Noelle Gerin, new Head of Sustainable Development at LALUX Assurances
Some weeks ago, LALUX Group appointed Noelle Gerin as its Head of Sustainability. A lawyer by training, Noelle joined the LALUX Group in 2018. In her private life, she is strongly involved in associations and in advocating for more social justice and inclusiveness, among others. We interviewed this highly committed woman.
CSR, or Corporate Social Responsibility, refers to the implementation of sustainable actions by companies, while ESG, or Environment, Social and Governance, refers to the environmental, social and governance criteria that need to be considered when defining and evaluating a company’s CSR policy. The environmental criterion measures the company’s direct or indirect impact on the environment, the social criterion the impact on internal and external stakeholders, in other words employees as well as customers, suppliers, etc. The governance criterion analyses how a company is organised and managed. The basic idea put forward by CSR is that every company has a responsibility towards the context, in the broadest sense, in which it exists and is active. It is really about how a company contributes to the challenges of sustainable development.
Sustainable development is an economic model based on “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” [1]. As life on our planet and all its components, including humans, involves life cycles, sustainability is nothing more than the capacity of our human societies to continue indefinitely within these cycles. We to adapt to theses and find ways of coexisting with them. However, our current economic model is based on the assumption of a world with unlimited and inexhaustible resources. It is therefore, by definition, not sustainable, as most of the raw materials used are non-renewable and the regenerative capacity of natural resources is limited. Sustainable development is traditionally based on three interdependent pillars:
I am convinced that such an approach is essential, firstly to contribute to the survival of the planet and its inhabitants, but also to that of our business.
In my opinion, people are at the centre of everything and actively contribute to the harm caused, whether it is environmental, social or economic. The positive side of this is that humans are therefore also agents of change, have a real influence and can be part of the solution. As far as the CSR appoach is concerned, LALUX has had many measures in place for years already, including initiatives and approaches that make sense and are consistent. The aim was therefore to formalise everything and to make a concrete and official commitment for the future.
Formalising the CSR approach at LALUX by establishing a CSR strategy and a related action plan allows me to have a certain impact on the life of the company and its environment and to bring my personal values and convictions into my work. Today, it is difficult to defend a company, both morally and ethically, if it does not commit to sustainability. Moreover, numerous regulations, notably European, current ones and those in the process of being adopted, are tackling the subject and will require certain reports.
To be able to contribute to progress and be a vector of real, honest and sustainable transformation are the reasons why I decided to dedicate myself to CSR.