House of Climate, the new location for green French appliances in Paris

You have to elbow your way through the crowd and listen to really get into the conversation. We bump into a lot of familiar faces on the way. Alexandra Palt, former L’Oréal and group foundation impact director, now president of WWF France; investor Laurence Méhaignerie, founder of Citizen Capital, a number of startups…

The economic and political elite, who were not discouraged by the heavy rain, went to the heart of the Silicon Sentier, as this district of the 2nd arrondissement of Paris is called. is, Lucy Bash opens her new project. “Welcome home,” she says from the Climate House stage.

This thirty-year-old entrepreneur has established himself in the landscape thanks to the dazzling success of Too Good To Go, an app that offers to buy unsold products to limit food waste, which was created seven years ago and is already present in 19 countries in 2021 Madame Figaro-Business with Attitude Prize winner Lucy Bash now presides over this new kind of venue, a 2,000 square meter multi-floor building founded by 79 with other entrepreneurs and investors.

“Our goal is to bring the whole ecosystem together, to speed up the transition because there is an emergency,” says Lucy Bash, focused but smiling, dressed in an elegant black jumpsuit, as she walks through the first floor, which combines an industrial vibe with woodwork. natural colors. At the entrance there is a picture of a fingerprint, the logo of Klima House.

At the back of the room, a staircase leads to the basement, which houses the meeting rooms, but also a miniature jungle where you can sit on a swing and listen to the songs of the birds broadcast through the speakers. You have to go to the upper floors to enter the heart of the program. Climate House is primarily a shared accommodation.” It hosts teams from 50 organizations, mostly start-ups.

Collective imagination

Here, among others, gather several teams of carbon measurement or reduction specialists such as Plan A, Carbon Cutter or Sami, as well as social innovation players such as Make Sense or Plan Cash, a women’s financial education platform or associations. such as Ashoka. “The place has 200 jobs for 350 people. We’ll be on top of each other a bit, but that’s on purpose, smiles Lucy Bash. A way to encourage meetings and stimulate the collective imagination, perhaps a way to strengthen bonds. And by the way, contribute to the Climate House business model thanks to the rent paid by its residents.

The rest of the income comes from two other sources. component of events, the first to combine the privatization of spaces and a program of workshops and conferences. They also provide an opportunity to open the doors to scholars and artists, which are essential for collective reflection. The team then offers programs for large groups to accelerate their ecological transition. Thus, Axa Climate, the Business Climate Convention (CEC) or the Convention of Directors of Sustainable Development (C3D) are part of the local ecosystem. part.

“Let’s stop judging each other,” sighs Lucy Bash, “we’re all interested in moving in the same direction.” before that, impact measurement is not interesting from an economic point of view. That’s why regulations should encourage companies to start,” emphasizes engineer Jean-Marc Jankovic, founder of The Shift Project think tank and partner at Carbone 4.

The question then arises as to whether Klima’s house poses a threat to larger groups looking to serve as a foil landscaping ? “We don’t intend to serve as security for them, and I don’t think they are looking for that,” the president replied. But anyway, there are no red lines? “We don’t have a hard and fast rule. The important thing is the intention of the leader. Based on the speeches or during our discussions, we can clearly see which CEO really intends to change things.” Above all, he adds, Lucy Bash is far from being a single leader. its 79 co-founders also have a say.And the diversity of their profiles can be a barrier to entry into the Climate House.

Viewing on the grain

But what exactly are these bosses of big groups looking for? “Confronting you with other professions, other actors. This is the only way to innovate for the benefit of our customers. We have also decided to place a part of our impact management here at the house of Climate,” echoes LCL CEO Serge Magdelin. He also likes to point out that LCL- of which 4 out of 10, or 4 billion per year, is indexed to the decarbonisation of the economy.Crédit Agricole, of which LCL is a subsidiary, has also announced over the past two years that will stop directly financing new oil and gas fields and will no longer participate in corporate bonds, these tranches of debt issued by companies.

Despite everything, through its loans, Crédit Agricole remains one of the leading financiers of TotalEnergies, the European champion of new oil and gas projects, Italy’s Eni and Saudi Arabia Aramco, according to the annual report of the NGO Reclaim Finance in: a link in this field. Not forgetting that the banking group continues to directly finance liquefied natural gas projects, the exploitation of which promises to warm the planet as defined by the 2015 Paris Agreement. Beyond the 1.5 °C threshold to maintain a habitable planet.

Discover the right path

In recent years, a debate has raged between “technosolvers,” some of whom even argue that we can continue emitting carbon as long as we know how to capture it later, and advocates of new, more sober habits. Climate House seems to be looking for the best of both worlds. This is evidenced by its list of tenants and partners, which combines science: the University of Paris-Saclay, the Ceebios biomimicry research center and Tellus AI, which predicts climate risks, with new applications. Like those offered by BioAlva (plant-based alternatives to fish), investment fund Mudcake, sustainable food specialist or crowdfunding platforms Enerfip and We Take Part. Their presence highlights another issue: financing a breathing future and the innovations that make it possible.