About July Advisory
- Responsibility: “Primum non nocere,” first, do no harm, meaning to fight against the negative impacts of an activity and work towards its sustainability within an existing business model.
- Regenerative contribution: then, and most importantly, to be in harmony with the planet and place life at the center of all activity concerns, strategy and growth plans.
The founder, Marianne Carpentier
A graduate of Essec, Marianne worked for four years in investment banking before joining strategy consulting where she accompanied large groups in the finance, services and industry sectors between 2018 and 2022.
Sensitive to environmental and social issues and to the major role of the private sector and finance in the redefinition of economic models, she has specialized in CSR since 2020.
The July Advisory Manifesto
Donella Meadows
It is not possible to live in a finite world as if its resources were unlimited. First of all, because natural reserves have physical limits: this is the case for fossil fuels, minerals or fresh water. Secondly, because the massive use of these resources in a limited period of time disturbs complex balances: the excessive emission of greenhouse gases causes, among other things, climate change, ocean acidification and air pollution. These disturbances in turn threaten biodiversity, which is also affected by other imbalances: deforestation, disruption of the water cycle, plastic pollution etc. The complexity of these interrelated phenomena requires systems thinking. The problem is therefore not limited to the issue of greenhouse gases and climate change, but must include all planetary systems such as the biological diversity of living beings, the water, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, land use and air quality.
As we reach the end of a cycle that could be called modernity, the question arises of the legacy of such a historical sequence. The observation is not only a failure: in the space of two centuries, most human development indicators have progressed. Extreme poverty, which affected 85% of the world’s population in 1800, now affects only 10% of the population. The proportion of children in forced labor has been reduced by a factor of three since 1950-although it is still too high, at 10 percent, and progress has slowed significantly over the past 20 years. At the end of the 19th century, only a few countries granted women partial or provisional voting rights; this is the case in almost all countries where voting is practiced today. Globally, life expectancy has increased by 20 years between 1960 and 2020.
It is therefore not a question of deluding ourselves about the damage caused by our development models, nor of forgetting the immense human progress that they have made possible. A third, desirable path consists in taking into account the current impasses, in redefining what we wish to preserve from the modern era in order to prepare a sustainable and happy future, today and for future generations.
Thus, it is through a clear awareness of the current state of the world based on science – in particular via the IPCC reports for climate, the IPBES for biodiversity, the work on planetary limits or the environmental footprint – that we can make a difference. July’s action is based on an optimistic and ambitious desire to contribute to a sustainable future.