Personal Commitment, Collective Impact with Klorane’s Arnaud Vaillant

Arnaud Vaillant, CFO at Pierre Fabre (Klorane)
personally planting a tree in the Daintree rainforest

 

We love talking about our extraordinary supporters like Klorane, and today is no exception. 

Since 2022, our alliance has been blossoming into a beautiful partnership, marking Klorane a valuable Platinum Business Partner. Over the past two years, together with Klorane Botanical Foundation, their commitment has helped us to sprout 50,000 seedlings at our new native nursery, reclaim 1.8 Ha of Lot 41 Cape Tribulation Rd, and, in a delightful twist, visit our team in Far North Queensland to enrich our green partnership by personally planting some rainforest trees. 

Most recently, Klorane has also pledged to contribute to the protection of Lot 1 Cape Tribulation Rd, a stunning piece of both critically endangered Littoral Rainforest and endangered Wet Tropics Lowland Rainforest. With Klorane by our side it seems like we can achieve anything!

Arnaud Vaillant is the Chief of Finance and Operations Australia and Green Advocate for Australia and APAC at Pierre Fabre (parent company of Klorane). Arnaud, at the helm for almost five years, has not only overseen the beginnings of our partnership, but recently championed monthly personal donations, highlighting his unwavering dedication to the protection and restoration of the Daintree rainforest. The union of both corporate and personal support from Klorane and Arnaud himself resonated so deeply with us, we wanted to have a chat with Pierre Fabre’s CFO, to delve into the depths of his commitment and passion for environmental conservation.

 

Can you share a little about your journey, and what inspired you to work for a company like Pierre Fabre?

Pierre Fabre Company is owned by its employees and a non-for-profit organisation, the Pierre Fabre Foundation. Profits are reinvested in the company or go to the Foundation to finance access to healthcare in poor countries. This makes the company unique, long term oriented and deeply caring for people and the planet. I have been interested in the demonstrated environmental commitment of the company since I’ve joined.

 

What motivated Pierre Fabre/Klorane to align with environmental causes, specifically rainforest conservation?

Klorane has always been about natural ingredients and protecting nature since the 1960’s. Well ahead of time. Our Founder Mister Pierre Fabre was a botanist and had a collection of plants, the largest private collection in the world which is now under the Klorane Botanical Foundation. 

I have been lucky enough to visit the Daintree Rainforest in 2019 and was really touched by its unique fauna and flora. So when Victorine came and presented the project with Rainforest Rescue I immediately understood this was a perfect match between our organisations.

 

What sparked your personal interest in supporting Rainforest Rescue?

I was donating to another organisation, which does a great job… but then I thought why am I giving to them when Rainforest Rescue is doing such an amazing job at preserving this unique ecosystem? I have a 2 year old son and I want him to be able to see the Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef as I was lucky enough to see it. This is going to be an incredible challenge, prospects are not good, but we should do everything we can to protect it.

 

How do you encourage a culture of sustainability and environmental responsibility within Pierre Fabre?

The most important thing is information. Educating our employees about climate, environmental issues, materials, recycling, carbon cycle etc. And measuring our impact at all levels, understand that if we do this thing that way then this is the impact. But maybe if we do it another way we can reduce our impact.

I have a finance background. Protecting the environment has a cost. But I think people often underestimate how much money, time and efforts you can save while caring for the environment with the right mindset: “Less is more”, smarter supply chain, reducing packaging etc. all these actions are good for the planet and can actually save money for companies (and individuals).

When you realize you can reduce your environmental impact while saving money, then what is the barrier to action?

 

Tell us about your role as Green Advocate for Australia and APAC, what does it involve?

We want to deploy the Group Climate Strategy worldwide and also share best practices across countries. Climate Strategy is by essence a global issue as well as a very local one. So this role is about combining the two aspects for APAC.

 

What do you love most about rainforests?

Diversity. There are so many species, so unique, so well adapted to a specific niche in the ecosystem. I went on a night tour in the Daintree and saw the zombie ants, the Hercules moth… unfortunately no cassowaries. Also when on the same day you can see the Daintree rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef you can only be amazed at nature’s beauty and diversity. This is such a treasure we need to preserve for future generations.

 

What do you see for the future of Klorane’s partnership with Rainforest Rescue?

I cannot reveal too much here… but I see lots of opportunities to continue our collaboration!

 

We want to sincerely thank Arnaud Vaillant, Victorine Mary and Klorane for their ongoing support – An inspiring synergy between corporate and personal dedication to environmental preservation. When people like Arnaud lead by example, the possibilities for positive change are endless!

 

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