CSR commitments

In 2016, API’UP was among the very first associations supported by the first selection committee of the Maisons du Monde Foundation. In 2019, the Foundation renewed this partnership for an additional 3 years! Following the “staff favourites” vote, the API’UP project was chosen to be presented to customers at French stores via the Arrondi Round up operation. Thus, API’UP benefits from the visibility brought by the ARRONDI operation and customer generosity: about one customer out of every two participates in the solidarity Arrondi Round up operation at Maisons du Monde.

API’UP is an association that works to support people in great professional and social difficulty towards employment (long-term unemployment, isolation, etc.). For this, the association has formed an integration work project, the aim of which is to help people in need going back to work by training them in the recycling of waste, including wood.

In 2016, the Foundation financed the purchase of equipment for the “From Waste to Design” workshop. The star product produced at this workshop is the “LEXI” unit, made entirely from solid wood waste.

In 2019, the Maisons du Monde Foundation has renewed its partnership with API’UP to allow them to:

• Extend the materials used to leather and textile
• Conduct research work in order to create new materials from recycled materials!

Thanks to the generosity of customers, the sums collected with the Arrondi Round up operation will finance:

• The team in charge of the design and research and development of new products.
• The purchase of equipment to launch the MATERIA 4.0 programme: the aim is to process even more waste such as leather, fabric, and chipboard furniture in order to make new objects.

In its first CSR plan, Maisons du Monde committed to a programme to lower its “direct” carbon footprint (Scope 1 & 2) in order to reduce greenhouse gases based on the following objectives:

• 25% reduction in the energy intensity of stores and warehouses (kWh/m²)
• 40% reduction in the carbon intensity of direct activities (kgCO2eq/m²)

Since 2016, the reduction of energy consumption at stores and warehouses, the purchase of renewable energy, and the optimisation of the transport of goods have contributed to achieving these goals.

• All the new stores opened have undergone renovation or maintenance and are now equipped with LED lighting, namely 103 stores equipped in the existing pool (as at 31 December 2018).
• 89% of stores are powered by energy from renewable sources, thanks to the signature of new electricity supply contracts for the brand’s French, Italian, and Spanish stores.
• Finally, each year, 12,000 tons of goods are transported by train between the warehouses and logistics centres in the Paris region.

Thanks to these actions, energy consumption was reduced by 17% in intensity between 2016 and 2018. “Direct” greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by 50% in total value thanks to the subscription of renewable energy supply contracts.

To support the coordination of the climate strategy, in 2017, the Group took part in  the testing of the ACT (Assessing Low Carbon Transition) evaluation method by ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency) and the CDP, designed to evaluate the strategy of companies in light of scientific data and the efforts to be implemented in order to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement. Maisons du Monde’s commitment to the Group’s fight against climate change contributed to obtaining an A- rating in the CDP’s questionnaire. 

The actions designed to control in-store energy consumption are accompanied by improved coordination at the actual stores. At each retail outlet, a CSR reference person is in charge of disseminating good practices for managing energy consumption among teams and setting up actions to reduce the store’s everyday carbon footprint.

• 60% of our wood furniture offering meets a sustainability criterion (certified, traced, recycled wood or eco-design product).

• Maisons du Monde is a partner of 11 associations that work to give downgraded products a new lease of life.

• 89% of stores are powered by renewable energy.

• Since 2016, we have reduced the greenhouse gas emissions of our stores and warehouses by 50%.

• 58% of store managers or logistics managers come from internal promotion.

Reducing our carbon footprint, transforming our products by adapting our collections to favour an increasingly responsible offer, accompanying our staff to help them grow, and mobilising citizens on the subject of environmental preservation.

This is our vision of a responsible and civic brand that works hand-in-hand with its staff, its customers, and also its suppliers in order to help them progress.

On 11 July, the total of the donations collected via the ARRONDI Round up operation exceeded the one million euros threshold. Indeed, since the launch of the ARRONDI Round up operation in all our Maisons du Monde stores in France, customers have made more than 8 million micro-donations to support the forest preservation and wood recycling projects selected by the Maisons du Monde Foundation.

For the occasion, the brand wants to thank its customers for their generosity, but also the staff, in particular the checkout teams, which work daily to promote the associative projects that benefit from the ARRONDI Round up operation. Thus, at Maisons du Monde, about one customer out of every two on average makes a contribution to arrondi at the checkout.

Since 2016, 10 associations have seen their projects financed: Envol Vert, Tchendukua, Le FOYER Notre-Dame-des-Sans-Abris, Ishpingo, GERES, API’UP, AICO La Manufacture, Forestever, Cœur de Forêt and Awely.

Every year, it is these projects that welcome a team of randomly selected Maisons du Monde staff members who are offered the chance to discover the impacts of the donations collected, in the field. For them, the idea is to spend a few days participating in the life of the association which supports the local communities in preserving their environment.

Starting on Monday 19 August, all micro-donations made via "ARRONDI en caisse" (price round-up system at the till) will go to the Brainforest association, in collaboration with "Man & Nature de Noé", to support the project "Combating deforestation in the Gabon through cacao".

Selected in the 2019 Maisons du Monde Foundation's Call for Projects for three years of support, this project is being coordinated by the Brainforest association in partnership with the "Man & Nature de Noé" programme. On 1 January 2019, the merger of two associations, Man & Nature and Noé, gave rise to the "Man & Nature de Noé" programme. This is designed to help local populations manage their natural resources sustainably by teaching them sustainable farming practices through cacao growing. 

The Brainforest association's project is taking place in Minvoul, in north Gabon, not far from the Minkebe national park, which contains part of the Congo basin. Brainforest wants to assist women in harvesting produce that grows on trees, such as fruits, and to relaunch cacao growing in Minvoul.

The overall long-term objective here is to combat the deforestation now seriously affecting the Congo basin, the third largest tropical basin in the world.  

Through this project, communities and especially women can earn a stable income for their families while protecting the forest's natural resources.

Funding from the Maisons du Monde Foundation will make it possible to:

• Introduce agroforestry plantations in the shade, including cacao trees
• Boost 25 producers' capacities in terms of good farming practices and commercial management to increase their autonomy
• Diversify marketing with forestry produce, so that communities are not solely dependent on cacao harvests

For more information, see the association's website: http://www.brainforest-gabon.org/

7 new projects were chosen by the Foundation’s Selection Committee, namely 23 projects supported by the Foundation in a total of 11 countries over the year.

A budget of €953,539 was allocated to the Maisons du Monde Foundation in 2018, €413,877.66 of which was collected via the ARRONDI en caisse operation.

€3,271,277 of donations were made by our customers thanks to the ARRONDI en caisse operation for the benefit of 4 associations supported by the Foundation and chosen by you, the staff, during the 2018 Favourite vote: Forestever, Envol Vert, Ishpingo and finally AICO.

1 highlight:  The first edition of the “Aux Arbres !“ event was held on 8 and 9 June 2018 in Nantes, gathering together 5,000 visitors to share in the challenges of preserving forests and biodiversity.

We invite you to take part in the second edition of the event on 20, 21 and 22 June 2020 in Nantes!

For more information about our actions in 2018, take a look at the 2018 annual report here (in French only).

For this 3rd edition, 47 candidates from 13 different schools sent us their projects: Ecole Condé Paris, Ecole Condé Nice, Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique, EESAB Rennes, Pôle supérieur de design Nouvelle Aquitaine, ENSCI – Les Ateliers, Ecole Supérieur de design des Landes, Universités Toulouse II, ESAAT (Ecole Supérieure des Arts et du Textile), Lycée Malraux, ENSA Limoges, ENSA Paris Malaquais and STRATE Design.

To integrate the Maisons du Monde style, two themes were proposed to them: “Workshop” and “Hygge”, corresponding to the trends from the 2019 collections. 18 applications were submitted for the “Workshop” category and 29 in the “Hygge” category. At the end of February, Maisons du Monde stylists and product managers preselected 5 projects for the furniture category and 7 projects for the decoration category for their style, their suitability with the Maisons du Monde universe and their marketability.

At the start of March, a jury of eco-design experts comprising partners from this 3rd edition - Eco-mobilier, FSC®, EVEA, Eco TLC, Marie-Claire Idées - supported by the ADEME and the Fondation pour la Nature et l’Homme, rated the environmental reduction efforts described by the students.

Selected during the 2018 call for projects by the Maisons du Monde Foundation, GERES (Groupe Énergies Renouvelables, Environnement et Solidarités) is the new association presented to customers at French stores via the Arrondi Round up operation. GERES has benefited from the visibility brought by the Arrondi operation and customer generosity: about one customer out of every two participates in the solidarity Arrondi Round up operation at Maisons du Monde.

GERES is a development NGO specialising in sustainable energy and environmental protection. In Cambodia, it intervenes in a country where the rate of deforestation is one of the highest in South-East Asia. Located in one of the richest biodiversity reservoirs in the country, the project supported by the Maisons du Monde Foundation has a dual challenge: to restore forestry ecosystems and promote the sustainable management of natural resources.

The association supports local populations in restoring their forests whilst also raising their awareness about the resources responsible for their exploitation. In particular, the GERES teams help them to develop income-generating activities based on sustainable forestry management practices.

Thanks to the generosity of customers, the sums collected with the Arrondi Round up operation will help to:

• Deploy forestry restoration activities and investment in the area’s natural capital
• Raise awareness and train local populations in forestry activities
• Develop buffer zones via community market gardens and, thus, offer revenue for communities
• Set up partnerships with the textile industry, which is partially responsible for the country’s deforestation, in order to develop lasting economic models such as, for example, the production of bamboo incense.