At the end of 2022, Nature & Découvertes took on the status of a Société À Mission by including its raison d’être in its bylaws: “Choose concrete solutions to support the transition to sustainable lifestyles, commited to biodiversity.”
Frédérique Giavarini, Managing Director of Nature & Découvertes and General Secretary of Fnac Darty, looks back on this major milestone for the company.
Why has Nature & Découvertes become a Société À Mission?
At Nature & Découvertes, commitment is in our bones. Commitment to our customers first and foremost, but also to protecting biodiversity and nature. Over the years, we have worked tirelessly to use all the levers at our disposal to accelerate our transformation and make it concrete. Through the creation of our Foundation and our B Corp certification, we have already proven the clear and tangible nature of our societal and environmental commitment, in support of this transformation.
By becoming a Société À Mission, we are continuing along our path of pioneering and sustainable commitments, and breathing life into our humanistic business model.
This is an important milestone for the company, a voluntary step, which is part of our Ambition 2025 strategic plan.
What are your objectives?
In 2019, the French PACTE law (Plan d’action pour la croissance et la transformation des entreprises — Action plan for business growth and transformation) offered a new legal framework enabling companies to commit to and clarify their role in society by establishing several social and environmental objectives. The introduction of the new Société À Mission status in French law allows us to go even further, making our committed model a reality and continuing our transformation. We have therefore chosen to create our raison d’être, enshrine it in our bylaws, and bring it to fruition using three objectives that are rooted in our own history and our history as a member of the Fnac Darty Group. These aim to:
- Develop a range of products and experiences that promote sustainable lifestyles
- Preserve and promote ties to the natural world
- Bring together the communities that transform the world
These objectives give us a clear direction and act as a powerful lever for action that brings about change.
How will the new status of Société À Mission impact the governance of Nature & Découvertes?
By becoming a Société À Mission, we are asserting our role and defining the framework within which we undertake our activity. In addition to these statutory commitments, each with operational objectives, a new governance model has been set up including a committee that is responsible for overseeing the execution of the mission—using operational performance indicators for each of the objectives—and reporting on them in an annual report scheduled for publishing by summer 2024. This committee comprising six experts, one of whom is an employee, met for the first time at the end of March 2023. An initial audit by an independent third party will follow on from this.
We are therefore undertaking a global transformation process in order to continue rolling out activities that have long-term benefits for our customers and society. Our status as a Société À Mission is a huge asset in this, as it strongly encourages internal mobilization and inspires those on the outside too.
