The 20th
anniversary
edition
March 14 & 15, 2025
at UNESCO • Paris

Clarisse, you have been the Marketing and Communications Director at ZEISS Vision Care France for four years. With experience in diverse sectors like optics, textiles, and beauty, you’ve led large-scale campaigns while focusing on innovative and omnichannel strategies. You will speak at l’Université de la terre in the session "Ecological Transition, Let the Teams Take the Lead." Can you explain how these values are reflected in ZEISS's projects, commitments, and even your marketing strategies?

Clarisse Charreaux: At ZEISS Vision Care, our mindset is deeply rooted in proximity to our clients and the implementation of concrete actions. This is clearly reflected in our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) approach.

First, we organized climate fresco workshops for all our employees, across all departments and production sites. These workshops were essential in raising awareness among our team about the scale and complexity of climate change issues, so they could take ownership of these challenges and act accordingly.

We also partnered with Agoterra, which specializes in helping companies reduce their carbon footprint. This partnership allows us to fund certified, local low-carbon projects, working with farmers near our sites. This initiative is particularly meaningful as we organized farm visits for our employees to meet the farmers, discover their operations, and understand their low-carbon projects.

Another notable project is our partnership with BeeCity, which enabled us to install beehives on our sites. This offers an excellent opportunity to raise awareness among our teams about the importance of bees, while providing locally-produced honey.

Finally, we’ve created a CSR ambassador network focused on four key themes: Employees, Environment, Products & Value Chain, and Societal Engagement. This network helps us develop high-impact projects that strengthen our commitment to sustainability.

These initiatives illustrate our desire to act in a concrete and responsible way, while involving our teams in this ecological transition.

ZEISS is entirely owned by a foundation, a status that is still relatively unknown in France. Can you explain what this means for the company and its actions, particularly in terms of governance and long-term vision?

ZEISS is fully owned by the Carl Zeiss Foundation, which allows us to make significant investments in scientific research and innovation. This little-known status in France has profound implications for our company and its actions. Specifically, it means we dedicate our resources to projects that go beyond simple profit. We invest in numerous non-profit projects as well as in R&D for all our activities, whether medical technologies or consumer products. Our initiatives focus on crucial themes like artificial intelligence, resource efficiency, and personalized healthcare. 15% of our revenue and workforce are dedicated to R&D, a significant portion.

Among our achievements, we’ve developed ophthalmic surgical microscopes and innovative treatments for breast cancer through intraoperative radiotherapy, and we’re also conducting research on infectious diseases.

Additionally, our metrology and laser sensor solutions are used in e-mobility to create safer, smarter, and lower-emission vehicles. The foundation also funds a project for humanoid robots designed to improve the quality of life for the elderly, helping them stay autonomous for as long as possible. This governance model enables us to have a long-term vision, focused on innovation and societal well-being.

Thus, as we communicated in our campaign, choose ZEISS lenses, and science will thank you.

ZEISS operates in a sector where innovation is essential. How does the company integrate ecological and societal concerns into its innovation processes and value creation?

At ZEISS, we are fully aware of our responsibility as a major player in the fight against climate change, in line with the Paris Agreements, which aim to limit global warming to +1.5°C. This is why we’ve set ourselves the ambitious goal of achieving carbon neutrality in our operations by 2025.

To contribute to this commitment, ZEISS Vision Care France conducted a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions assessment in 2022, which helped us identify relevant areas for improvement in our practices. This assessment led to the development of an action plan that includes concrete initiatives within our sector.

For example, all our packaging is now recycled and recyclable, and we’ve launched the “GreenPack” project, with France as the global leader. Additionally, nearly all our advertising materials are recycled or recyclable, and we’ve optimized our processes to avoid excess.

We’ve also taken significant steps to reduce and valorize our waste. For example, the machining chips from our lenses are compacted into briquettes, which replace fossil fuels in the food industry, leading to an 84% reduction in waste at our Fougères plant between 2020 and 2022. Moreover, we’ve managed to reduce our water consumption by 51% through the reuse of wastewater.

In terms of transportation, we prioritize local suppliers and have implemented a responsible purchasing charter. We’ve also changed our transportation methods for raw materials, moving from air to sea, in order to reduce our carbon footprint.

After being awarded the “Engagé RSE” label at the Confirmed level by AFNOR in 2022, we remain determined to continue our efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of our activities and integrate ecological and societal concerns into all our innovation processes.

What is your perception of ZEISS employees' involvement in the ecological transition, and how is this reflected within the company?

We were pleasantly surprised by the number of employees who volunteered to become CSR Ambassadors. This reflects the strong commitment of our teams to the ecological transition. Additionally, employees see ZEISS’s commitment as a true source of pride, which strengthens our company culture and our determination to act for a sustainable future!