ENGIE IMPACT
SUSTAINABILITY AT SCALE
he signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015 marked an important milestone in intensifying efforts to create a sustainable future. Charting a new course in the global climate effort, the accord aims to open up access to finance and technology to drive national sustainability agendas, the ultimate ambition being to keep global temperature rises to well under two degrees Celsius within this century. Although brokered by the United Nations and politicians, the Paris Agreement is also being fervently backed by some of the largest multinational businesses. More than 500 companies have made public commitments to the sustainability targets outlined at Paris, with an increasing amount targeting a zero-carbon objective. More than 90 of the world’s largest cities have joined C40, a network of megacities committed to climate change, with New York recently signing the most ambitious carbon reduction goal the world has ever seen.
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18 | EME Outlook issue 32
We spoke to Mathias Lelievre, CEO of the newly formed ENGIE Impact, to see how the organisation is positioning itself as a go-to sustainability consultant Written by: Tom Wadlow
However, of the 500 committed enterprises, just 15 percent are on track to achieving these targets, while businesses report to have identified over $1 trillion in risk related to climate change. Enter ENGIE Impact and CEO Mathias Lelievre. Formed in July 2019 as a merger of ENGIE Insight, Ecova UK, Red Engineering and the Advisory and Advanced Analytics division of Tractebel under a common umbrella, the organisation offers consulting and services for sustainability strategy development, execution and tracking for corporations, cities and governments around the world. “The fundamental reason why ENGIE Impact was established is the changing dynamics of how sustainability is approached,” Lelievre explains. “It is no longer simply a political issue. More and more this is becoming a business issue, and companies are realising the economic benefits of investing in sustainable technology like battery storage, for example. ENGIE