When I arrived in America in early 2008, I decided to totally change my lifestyle because my vision of the world was turned upside down. Having recently arrived in New York in the midst of an economic crisis to take up his job as Head of Collateral Management at SG CIB, I discovered Jean-Marc Jancovici’s work on contemporary climate and energy issues. A real shock. Being a witness of people’s behaviour and attitudes in the United States and Europe, this discovery pushed me into taking action.

An engineer, expert and consultant specialising in energy and climate, Jancovici has raised the alarm about the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Crucial efforts for the future of our planet that must be undertaken by society, companies and each of us as individuals. For example, in terms of CO2 emissions, a return flight from Paris to New York is equivalent to as many trips over the same distance in a small town car as there are seats in the plane. It’s also equivalent to the amount of CO2 a person emits over an entire year! It’s absolutely catastrophic.

That’s why I started translating Jancovici’s work and adapting it to American issues, the aim being to present it at the CEO Speakers Series. In early July, my presentation during this series of conferences open to Group staff in the New York offices was closely followed by around a hundred people, and has since been watched a thousand times on the Internet. The feedback has generally been positive, although people were in a state of shock. Now I intend to continue talking about climate change with the Group’s staff, because people’s individual awareness can still change the future.