Alone, we go faster, but together we go further

After training in marine biology and completing a master's degree in environmental management, Caroline de Zutter now works at the ENGIE Lab CRIGEN, the Group's corporate research center, where she is in charge of projects related to biodiversity.

She is delighted with this position which allows her to interact with people as motivated as she is and to align her professional world and her personal convictions.

Have you always wanted to work in biodiversity? Or is it something that happened gradually?

My initial passion was for the marine environment and it dates back to my early childhood. I have always felt this need to protect, to preserve, to better understand.
I can't say where it started, but already when I was little, if people asked me what I wanted to do later, I would answer “I want to swim with dolphins, I want to study the sea”. It is a vocation that has guided all my study and career path so far. And which is confirmed because for 10 years that I have been working on biodiversity, it has always been a commitment, a will, a pleasure.

Caroline, how are you trying to change the world for the better?

I try to change the world on different levels. It starts with choosing  my workplace and day-to-day activities .
I try to change the world by changing practices, by supporting the group's different businesses in their own transition. I also have the opportunity to act on the world because I work for an energy company since energy is the basis of all other human activities, everywhere in the world.
Biodiversity is played out on a wide variety of scales. Biodiversity is at the genetic level, at the species level and at the ecosystem level. We start from the very small and we go to the macro. Here more than anywhere else, a small step for man represents a giant leap for humanity.
I also try to change the world on my individual scale, in my personal life, with those around me, my loved ones, I try to be an example for my children. It's another way to change the world, by talking to toddlers about nature, showing them how and why to protect it. In short, by offering them the most open vision of the world possible.
And finally, we all change the world in the small daily gestures we all do, without trying to be perfect, and within our own ambiguities or paradoxes.

Do you have examples of actions towards biodiversity that you have been able to put in place?

One thing to take into account is that I work in research, that is, very upstream. We often intervene on immature, innovative subjects. And when it starts to “roll”, when it can be deployed in the field, that's when we hand over to the operational staff.
So there are a lot of projects I've worked on but haven't followed through to completion.
On the other hand, what I see is that the number of biodiversity-related projects that we are asked to carry out has increased over the past 10 years, as have the associated budgets and the  level of managers  interested in this issue. Biodiversity is taken more and more seriously  in our Group, just as it is taken more and more seriously in civil society.
I see an increased concern in my surroundings, in our communities, when I listen to politicians. Over the past 10 years, we have gone from “biodiversity, what is it? Another green thing” to a  consideration of global proportions. And over the past 2 years, the link between human activities and their health and economic impacts is so obvious that we have made another leap forward in its understanding.
Obviously, we have concrete projects, we make ecological diagnoses of industrial sites, we track the impact of wind or solar power on biodiversity. We also have projects on light pollution, a subject which was  little talked about 3-4 years ago and which is now emerging. For these multidisciplinary projects on light pollution, we work a lot with our sociologist colleagues because it is also an issue for the human population, whether in terms of safety or health.
Now that these subjects are beginning taking traction globally, I feel that a big step has been made in the right direction. Even if the environmentally aware people  feel that  progress is never fast enough, things are evolving on elements as concrete as the allocated budgets. Last week, Catherine Mac Gregor talked with the biodiversity community, sending a signal to the teams  that this subject is important .

Would you like to add something?

It is important that things move forward at all levels: business, public policies, consumer expectations. We can see that the hurdles are removed collectively. If  regulations do not impose minimum requirements, it is more difficult  to advance.
I am one of the people who exert internal pressure but we also need external pressure, be it regulations, customers, users and of course NGOs, who are always   checking whether we are respecting our commitments.
It is very important that all these levers are activated at the same time and moving in the right direction.

Do you have a message to share?

I think  what works best is setting the example; by parents, by managers, by politicians… Whether we're talking about gender balance, biodiversity, inclusion, what works best is leading by example. This is not the battle of a few, it is a societal choice that we must all assume together.
I strongly believe in the power of the collective at all levels. I think we are all doing important things individually, but we can do a lot more together. I like to quote the African proverb “Alone, we go faster, but together, we go further”.
It's true that sometimes it's important to go faster, we can't always do everything together. Sometimes we need a vanguard, and this vanguard needs support. In fact, we all have a role to play.