Corporate Governance

Reforest’Action is a certified B Corp company dedicated to developing forest restoration projects throughout the world. Fueled by the energy and expertise of its teams, our organization is also guided and oriented by a variety of bodies that, as a whole, constitute Reforest’Action’s corporate governance. These committees are made up of Reforest’Action employees and external contributors. They contribute with their expertise to allow the company to meet and address a wide range of issues: strategy, operations, positioning, ethics, HR, among others.

Reforest’Action’s executive committee focuses on strategy and operations. It is made up of the directors, who oversee the strategic planning, operational execution, performance monitoring, and business coordination

Our Ethics charter

Our Ethics Charter serves our mission, namely to support the transformation towards a regenerative economy through the forest. It comprises a set of common rules for all staff members, intended to allow us to advance together in the proper direction to guarantee the company's sustainable growth, but also to accomplish our mission in the best possible way.

In-house ethical advisors

The role of these two committees is to foster the internal enforcement of the ethical principles defined in Reforest’Action’s Ethics charter and to bring certain ethical issues to the Executive committee’s attention through the recommendations of the Ethics committee.

To do so:

• They verify that staff members properly understand the Charter's principles, mainly through awareness-raising and/or training workshops.
• They also contribute to the collaborative development, along with managers and HR, of ethics-related in-house processes.
• In addition, they are responsible for recruiting the Ethics committee’s members, organizing the annual meeting, and managing relations with its members. They report to the Executive committee on the Committee’s recommendations.

In 2023, the role of ethics advisor is assumed by CAROLINE BIERINX and KATIA PRASSOLOFF.

External Ethics committee

The committee is composed of five external members and meets annually. Its purpose is to provide consultative advice to the Executive committee on ethical issues pertaining to Reforest’Action’s activities. The topics addressed may be, for example, those related to the activity sectors with which to collaborate, the terms and conditions related to carbon projects, the priority types of forestry projects to be supported, the financial nature of ecosystem restoration, the consideration given to local communities, among others.

The Executive committee can also address the members of the Ethics committee on an ad hoc basis when necessary.

The 2023-2024 Ethics committee is being constituted.

Reforest’Action contributes to the challenges of sustainable development by supporting the transition to a regenerative economy, but also by optimizing the environmental, social, and economic advantages resulting from our activities.

Reforest’Action, B Corp certified since 2019

Gender equality in the workplace index

Reforest'Action has published its gender equality index, comprising 4 indicators, for the year 2023. The index measures the pay gap between women and men, with the aim of advancing pay equality.

Carbon footprint and mitigation strategy

Reforest'Action's concern regarding its carbon footprint is one of our priorities. As the company grew, we performed our first comprehensive carbon footprint assessment in 2021, including emissions from our supported forestry projects. Subsequently, we implemented a mitigation strategy, along with a contribution to the climate by funding a forest ecosystem preservation project in Indonesia.

Tropical forests scientific and technical committee

Support and validation body for Reforest’Action’s approach to projects in the tropics.

The Committee is made up of members with multiple, internationally recognized areas of expertise. It advises Reforest’Action on a number of issues: 1) the approach to forest protection, restoration and creation; 2) project guidelines and design; 3) project monitoring processes, and 4) impact assessment techniques. The Committee meets once a year and is the scientific and technical guarantor of Reforest’Action’s work in the tropics.

The Committee members are:

• THOMAS CROWTHER Ecosystem ecology specialist and founder of the research laboratory Crowther Lab at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zürich).
• AÏDA CUNÍ-SANCHEZ Associate professor of Environmental Science at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
• CLAUDE GARCIA Scientist in the Group of Forest Management and Development at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zürich).
• CHRISTOPHE BESACIER Senior forestry officer and coordinator of the Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism (FLRM) at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
• SUSAN CHOMBA Director at the World Resources Institute (WRI).

Temperate forest scientific and technical committee

Third party committee, leading technical and scientific reflections on our vision and processes in the temperate zone.

The committee is made up of three permanent members, representing the forestry sector in the temperate zone, and is also supported by occasional external experts, according to the needs. The two annual meetings enable us to share our progress and processes and to refine our vision, our actions, and the processes we have put in place to achieve them.

• PAUL-EMMANUEL HUET PEFC France Executive director
• ALEXIS DUCOUSSO ember of the France Nature Environnement (FNE) forest management board and chairman of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Forest working group
• HERVE JACTEL Research Director at the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (INRAE)

Contributor selection committee

The Contributor selection committee is made up of two staff members. It is responsible for advising on the appropriateness of a collaboration between Reforest'Action and a company wishing to support our forestry projects, specifically when the company is operating in a sector deemed “risky” given its high GHG emissions and/or its potential contribution to deforestation. It convenes each time a complex case arises, upon the request of one of the Enterprise division’s managers or a Comex member, and considers the reputational risks and the coherence between the concerned company's project and Reforest’Action’s mission.

The members of the 2023 Committee are: Thibaud Poulain (Forest division), and Katia Prassoloff (CSR division).

Our whistleblower procedure

With the objective to ensure a safe and transparent environment, encouraging our employees and stakeholders to report any harmful, illegal, unethical or likely to harm the company act, Reforest'Action did set up, in accordance with the legal provisions in force, this procedure known as “the whistleblower procedure”.

Gender equality in the workplace index

Reforest'Action has published its gender equality index, comprising 4 indicators, for the year 2023. The index measures the pay gap between women and men, with the aim of advancing pay equality.