Eco-enterprises
Marc Aviam and Nicolas Riedinger
A mesh of ecological firms have taken shape in France, especially since
the 1970s, in response to the environmental demands stimulated by
public environmental policies among local authorities, firms or
households. Whether big multinationals or specialized small and midsize
businesses, here is a description of their typology, markets,
advantages and expectations…
Eco-industries
and environmental policies
Jean-Luc Laurent
With more than 300.000 employees in 2002 and constantly rising sales,
environment-related industries are thriving economically. This can
mainly be set down to public policies. But given the complexity of
problems and the distribution of know-how, it is now time to move
beyond the standoff between public authorities and industrial suppliers.
Intellectual
services in the environment business
Jean-Rémi Gouze
Intellectual services related to the environment are a
totally atypical market riddled with contradictions. This situation
cannot last. The solution: Europe and the international level will be
able to regulate and rehabilitate this marketplace.
Biologically processing liquid industrial
wastes
Claude Delporte and Pascal Berardo
A method that, not yet tamed by industrialists, fits into a process of
sustainable development — an update on the biological treatment of
liquid industrial wastes, the uses and adaptation to needs…
The
Maurienne superhighway (Savoy): A client of eco-industries
Patrick
Guilhaudin
At the start: a valley
where pollution from industry and automobiles
stagnated; at the finish: an improved natural environment thanks to a
superhighway. Far from worsening the situation, this highway investment
made it possible to win back and rehabilitate sites, and even improve
the quality of life. The Maurienne Valley serves as an example showing
us how to advance toward sustainable development by using a project for
hooking up highways.
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Water, a French
success story
Claude Camilleri
Water industries raise environmental issues and questions
of technological performance. They represent exceptional success
stories in France and in French exports… and there are still needs to
satisfy. The businesses involved in water market will have a promising
future only if new regulations do not demotivate them.
Externalization on
industrial sites: Combining economic and environmental
performances
Stéphane Caine
The practice of externalization is spreading because each
partner wins.
The industrialist is able to reposition his firm around its core
activities, improve productivity and reduce costs; and the supplier
obtains means and breathing room. Other advantages are an improved
management of risks related to the personnel and environment. Veolia
offers an example of the passage from subcontracting to a genuine
partnership.
Advising
local authorities, public services and industrialists about
how to approach environmental issues and risk-management : Sogreah’s
example
Jacques Gaillard and Jean-Marc Usseglio-Polatera
For nearly a century now, Sogreah has, day after day, been
following up
on trends in social demands related to the environment, risk-control or
sustainable development. It has done so through a variety of
assignments in quite different geographical and institutional contexts.
The change has been fast, though irregular and inconsistent.
Creating
a company upon graduating from an engineering school
Jean-Édouard de Salins and Aurélien Lugardon
An idea with prospects: combine decontaminating industrial wastes with
producing a renewable source of energy. The target: the small and
mid-size industries that produce organic wastes but do not have enough
funds to become involved in environmental questions. The motives:
develop and integrate innovative technology — and, let us not forget,
the shared determination to be an entrepreneur. Envalia’s baby pictures…
Environmental technology and industries
in
France: What is the current situation
?
Michel Franz
Environmental policy in France
represents a business that, proposing equipment and services, employs
150.000 persons. How to describe these “eco-enterprises”? What are
their strengths and weaknesses? What might their future hold?
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An
eco-business panorama
Ghislaine Morin
French ecological firms originally proposed a cure, but they now claim
to be a means of prevention. Their actions intervene farther upstream
in industrial processes. These companies depend very much on public
policy. Their major characteristics are their diversity, availability
and the quality of the scientific, technical and industrial know-how
and skills they have developed.
The
plan for boosting eco-business exports
Michèle Pappalardo
Protecting the
environment is a world market that will amount to 360 billion euros
toward 2010. For many French firms, it is an opportunity for cushioning
their growth by increasing their exports. To help them, Ademe proposed
in 2002 a plan. Here is the first assessment.
White
collars for eco-industries and the “environment function”: The Mining
School of Saint-Étienne
Valérie Laforest
The environment option
at the Mining School of Saint-Étienne seeks to prepare students
in engineering for jobs related to the industrial and territorial
environments in the context of sustainable development. But it also
seeks to maintain the generalist approach that engineers involved
technically and scientifically in solving environmental problems must
have. This school has managed to adapt its education to industry’s
expectations.
Saving
energy and climatic change: Converting professionals to
eco-industrialists
José Mansot
.
Only a change in our habits of consuming energy will enable us to rise
up to the challenge of climatic change. Alongside national information
campaigns, info-energy centers are trying to convince as many people as
possible… and professionals in particular. The assessment…
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