Audrey Tcherkoff

Q1: What is the positive economy?

That’s the most important question of all. The positive economy is an economy that prioritises the long term over the short term. It’s a patient form of capitalism, one that unfolds over an extended period without disastrous effects. Humanity cannot survive if our politicians and economic leaders only think about getting re-elected. Societies that have neglected the long term have paid for it: their resources dry up. We need to imagine new business models that aren’t just based on the least harm, but on the positive effect firms can have on society and the environment. It’s about asking how your firm can offer growth and development in a fairer framework. It’s about prioritising the greater good over your own interests. And it’s about no longer seeing the environment as a cost centre. Likewise, women need to be supported so they enjoy the same opportunities as men do.

V.D.B.: I like that notion of patient capitalism. It’s not anti-capitalism, but another form of capitalism.

Q2: We’re at a turning point in society. What should we expect from firms?

For the past year, we’ve been producing in a new way, consuming in a new way and travelling in a new way. Four billion humans have been trying out this new trend. It’s a question of meaning, one that has returned forcefully. So what if the pandemic was actually a chance to change our relationship with the world? As regards business, I’m convinced we’ll look back and see a pre-Covid approach and a post-Covid approach. We’ve worked a lot with Jacques Attali on the notion of the life economy: the crisis has revealed the lack of attention we’ve given to the life economy in regard to healthcare, waste treatment, food, water management and suchlike. From under-investment to dependence, many issues have been brought to light and reveal that future crises are more likely.

We’ve offered a suggestion through a book. It explains how we can considerably redirect investments towards the life economy via sovereign funds, employee saving schemes and so on. The message of the positive economy is about putting humaneness at the heart of debates. It’s about open, sustainable governance, increased participation from younger generations through boards of administration made up of young people, for example, and more.

Business leaders tell us they struggle to retain talents. This is becoming a real challenge for firms. They need to ask questions about the sustainability of their model. If they don’t act for the right reasons, they will act for business.

Q3: What positivity indexes do you use to assess firms?

The idea of a positivity index was the subject of a report ‘Towards a positive economy’ (2013), requested by former French president François Hollande. At the time, the project was pioneering and innovative. It was about putting all stakeholders around a table and finding KPIs to measure performance.

A commission was formed to draw up the report. From this, an index was born that takes into account environmental aspects and suchlike, rather like ESG criteria do. And all employees helped create the index. Every firm should use it. It involves forty simple indicators anyone can understand. The index is designed to work universally: there’s no prerequisite in terms of company size or nationality. It analyses the past five years and the next five years. When the index is calculated, a whole roadmap is presented. It suggests paths to better wealth creation, greater reduction of a firm’s environmental impact and improved well-being among employees.

Today, we assess a third of CAC 40 firms and many SMEs. For the company Transdev, we’ve scaled up the index: we calculate it both for the group and for each of its subsidiaries. 

When we founded the Institut de l’Économie Positive, I wanted it to be a firm that would go public. During our round-table talks, LVMH and Veolia became stakeholders. They joined us because there aren’t any such French, or even European, measuring tools available. The creation of Vigeo was fantastic, but we were disappointed it got sold to Moody’s. The platform ‘Impact’, introduced by French secretary of state Olivia Grégoire, was a good development, but it needs to go further in data-handling. We’ve raised this point.

Q4: Are people ready to act individually?

In civil society, it’s categorical: 92% of citizens in countries of the G20 expect concrete changes after the crisis.

All employees in France unanimously expect their director to get properly involved in issues of transition. And they are convinced that even if such commitments at their own level are just a drop in the ocean, their directors’ involvement would advance the cause considerably further. As I mentioned earlier, it’s a business challenge. Firms should rise to this challenge. But firms that have lost a lot of money are still urgently focused on the short term and it can be difficult for them to change their approach.

Q5: Why do women have a special role to play?

The Covid crisis jeopardised the push for parity between men and women. We have to act fast. This crisis continues to deeply affect women every day. People are surprised by the figures I share. There’s less access to schooling, more violence, less access to contraception and abortion, a lack of recognition of certain jobs, and greater stress with remote working.

Overall, true parity between men and women will only be achieved in 135 years. From March to May 2020, a third of women stopped working to look after their children. Eleven million girls have been pushed out of their school environment because their family environment has become insecure.

We need to properly assess how urgent the situation really is and put pressure on the government so that the different recovery plans take into account inequality between men and women. We need to act quickly.