Building on the success of the previous edition held in Lille, which included testimonials from Tikamoon andAvril Cosmétique Bio (report here), the Café 1% was back in the exceptional setting of the CCI meeting room. This new event, dedicated to commitment, experience-sharing and concrete action, once again illustrated the company’s determination to become a fully-fledged player in the preservation of the living world.
The aim of the 1% Café is to bring together the associations, companies and partners of the 1% for the Planet France collective , in order to encourage exchanges, create new synergies and strengthen the dynamics of local commitment.
At Optimal Ways, we were delighted to contribute to the organization of this event thanks to the commitment of Marie Malo and Nicolas Malo, alongsideAmandine Planchon from Avril Cosmétique, as Planet Pilots for the Hauts-de-France region. Their role is to represent the 1% for the Planet collective in the region, and to help grow a committed local dynamic.
REV3: supporting companies in the Hauts-de-France region through transition
Didier COUSIN, Vice-President of Transitions REV3 at the Hauts-de-France Chamber of Commerce and Industry, opened the meeting by welcoming nearly a hundred participants, representatives of the region’s associations and committed businesses.
He recalled the CCI’s commitment to the REV3 dynamic – the Third Industrial Revolution, launched in 2012-2013 to support the sustainable transformation of the regional economy by federating public and private players.
Today, this approach translates into very concrete actions to support businesses in several key areas: decarbonization, energy transition, water management and sustainable innovation.
In a historically industrial region like the Hauts-de-France, the objective is clear: to help companies meet the climatic, regulatory and financial challenges associated with their transition.
Another flagship initiative is REV3LAB, an acceleration program launched in 2017 to support innovative startups in fields such as the circular economy or energy. Since its inception, nearly 300 companies have already been supported, thanks to a network of 17 partner territories.
To keep the momentum going, the CCI Hauts-de-France will be bringing together the REV3LAB community on June 22 to encourage meetings, share experiences and foster new collaborations in the service of transitions.
1% for the Planet: mobilizing businesses to finance environmental action
Antoine Leguin, Business Development & Account Manager at 1% for the Planet France, then presented the workings and impact of the collective.
The initiative originated in 2002, when Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard decided to create a simple yet powerful model: encourage companies to donate 1% of their sales to environmental associations.
This vision is part of a long history of commitment. As early as the 1970s, Patagonia was already supporting environmental causes. In 2022, Yvon Chouinard took the next step by transferring 100% of the company’s capital to a structure dedicated to financing the protection of the planet.
Facilitating funding for environmental associations
The mission of 1% for the Planet is clear: to facilitate contact between committed companies and environmental associations.
Today, associations spend almost 40% of their time looking for funding. The collective makes it possible to reduce this time and direct more resources towards environmental action.
A growing international collective
Since its creation, the movement has redistributed over $800 million to environmental projects around the world.
France is now the second-largest contributor to the international network, with :
- 900 member companies
- over 90 million euros raised
- more than 750 approved associations
The collective brings together a wide range of players. Contrary to popular belief, 80% of member companies are SMEs.
A simple, flexible model
Member companies undertake to donate 1% of their annual sales to approved environmental associations.
They can support projects :
- through financial donations
- through skills sponsorship (employee time or expertise)
The company directly selects the associations it wishes to support, thus creating lasting relationships between economic players and associations in the field.
A commitment that mobilizes an entire ecosystem
In addition to financing, 1% for the Planet also fosters a genuine community of companies, associations and partners through events and collective initiatives.
The aim is clear: to bring together even more players to amplify the impact of environmental protection.
Alaskan Maker: entrepreneurship with pragmatism and commitment
Baptiste Vandenberghe, co-founder ofAlaskan MAKERcame to share his authentic, concrete and inspiring entrepreneurial experience.
The adventure began in 2017, in a garage, with his wife Céline. Their first idea: revisit an everyday object often relegated to the back of the closet… the apron.
The aim is simple: to create a sturdy, durable and stylish apron that you’ll be proud to wear, whether you’re cooking, tinkering or barbecuing with friends. An object that embodies the maker spirit: pride in doing things yourself.
It was a bold gamble. At the time, an apron usually cost around twenty euros. Alaskan Maker offers one for €80, using sustainable materials such as waxed cotton and leather.
To finance the first production run, the founders launched a crowdfunding campaign. The result: €50,000 in pre-orders in just three weeks. The Alaskan Maker adventure is launched.
Since then, the company has enjoyed rapid growth. From a garage, the brand is now distributed in over 1,000 outlets worldwide, including Nature & Découvertes, Le Garde-Manger and numerous independent retailers.
Today, Alaskan Maker employs between 14 and 25 people, depending on the season, and has gradually expanded its range to include leather goods, outdoor accessories, convivial objects… including the famous topographic glasses, mouth-blown and reproducing mountain reliefs.
At the heart of the project is a true maker culture: make, test, build, learn and move forward with agility. The company is highly integrated: logistics, marketing, e-commerce… many things are done in-house, with a simple philosophy: pleasure and performance.
“We want to work with people we have fun with. And we’ve realized that performance comes with fun.”
When it comes to environmental commitment, Alaskan Maker takes a clear-sighted, pragmatic approach. The company does not adopt a simplistic “all made in France” approach, believing that local production does not automatically guarantee reduced environmental impact.
The choice is elsewhere: to design products that are made to last, and to concretely improve everyday practices.
This includes, for example:
- zero plastic in packaging
- systematic reuse of supplier cartons
- optimizing logistics to reduce waste
Since 2021, Alaskan Maker has also been a member of 1% for the Planet. The company now supports Wings of the Ocean, an association committed to cleaning up coastal pollution, particularly in the Arcachon basin.
A commitment in keeping with their philosophy: to support concrete, useful actions carried out by organizations whose business it is to do so.
A refreshing intervention, reminding us that it is possible to grow a company, remain true to its values and make a commitment to the environment in a simple, sincere and pragmatic way.
When communication, commitment and impact meet
Lola Pothet (Place de la Communication), Anne FOVET – Networkcoeur and Domitille Widmaier (LA BOUQUINERIE DU SART) Lola Pothet (Place de la Communication), Anne Fovet (Networkcoeur) and Domitille Widmaier (Bouquinerie du Sart) shared an inspiring example of collaboration between a network of professionals and a committed association.
Place de la Communication is the leading network for communications and marketing professionals in the Hauts-de-France region. With over 500 members and some sixty events a year, the association brings together agencies, freelancers, companies, institutions and schools around a common objective: to advance practices and encourage collaboration.
Since 2022, the association has structured its CSR approach and chosen to join 1% for the Planet.
Each year, members vote at the Annual General Meeting to choose the association that will benefit from the donation corresponding to 1% of the budget. But the ambition doesn’t stop there: the aim is also to mobilize the network’s skills in the service of associations.
This is how the Bouquinerie du Sart became the partner association.
This Lille-based structure acts at the crossroads of social and environmental impact: 📚 collection of books ♻️ recycling and circular economy 🤝 professional integration of people who have experienced the street or emergency accommodation
The principle is simple and powerful: to give a second life to books… and to people.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Bouquinerie du Sart, some twenty volunteer communicators from Place de la Communication got together for a collaborative workshop to come up with ideas for communication and visibility.
Objective: to help the association tell its impact story better and reach new audiences.
The result: rich exchanges, creative ideas and a real collective dynamic. Among the ideas put forward: mobilizing the existing community, giving greater value to testimonials, or imagining visible operations to raise public awareness.
Ultimately, this partnership shows one essential thing: professional networks can be powerful catalysts of impact when they put their skills at the service of worthwhile causes.
As the Bouquinerie du Sart team sums it up so well: “We often come for the price… and we come back for the solidarity.”
A fine illustration of what collective intelligence, commitment and collaboration between local players can produce .
When patronage becomes a collective experience
And that’s exactly what Nicolas Malo, CEO of Optimal Ways, and Ludivine Carpentier, Executive Director of Choisis ta Planète, illustrated at the Café 1 % Lille.
At Optimal Ways, our commitment to CSR has been built up gradually, with a strong desire to reconcile our personal convictions with our corporate project.
It has to be said that the agency supports companies on a daily basis in a very concrete field: digital analytics. Its job is to help organizations better understand their users’ digital journeys, make better use of their data, measure the performance of their websites and make better decisions thanks to data. In concrete terms, Optimal Ways is involved in issues such as data collection, tracking quality, behavior analysis, reporting, dashboards, training and continuous improvement of digital performance.
A world that may seem highly technical, but in which the team is also seeking to bring a more responsible vision to bear: raising customer awareness of sustainability and accessibility issues, and ensuring that performance is not thought of solely from a business angle, but also with a more global and sustainable approach.
With this in mind, Optimal Ways joined 1% for the Planet. But very quickly, the idea was not just to contribute financially. The challenge was also to understand in concrete terms the impact of our support, to forge links with the associations we work with, and to bring this commitment to life within the team.
It was in this spirit that the partnership with Choisis ta Planète was born.
The association does a remarkable job of raising young people’s awareness of environmental and societal issues, through committed short films and an annual educational program that helps pupils set up concrete projects. The aim is not to sound the alarm, but rather to inspire action, generate ideas and get children moving.
And this is where the partnership really comes into its own.
At Optimal Ways, this support did not remain abstract. Employees were able to discover the projects carried out by the classes, take part in their evaluation as jurors, and see in very concrete terms what this patronage made possible. The projects were simple, useful, creative and driven by the students themselves, with a communicative energy.
This type of experience changes the perception of commitment. Because we’re no longer just talking about a donation. We’re talking about visible projects, encounters, young people getting involved, and a team that fully understands the meaning of what it’s supporting.
This is undoubtedly what stands out most in this testimonial: when a company chooses to make a commitment, it can also turn it into a collective adventure, capable of federating teams, creating links and giving a very concrete dimension to its CSR approach.
A fine reminder that commitment takes on even greater value when it is shared, lived and embodied.
Planting trees, creating links, taking concrete action for the region
thierry luisin, co-founder of the Planteurs Volontaires association , presented the impact of this initiative, which mobilizes citizens, companies and farmers around a simple objective: plant hedges and trees to restore local ecosystems.
A few figures illustrate the scale of this mobilization in the Hauts-de-France region:
🌱 341,637 trees and shrubs planted 👥 13,776 people mobilized on worksites 🌿 160 kilometers of rural hedges replanted
But beyond the figures, Thierry Luisin reminded us that these plantations above all create encounters and collective experiences.
Taking part in a planting site is often a privileged moment of exchange with farmers, a rare opportunity to discover their trade and gain a better understanding of agricultural and environmental issues.
These days are also an opportunity to reconnect with the land and nature, share a convivial moment in the open air and take concrete action for biodiversity.
Planted hedgerows play an essential role in promoting biodiversity, protecting soil, improving water management and helping to adapt territories to climate change.
For the association, these projects are based on close collaboration between partner companies, farmers and citizens, each contributing in their own way to the success of the plantations.
As Thierry Luisin reminded us, behind each tree planted there is also a collective commitment and a long-term project for the region.
A fine illustration of a concrete, collective and locally rooted ecological transition.
CEC: guiding companies towards an economy that takes care of the living world
The morning’s Café 1% Lille concluded with a testimonial on the Convention des Entreprises pour le Climat (CEC), presented by Olivia Bertout, a member of the team involved in running the program in the Hauts-de-France region.
CEC is a public interest association born of a strong conviction: 👉 to make the shift from an extractive to a regenerative economy irresistible by 2030.
The ambition is clear: to help business leaders rethink their business model, so that the creation of economic value is compatible with the preservation of the living world – both environmentally and socially.
Since its creation, the dynamic has gained momentum: 🌍 more than 700 companies have signed up nationwide 🤝 hundreds of organizations have already followed a CEC pathway or sector-specific variations (territorial, agriculture, health…)
These courses enable managers to take a step back from their strategy, exchange ideas with their peers and explore concrete transformation paths.
In a context marked by geopolitical, climatic and economic tensions, companies have a key role to play in imagining and building economic models that are compatible with planetary limits.
In the Hauts-de-France region, a new phase is beginning: 📅 a second CEC course will be launched in June, lasting around 10 months.
The aim: to bring together some forty local organizations ready to engage in this strategic and collective reflection.
Beyond tools and methods, CEC is based on a simple conviction: 👉 business leaders have considerable power to accelerate the transition.
An inspiring message to conclude this morning dedicated to corporate commitment to the living world.
