Key takeaways from the second “Sustainability Meets Profitability” event organized by La French Tech Bucharest

The success of a business is no longer measured only in numbers and positive results, but also in performance related to sustainability, which is the direction towards which the business world is heading.

While aligning with the rules of a circular economy is not always cheap, investments in sustainability will pay off later on, according to the speakers who took part on Tuesday, March 20, in the second "Sustainability Meets Profitability" debate organized by La French Tech Bucharest.

"We want to see how we can have sustainable companies, but at the same time profitable, with growth potential", stated Grégoire Vigroux, serial entrepreneur in sustainability.

The event was moderated by Luka Zivkovic, Co-Founder & CCO, bonapp.eco, and organized by Ralph Parisot, Head of Development at La French Tech Bucharest.

Here are some of the key statements made by speakers at the event:

"Sustainability has three pillars: economic, social and environmental. Being financially sustainable also means social security for your employees. Regarding the environment, the first step we took was to eliminate printed vouchers, so now we are a digitalized company." - Ştefan Iulius Budula n, Director of Public Policies at Up Romania.

"We are trying to fulfill people's dream of traveling, and for this purpose we are trying to pay attention to our impact on the environment. We built our sustainability strategy on three pillars: environment, people and culture. The idea is to think of ways to use new aircraft, more efficient from the point of view of fuel consumption." - Alexandra Sinn, Key Account Manager Air France/KLM.

"We are not only making plans for now, but also for the next period. The year 2030 will be an important milestone, because we aim to reduce emissions by 50% compared to the current level. Today, 30% of the materials used in our tires are renewable and recyclable, and in 2050 we want to reach 100%.” - Daniel Gheorghe, Operational Marketing Director for Central Europe and Asia at Michelin.

"Tensions put sustainability at the very center of the discussions, because then we see how important the presence of natural resources, of energy resources is." - Alex Skouras, Founding Member and Managing Partner Alesonor Real Estate Development.

"Banks have started to warn their customers to be ready to find solutions in order to respect the principles of sustainability. It is imperative that we change the way we do business to comply. The biggest lack at the moment is that of data", said