FRANCE - Alexandre Parlange
Sustainability Leader (Former Climate Fresk Singapore Coordinator - 2021-2022)
France
Alexandre's introduction

I'm an experienced C-Level professional with 12+ years of experience working in various industries who has developed a strong interest for climate change and sustainable development. Passionate about climate change issues, I'm now fully dedicated to supporting organizations and individuals in their transition towards a low-carbon future.

I hold a MBA degree from ESSEC Business School in France, an Executive Master from INSEAD, and a Cambridge Certificate in Sustainability Leadership.

I'm a trained facilitator of a successful climate change education workshops named The Climate Fresk. I'm facilitating it in public, with companies, schools or universities. I’m alsofacilitating other workshops of the same kind such as Digital Collage, MobilityCollage or MyCO2.

What brought you to sustainability?

I have always felt attracted by the topic because it's about our future and our way to inhabit our Planet together. However the true wake-up call up came in March 2021 when I did join the Climate Fresk workshop as a participant. I walked into it assuming I was already having a strong knowledge about climate change and 3 hours later I was realizing that I had a total misunderstanding of it and a misperception of what was needed to tackle the issue.

Hereafter I decided pretty rapidly to bring the workshop into my company and it triggered the same kind of awaking effect. I was then pretty convinced by the purpose of the tool but also by the critical lack of education on the topic which was a barrier to change individually as well as collectively.

So I decided that the next step for me was to get trained to be able to deliver this workshop around me and raise awareness thanks to a science-based workshop. Ever since I am enjoying every occasion I'm getting to talk about climate change.

Which sustainable actions are you in charge of or have you implemented in your organisation?

Under my time in Singapore I have been the local coordination of the Climate Fresk workshop which means:

  • managing the community of facilitators locally (50 persons as of May 2022)
  • deploying and anchoring the workshop locally though public workshops (resumed on November 2021 and moving to 2 a month from June 2022 onwards)
  • promoting it to local communities, schools, universities as well as companies (many projects since September 2021 ranging from 10 participants to 350 participants).

Now that I’m moved to Europe I’m remaining active in my new local Climate Fresk communities to keep the educational journey on environmental challenges rolling. I’m also providing carbon footprinting services and top management advisory in connection with planetary boundaries and especially climate change.

Which challenges did you meet and how did you overcome them?

The Climate Fresk workshop is a science-based tool to educate about climate change so the first challenge was for me to increase my knowledge which was something quite easy thanks to, first, the existing facilitators community plus the support of Climate Fresk association but also thanks to the very supportive ESG network I have joined and especially The Matcha Initiative.

The second challenge was about trying to work on the "Call to Action" part in the workshop that follows the part where all participants have gained much better scientific knowledge about how climate is changing. We worked a lot on it with the community and to be honest we still are because change is very subjective. But we did tremendous progress and we realize that being part of a larger community that can, together, make sense of impactful collective or individual actions (even those are not the ones they are implementing) provides strong support and confidence to all.

What are you most proud of?

I'm proud of many things!

  1. of the change I see even if yes it's slower than what I'm hoping for but still change is under way. We can see every month more and more individuals, organizations, schools willing to learn more and raise awareness around them.
  2. of the people I have been collaborating with but also all the ones I see dedicating some of their time or even all to try to transform our models, structures,...
  3. of myself with the switch I have done in my career to take the time to look into the topic, learn, join communities and get engaged. I have found so much purpose and I want to remain involved in this, it's basically now embedded into my existence.
What would be your top 3 pieces of advice to the Matcha Initiative users?
  1. every change, as soon as you can make sense of it and incorporate it into your life durably, is worth being considered and implemented. Don't undermine any, let's add up all the positive actions we can.
  2. talk about it around you in an open and considerate way. Reaching a social tipping point is the way to go to be able to rethink our social and economic structures and adapt them to the environmental challenges.
  3. feel and welcome your emotions, they are giving you precious information about what moves you (put you in motion) and towards which direction.
In which field could you help The Matcha Initiative users?
  • Kick Start Help
  • Best Practices sharing
  • Experience Sharing
Please describe how you could help The Matcha Initiative users as a buddy?

I'm more than happy to engage in chats that could range from shifting career and moving to the ESG space (hopefully we will all get there) but also how to bring the topic and raise awareness within my organization or my communities.

Alexandre's main sustainability skills

Training, sustainability strategy, corporate finance

Alexandre kindly accepts to answer your questions.

If you need additional insights, you can send him a message.