost 30% of birds in certain agricultural areas.”

For Allain Bougrain Dubourg – ENGIE Foundation company administrator: “The realization is here. We are all clear about the situation: the living world around us is dying! We must act to halt the decline in biodiversity. We must all take action to reverse the trend: scientists, members of associations or simple “eco-citizens”.

For the Foundation, a shared conviction: 

« Biodiversity must be treated on an equal footing with climate change. They are both intimately linked. »

Mobilize us all 

Be part of the plan: the theme of World Biodiversity Day 2024!

The theme of World Biodiversity Day 2024 is “Be part of the plan”, a call to action for all stakeholders, for everyone, to stop and reverse biodiversity loss.

PLANET FOR PEOPLE with the ENGIE Foundation, act for the preservation of biodiversity in France and internationally in order to :

• Better understand and explore the wealth of biodiversity

• Protect biodiversity and ecosystems

• Educate and raise awareness of biodiversity preservation

With 49% of its projects dedicated to access to renewable and sustainable energies and to biodiversity in 2024, the ENGIE Foundation is committed to the environment year after year. The aim is to take part in ambitious, high-impact projects and contribute to the collective effort of the Agenda 2030 through the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The ENGIE Foundation’s action is based on 3 main priorities:

• Protect biodiversity and ecosystems 

• Better understand / explore 

• Educate and raise awareness

Few examples

The Sentinelles de la Biodiversité (Biodiversity Sentinels) project is a program of unprecedented scope, involving almost 200 monitoring projects carried out by CNRS teams on every continent, in response to a major societal challenge: understanding, anticipating and mitigating the decline in biodiversity. 

Monitoring includes, among other things, studying the biology of individuals, their performance, their health, their reproductive capacity, their longevity… 

The support of the ENGIE Foundation thus contributes to the observation of species, their monitoring year after year, and the sharing of data on an unprecedented scale. 

With the United Nations Conference on the Oceans (UNOC 2025) on the horizon, the ENGIE Foundation has chosen to support more specifically the study of temperate zone marine aquatic fauna.

In addition to the study of sentinel species, the CNRS Foundation promotes the Réseau des Zones Ateliers (RZA), a national research infrastructure grouping together the Zones Ateliers (ZA) accredited by the CNRS Ecology and Environment Institute. 

Zones Ateliers are geographical areas structured around a functional unit (a river, a coastal zone, agricultural or urban landscapes, etc.). 

Some Zones Ateliers have been in existence for 35 years, while the Network itself emerged in the 2000s.

There are currently 15 Zones Ateliers: 13 in mainland France, 1 in the southern hemisphere and 1 in Zimbabwe.

Research aims to understand the functioning and trajectories, past and future, around 3 axes: 

• predicting ecosystem response to global change
• formalize the functioning of socio-ecosystems
• helping to manage and govern them

The Zones Ateliers develop interdisciplinarity between life sciences, earth sciences, human and social sciences and engineering sciences, as well as transdisciplinarity with local players (government departments, citizens, local authorities, agencies, etc.).

Knowledge-building is the primary service provided, with a view to helping local and regional authorities transform towards greater sustainability. This is action-oriented research.

La Fondation ENGIE accompagne en 2024 la création d’une nouvelle Zone Atelier en Camargue dont le sujet porte sur l’étude de la relation Homme – Nature pour la santé et plus spécifiquement sur 

• the development of infectious diseases (this is an area vulnerable to the risk of epidemic emergence, where the prevention of diseases resulting from interactions with the environment is a major challenge, particularly in a context of climate change and rapid ecological transitions), 
• societal challenges in terms of health 
• the “reorientation of the Camargue socio-ecosystem towards resilience and sustainability in terms of health”.

The interaction between living organisms and renewable energies is at the heart of the research supported by the ENGIE Foundation and carried out by the Concarneau marine station (the oldest marine station in the world still in operation). Indeed, the installation of offshore wind turbines involves constant interaction with marine fauna and other species such as avifauna and chiropterans (bats). To date, however, few studies have been carried out on the impact of wind turbine structures on avifauna and chiropterans, and little data has been collected to draw relevant conclusions (how many species are impacted and in what quantities, migrations, foraging, seasonal or regional movements, etc.). 

The aim of the “Eolien en mer” project, led by the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle and supported by the ENGIE Foundation, is therefore to begin filling this gap by collecting empirical data, and thus to hypothesize two impacts on flying fauna: mortality or loss of space. To do this, the scientific teams will have a network of acoustic sensors at their disposal, enabling them to extract a wealth of data and thus identify and quantify bat and bird flows. In this way, they will be able to draw up highly accurate migratory flow maps and models.

The project is based on a network of mobilized partners, including Phares et balise, IFREMER, Ecole Centrale de Nantes, Ecole des Glénans and Biophonia.

IMPACTS 2023 :

Thanks to the support of the ENGIE Foundation: 

• 30 sites in the English Channel and Atlantic Ocean 
• the project has been able to hire a PhD student (50%) and a project manager (100%), 
• Synergy with the Piaff&Co program (ADEME, 2022 2023) on the Floatgen demonstrator. 
• Synergy with the Migratlane program (OFB, 2023 2025)

The ENGIE Foundation is committed to protecting endangered species in Uganda, with the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle and its local partner Uganda Wildlife Authority.  Uganda’s Kibale National Park is home to a wide variety of primates. 

The ENGIE Foundation supports the Project for the Conservation of Great Apes (PCGS), whose aim is to study chimpanzees and their ecosystem in Sebitoli, to the north of the park, and in particular their responses to human activities.  

In this area of the park, 80 to 100 chimpanzees live on a 25km2 territory. However, they are threatened by human activities such as poaching, farming, pesticide use and plastic pollution.

IMPACT 2023:  

• 100 chimpanzees protected 
• 518 patrols over 25km2 
• 291 snares deactivated 
• 20 “chimps guardians” (rounds around crops to prevent looting by chimpanzees and elephants)
• 15,000 schoolchildren and adults taking part in awareness-raising workshops  
• 555kg of waste collected and taken for recycling in one week

At 1.30pm on Tuesday November 14, at the foot of the Mont, three young calf seals were released by the Océanopolis care center, which had taken charge of them. 

The Mont is not the only remarkable resident of the bay: a colony of seals has been established here since the late 1970s. It is the third largest breeding site in France (1300 individuals in total), with around 120 individuals and 37 births in 2022. Two species covered by the Habitats Directive (Natura 2000) are present here: the sedentary calf seal, which breeds every year in the bay and is classified as “near-threatened” at national level, and the transient grey seal. Both species use the bay’s numerous sandbanks as resting and pupping areas, and the estuarine zone and channels as feeding grounds. 

The ENGIE Foundation supports the Établissement public national du Mont Saint-Michel in its efforts to monitor and preserve the bay’s seal colony, in collaboration with the Office français de la biodiversité, the Conservatoire du littoral and the DREAL Normandie.  

The ENGIE Foundation also supports ACMOM (Association pour la Conservation des Mammifères et Oiseaux Marins de Bretagne), which runs the marine animal care center located at the heart of Océanopolis, the national center for scientific, technical and industrial culture dedicated to the ocean. Since the center’s creation in 1990, over 700 wild seals in difficulty have been cared for by the center.

The ENGIE Foundation works alongside the LPO to preserve biodiversity with the “Plus de Nature dans mon quartier” program.

The LPO’s “Plus de Nature dans mon quartier” (More Nature in my neighborhood) citizen mobilization program is organized around actions to raise awareness, preserve and integrate biodiversity in priority urban policy neighborhoods. These areas have been particularly hard hit by the heatwaves of recent years, as well as by increased air pollution. The LPO is leading the implementation of the program in conjunction with local players, such as residents, schools, local authorities, social landlords and neighborhood associations.

Program objectives:

• Protect and enhance existing biodiversity in priority neighborhoods
• Encourage residents to become active players in their living environment by taking ownership of biodiversity issues 
• Change their vision of nature, which is often very “aseptic”.
• Train players and supervisors to develop a shared vision of nature in the city

The Pae Pae NO Te Ora association was created in 2003. Its mission is to protect and preserve the lagoon and coastline of the commune of Punaauia.  

Several fields of action:  

• Voluntary actions to collect garbage on the beach and maintain the underwater trail once a month. Information panels and litter garbage cans have been installed in the square to raise visitor awareness.  
• Twice-yearly collection of scientific data using the “Reef Check” protocol, which monitors changes in the coral ecosystem at two specific points in the Punaauia lagoon. 
• Management of an underwater educational trail on Vaiava beach 

The project supported consists in offering free visits to the underwater educational trail. Visits to the underwater educational trail take place throughout the school year, according to requests from the various social services.  

IMPACT: 1,000 children and teenagers made aware of lagoon preservation and waste management every year. 

On December 8, we celebrate World Climate Day, created at the initiative of several NGOs as a reminder of the threat of global warming and the need to act to limit its effects.

The aim of this day is to raise public awareness of climate change issues, and to expose the ever-increasing impacts they are having on our Earth.

With 47% of its projects dedicated to access to renewable and sustainable energies and to biodiversity in 2023, the ENGIE Foundation is committed to the environment year after year. The aim is to participate in ambitious, high-impact projects and to contribute to the collective effort of the Agenda 2030 through the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and carry ENGIE’s raison d’être: this is what guides the ENGIE Foundation’s action daily.

With the 28th UN Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP 28) taking place until December 12, this day is an opportunity to highlight the commitments of the ENGIE Foundation alongside its partners.

The ENGIE Foundation is acting for the climate around 2 themes

• Support for research and innovation 
• Concrete action to combat global warming

Claire Waysand, Executive Vice President of ENGIE in charge of Corporate Secretariat, Strategy, Research & Innovation and Communications and Vice President of the ENGIE Foundation, took part alongside Runa Khan, Founder of Friendship, at the round-table “How can corporate commitments to sustainable development contribute to access to renewable energies, biodiversity protection and climate adaptation for greater prosperity, including in developing countries?”

Claire Waysand recalled the ENGIE Foundation’s historic and innovative commitment to Friendship in 3 areas

1. A model solar village, which has given rise to two other projects financed by the Government of Bangladesh.
2. A mangrove replanting project
3. Connected schools

The COP28 also provided an opportunity to meet two Bangladeshi ambassadors for Friendship France’s “Écoles Connectées” project, supported by the ENGIE Foundation: Biuti Akter and Ronzana Akter, alongside Runa Khan, Founder and Executive Director of Friendship NGO, and Nasrul Hamid, Bangladesh’s Minister of Energy. 

Watch the replay of the Arte interview with Biuti Akter and Ronzana Akter: https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/117976-000-A/la-cop28-tribune-des-victimes-du-dereglement-climatique/

The ENGIE Foundation is proud to support this connected schools project, which links French middle and high schools with secondary schools in Bangladesh, on solutions for adapting to climate change.

The project encourages students to share innovative solutions for coping with climate change: logistical or behavioral adaptations, changes in practices and lifestyles, etc. By taking a stand on these issues, they can become agents of change, raising awareness in civil society (fellow students, parents, associations, etc.).

For over 10 years, the ENGIE Foundation has been working alongside the NGO Friendship to build community capacities, encourage major contributions from women, facilitate access to solar energy and training, and protect biodiversity.

One of Bangladesh’s greatest assets is the world’s largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Unique and diverse coastal ecosystems, mangroves are a formidable tool in climate change mitigation thanks to their high CO2 absorption capacity.

However, many mangrove reforestation projects in Bangladesh are not sustainable because they consist of non-resilient monocultures, are not effectively managed during the growth phase, are sometimes planted with species not adapted to the area or fail to take socio-economic factors into account.

Plantation of 14 hectares in 3 areas located in 3 villages in the Satkhira district (land is a scarce commodity in Bangladesh and it is difficult to have single plots available for reforestation).

The first two areas (30,000 trees) were planted in October 2022 by local communities under the supervision of Friendship and local forestry experts. The third (12,000 trees) is scheduled for May 2023. In all, almost 2,000 meters of dikes will be protected against flooding thanks to this project, bearing in mind that the damage caused by salt water can persist for an exceptionally long time (flooded soil becomes unfit for cultivation for years, just as a livestock pond invaded by salt water can no longer be used).

Six community groups of 30 people received capacity-building training (prior to planting) in seeds, nurseries and planting; they also each took part in the first follow-up meetings.

Since 2011, with the support of the ENGIE Foundation and Energy Assistance France, the NGO Friendship has been developing a sustainable rural electrification project for remote villages in Bangladesh.

Friendship has designed and installed the first solar-powered electricity microgrid in the tanks of northern Bangladesh, inaugurated on August 22, 2021, in the presence of Mr. Nasrul Hamid, Bangladesh’s Minister of Electricity and Energy.

The solar village, built in the village of Goynar Potol, is now operational, bringing well-being, prosperity and satisfaction to its inhabitants. The population of the Goynar Potol tank has grown considerably. The village grew from 150 to over 500 houses in early 2022, due to the arrival of people who had left other islands that disappeared during the exceptional floods of 2020.

The solar village in figures:

• 3,000 inhabitants of Goynar Potol now have access to electricity
• 54 kWp of electricity generated by solar panels and stored in batteries
• 200 solar panels and 200 batteries installed

Thanks to the electricity generated and stored, every household will be able to operate lamps, fans, televisions and cell phone chargers daily. Light provides security at night and access to healthcare. Stores can stay open in the evening, generating new income for shopkeepers. Children can study in the evenings and follow lessons broadcast on television.

In 2023, Friendship and the ENGIE Foundation will ensure the continuity and technical optimization of the operation of the Goynar Potol solar village, as well as the strengthening of local capacities through a training plan to guarantee the sustainability of both the solar village and electrification in these remote areas of the country.

To the south, in the Bay of Bengal, salt water from the Indian Ocean is eroding riverbanks and ruining cultivated land for years to come. Here lies the Sundarbans Forest, the world’s largest mangrove swamp. It covers the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers. This site is world-renowned for the richness of its fauna: 260 bird specimens, 400 fish, between 250 and 300 Bengal tigers and other endangered species, but it is also a very fragile ecosystem: due to pollution, over-industrialization and deforestation, the mangrove has lost 20% of its surface area in twenty years.

Since 2017, Friendship has been carrying out a vast mangrove reforestation project, which is essential for environmental protection and socio-economic development in the region: this ecosystem now provides many added resources for local communities (crabs, shrimps…) and limits saltwater intrusion into fertile land by acting as natural dikes. 

✷ How do you see this program? What are the challenges? 

For a reforestation project to be sustainable, it must be designed considering all the environmental and social-economic factors of the region. We face several challenges to ensure long-term effects:

• choosing resilient crops: we need to identify the right species of tree to plant in the right place, depending on the nature of the soil, the topography of the land and the amount of sunlight
• protecting the trees throughout their growth period: it takes 5 years for nursery trees to mature before they can be replanted in the mangrove. These trees need to be protected from goats that come to eat them and prevented from being destroyed by communities for resale or personal use. To achieve this, it is vital to include the communities in the development of the project! This is one of the key factors for success: community support for the project and their involvement at every stage of implementation. This ensures ownership of the project and the sustainability of the plantation. People who have planted the trees themselves and know the importance of mangroves to their living conditions will naturally take care of them. 

We have developed a solution that meets 3 objectives:

• plant at least 5 different tree species over hundreds of hectares along tidal rivers to guarantee respect for biodiversity and encourage the development of a new terrestrial or aquatic ecosystem. 
• include local residents and diversify their livelihoods to avoid degradation of the plantations by poverty-stricken communities. 
• involve local authorities and strengthen their cooperation with local populations. 

We launched this program in 2017 thanks to the support of the Luxembourg Cooperation and I would like to thank the ENGIE Foundation for partnering with Friendship to extend these activities over 14 hectares of mangroves.

Thanks to the support of the ENGIE Foundation, Friendship can carry out these activities on 14 hectares in 3 areas of the region: 10 hectares have already been planted in the villages of Horishikhali and Jhapa and 4 hectares will be planted in May/June 2023 in the village of Chakla. Today, 70 people are working on the project with the ENGIE Foundation. 

What is more, we noticed that each replanted tree gave birth to 2 or even 3 new trees within two years! This exponential growth shows a strong environmental and socio-economic impact for years to come.

Efficient solutions for clean economic growth

To meet ecological challenges without undermining economic growth, Bertrand Piccard and the Solar Impulse Foundation have identified 1000+ clean, cost-effective solutions. The Solar Impulse Foundation has organized these solutions into a research engine for climate action – the Solutions Explorer – to support their large-scale implementation. By giving political and economic decision-makers the tools to adopt far more ambitious energy and environmental policies, the Foundation will help them to establish a roadmap for achieving their environmental goals.

The ENGIE Foundation partners the Solar Impulse Foundation’s “City of Tomorrow, an exploration in 1000+ solutions” exhibition.

From September 20, 2023 to January 7, 2024, the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, with the support of the ENGIE Foundation, is hosting “Ville de demain, une exploration en 1 000+ solutions”, an exhibition designed by the Solar Impulse Foundation, chaired by Bertrand Piccard.

Echoing the “Urgence climatique” exhibition at the Cité des Sciences, the “Ville de demain, une exploration en 1 000+ solutions” exhibition, focusing on the challenges of ecological transition in urban environments, invites the public to explore the many innovative approaches that today’s technologies offer to protect the environment while promoting economic development. A fun-filled tour takes visitors on a journey of discovery through concrete, efficient proposals developed in the fields of energy, water, construction, sustainable housing, mobility and waste management.

As a partner of the SOLAR IMPULSE Foundation and a member of the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie partners’ club, the ENGIE Foundation focuses on environmental education, raising awareness of the fight against global warming and the preservation of biodiversity, and aims to make younger generations more aware of the challenges of ecological transition.

Our world is in the throes of change, and cities, which account for 75% of CO2 emissions, must urgently commit to the ecological transition. It’s this transformation that the City of Tomorrow, an exploration in 1,000+ solutions exhibition invites visitors to discover, by appealing to our collective boldness and ability to believe together in our potential for change: how can we move from rhetoric to the concrete application of innovative solutions, capable of mobilizing individuals, entrepreneurs and politicians to build a clean, collective, sustainable city? 

In a pioneering spirit that aims to be constructive and non-partisan, with eco-explorer Bertrand Piccard as our guide, the exhibition offers visitors a unique insight into urban ecological issues and the sustainable solutions that exist today to meet them, with concrete applications in different cities.

On November 20, 1989, the rights of every child in the world were recognized by the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), adopted by the UN General Assembly. This international text sets out four fundamental principles for children: the right to live, survive and develop; the best interests of the child; non-discrimination; and respect for the views of the child.

Since then, November 20 has been designated International Children’s Rights Day. On this day, we celebrate the projects and actions carried out to advance children’s rights. For children are both the most vulnerable and the future of our society.

Universal Children’s Day offers each and every one of us a unique opportunity to raise public awareness of children’s rights, to promote and highlight them, and to transform this date into concrete action in favor of children everywhere.

For 30 years, the ENGIE Foundation has been working to help the most vulnerable children by supporting projects that have an impact on their lives, via:

• Access to education, culture and health,
• Access to energy and essential goods, because without energy there can be no schools, hospitals, drinking water..,
• Integration, employment and the fight against poverty, to enable economic activity that promotes community development.

The ENGIE Foundation wishes to give the most vulnerable children the energy to learn and grow in a positive environment, and is convinced that children will build tomorrow’s world. Giving them the energy to act is vital for the future of the planet.

ENGIE volunteers from ENERGY ASSITANCE Belgium have helped improve the educational landscape for 600 girls at Likuni Girls’ Secondary School in Malawi, by installing solar panels and batteries.

Malawi faces frequent power cuts that disrupt the learning process. Solar power is a reliable source of energy that not only lights up classrooms, but also contributes to the well-being of our planet.

Lighting the way to education:

Likuni Secondary School for Girls, a boarding school near Lilongwe, caters for 600 girls. The solar system not only lights up the classrooms after dark (around 5 p.m. because of the latitude), but also powers 30 computers, providing access to modern educational tools. We firmly believe that every girl deserves a chance at a bright future, and that access to education is the key.

Although the school is connected to the local grid (ESCOM), persistent power cuts led to the installation of 22 photovoltaic panels and 4 lithium batteries as back-up. The panels were placed on the roof of the school building, and a restored technical room now houses the solar control equipment, electrical boxes and batteries. The solar system (nearly 10kWp with a storage capacity of 19.2kWh) ensures a continuous power supply to classrooms, the computer room and the administration block during blackouts.

The main components of the program are as follows:

• Sustainability: establishing a solid foundation for the program through partnerships with local stakeholders; training local staff and including program themes in the schools’ political/educational curriculum
• Education: training of teachers, canteen staff and community health workers on program themes; monthly educational activities for children and communities; integration of themes into the school curriculum (cross-cutting themes) and effective changes in school communities.
• Health: monitoring of children’s health and treatment of iron-deficiency anemia.
• Monitoring and evaluation: initial and final evaluation (including knowledge and impact of actions).

The aim of the Healthy School program is to develop a sustainable culture of healthy lifestyles in schools and communities.

The program aims to meet several specific objectives:

• Determine the nutritional status of children participating in the program (including levels of anemia, overweight and underweight)
• Improve teachers’ and school staff’s knowledge of nutrition, healthy lifestyles and environmental education.
• Strengthen the school community so that the school becomes a model “healthy school”, giving priority to healthy habits and behaviors.
• Promote alternatives for drinking water, with training in the SODIS (“Solar Water Filtration”) method
• Promote the sustainability of the program and its actions, with ongoing training for the educators involved and the establishment of local partnerships.

La Chaîne de l’Espoir, in partnership with the Indian NGO Taabar and with the support of the ENGIE foundation, has developed a mobile health clinic dedicated to the care of young girls and women in various districts of Jaipur.

The mobile clinic brings together a team of 7 people: a female doctor who knows the particular problems faced by young girls, a nurse, a driver, a counselor, a coordinator and two health educators.

Each district of Jaipur, depending on its population and the ethnic groups living there, presents more or less recurrent health problems. The clinic’s gynecologist believes that many problems are linked to misinformation and lack of knowledge among parents about the female reproductive system and the menstrual cycle. She also explains that these subjects are often taboo in most communities, and that sessions with young girls and sometimes their parents help to free up the floor for discussion.

IMPACT

Nearly 5,000 girls were seen for consultations between January and July 2023. Taabar estimates that by the end of the year, they could be more than 10,000.

Several types of psycho-social support sessions are organized:

• Individual sessions that enable girls to address certain issues in private.
• Group sessions, accompanied by a pre- and post-test to assess knowledge and the impact of the sessions.

Finally, referral is a tool that redirects beneficiaries to special medical attention in hospital institutions.

IMPACT: 2925 session beneficiaries

1860 participants in group sessions, 1245 participants in individual sessions and 40 referrals were done.

Every year on May 22, the world celebrates the International Day for Biological Diversity. It is an opportunity to highlight the crucial importance of biodiversity for our planet and to raise awareness of the urgent need to preserve it. 

This awareness, took place 30 years ago. The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the text of the Convention on Biological Diversity, with the objective of preserving diversity, the sustainable use of its components and genetic resources, as well as the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits derived from them.

For this year 2023, the theme is: From agreement to action: build back biodiversity. This choice is in line with the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, an agreement signed in December 2022. A new dynamic that aims to halt and reverse the loss of nature through four global targets by 2025: healthy ecosystems and species, sustainable use of biodiversity, equitable benefit sharing, and implementation and financing. 

Caring for life and our planet is what has driven the ENGIE Foundation for over 30 years. With 46% of its projects dedicated to access to renewable and sustainable energy and biodiversity in 2023, the ENGIE Foundation is committed to the environment year after year. The objective is to participate in ambitious and impactful projects and to take part in the collective effort of the Agenda 2030 through the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

With the ENGIE Foundation, act for the preservation of biodiversity in France and internationally :

• Protecting biodiversity and ecosystems
• Better understand and explore the richness of biodiversity
• Educate and raise awareness about the preservation of biodiversity

He was also a visiting professor at the Collège de France for the academic year 2013- 2014, in the “Development of the Sea” Chair.

2014, on the Chair “Sustainable development, energy, environment and societies” and had then dedicated his teaching to the interactions between biodiversity and humanity. He was for two years scientific advisor to the cabinet of the Minister of the Environment, Energy and the Sea. Today he is member of the Scientific Council of the French Office of Biodiversity, visiting professor at AgroParisTech and president of the SCIC CEEBIOS, dedicated to biomimicry. In 2013, he was awarded the Albert I Great Medal of Monaco for his entire career, dedicated to the seas and the ocean. He is a Regional Councillor for Nouvelle-Aquitaine, in charge of the “One health” program.

The ENGIE Foundation supports the GoodPlanet Foundation in the development of 10 beekeepers’ cooperatives in the Mesguina forest in Morocco to enable producers to develop their beekeeping activity in a profitable and sustainable way, as part of its commitment to biodiversity and climate.

Objectives: to support 95 beekeepers from 10 cooperatives and to raise awareness among 100 students from 9 rural schools about the preservation of bees.

One of the notable assets of Bangladesh is the world’s largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Unique and diversified coastal ecosystems, mangroves are a formidable tool in climate change mitigation due to their high CO2 absorption capacity. 

However, many mangrove reforestation projects in Bangladesh are not sustainable because they consist of non-resilient monocultures, are not properly managed during the growth phase, are sometimes planted with species not adapted to the area, or do not take socio-economic factors into account.

The 14 hectares plantation project

The project supported by ENGIE Foundation is carried out in 3 areas located in 3 villages of Satkhira district (land is a scarce commodity in Bangladesh and it is difficult to have land in one piece available for reforestation).

The first two areas (30,000 trees) were planted in October 2022 by local communities under the supervision of Friendship and local forestry experts. The third (12,000 trees) is scheduled for May 2023. In total, nearly 2,000 meters of dikes will be protected against flooding thanks to this project, knowing that the damage caused by salt water can persist for a very long time (a flooded soil becomes unfit for cultivation for years, just as a breeding pond invaded by salt water can no longer be used).

Six community groups of 30 people received capacity building training (prior to planting) in seeds, nurseries and planting; they also each participated in the first follow-up meetings.

Raising awareness among the general public and public players about the issue of biodiversity in the heart of the Territories is one of the priorities of the ENGIE Foundation.

Since 2017, the French Office of Biodiversity (OFB) launches each year a call for projects in order to financially support the municipalities and the inter-municipal structures in the realization of their Atlas of the Communal Biodiversity (ABC In french).

An ACB is an approach that allows a municipality or an inter-municipal structure to know, preserve and enhance its natural heritage. It is an inventory of environments and species present on a given territory.

To support this dynamic, the ENGIE Foundation has chosen to support the development and promotion of the program, to ensure its sustainability and to accompany the increase in quality of the projects, in particular through 

– Thematic tools dedicated to local authorities for the realization of their ACB

– Collecting feedback from communities that have already carried out an ACB

– Networking between local authorities that have already carried out a ACB, those that have completed it and those that would like to start one, as part of a process of dissemination of good practices

– Actions in order to mobilize the circle of historical ACB partners and to attract the interest of new partners 

– Finally, the organization of an annual trophy where the finalized ACBs that stand out will be rewarded, particularly from the point of view of knowledge (involvement of scientific colleges), citizen mobilization, and their long-term inclusion (federation of external partners).

Environmental education and awareness-raising are strong drivers of the ENGIE Foundation’s action.

This citizen mobilization program combines biodiversity and social cohesion in the heart of the territories. It is organized around actions of awareness, preservation and integration of the biodiversity in the priority districts of the city policy. The LPO is leading the implementation of the program in collaboration with local actors, such as residents, schools, communities, social landlords and neighborhood associations. 

The program is currently being deployed in a dozen pilot neighborhoods with a view to a national rollout in 2024.