The Gaz de France – Worldwide Fund for Nature-France (WWF‑France) partnership

Gaz de France and WWF-France signed a national partnership agreement in November 2003.

Objectives:

• to fight global warming,
• to reduce the Group's ecological footprint,
• to promote the use of renewable energies,
• to promote energy efficiency and raise public awareness about reasonable energy use.

Over a period of nearly 3 years, this partnership has been a launching pad for numerous initiatives:

• showing Group employees how to calculate their ecological footprint: an initiative that makes them aware of the impact of their day-to-day activities on the environment,
• making local and regional authorities and the public aware of the ecological footprint concept, by distributing a leaflet “Acting for Tomorrow” and a short quiz entitled “Energy savings: test your reflexes with the ecological footprint”, or through the “Planet Attitude” exhibition,
• the environmental and sustainable development partnership between the Delta du Rhône, Plaine de Crau and Marais du Vigueirat regions: this partnership, established in 2004, focuses on protecting biodiversity and creating a botanical garden in the Vigueirat marshland,
• educating young people about environmental issues, through events like the “Children's Environmental Appeal” or through Nicolas Vanier's films of his experiences, like “The Last Trapper” or “Siberian Odyssey”,
• a Gaz de France - ADEME - WWF press campaign urging the public to support environmental protection, based around the Siberian Odyssey.

>> Watch the film "The Vigueirat wetlands" (6.5 MB)

Partnership with Comité 21: awareness-raising on sustainable development

For more than 10 years, Comité 21 has headed a network of decision-makers from voluntary agencies, the world of business, regional authorities and the scientific and academic communities, all motivated by a single conviction: sustainable development is the only response to the challenges of the 21st century. The role of Comité 21 is to support and assist its members in putting sustainable development into practice.

In November 2007, Gaz de France signed a partnership agreement to promote the “Education on Sustainable Development” programme, coordinated by Comité 21 and structured around two objectives :

• To encourage and support Agenda 21 educational initiatives, from school through to university: development and implementation of sustainable development action plans within schools and colleges, in consultation with internal and external partners;
• To encourage all members of Comité 21 to take part in educational projects on sustainable development (schools Agenda 21, Eco-Schools, “eco-responsible management” type processes, eco-citizenship schools, etc.)

This partnership strengthens the Group's links with Comité 21, which has already led debate amongst Gaz de France's stakeholders since 2005.

As part of this process, Gaz de France supports events designed to educate young people about environmental issues, such as WWF-France's “Children's Appeal for the Environment”. The Group also contributes to the development of scientific and technical education by providing schools with teaching materials on natural gas and the gas cycle, on energy saving and safety.