Climate Action in Europe: the projects changemakers recommend

The selection

• A Buon DirittoRome, Italy“A buon diritto: a non-profit association that has been defending the rights of marginalised people for 20 years, especially those deprived of their liberty. If the degree of civilisation of a country is measured by that of its prisons, the Italian situation is very serious. A buon diritto takes on questions that politics tends to ignore, and which are nonetheless fundamental.”Recommended by Ilaria Gaspari
• AlenviParis, France“Small teams of caregivers who own their work. It gives dignity to everyone in the room.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Atelier PaysanRenage, France“A cooperative born in Isère, L'Atelier Paysan helps farmers design and build their own tools, with open-source plans and training courses, towards technological sovereignty for peasant farming.”Recommended by Paul Emilieu Marchesseau
• Audrey BourolleauLévis-Saint-Nom, FranceRecommended by Constance Albanel
• BiltokiAnglet, France“They bring a covered market back to life by trusting the small producers who already feed the town.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• C# See Sharp LabTurin, Italy“Gloria Campaner, a renowned pianist, has been giving concerts since the age of five and knows well the iron discipline musicians are subjected to during their training. That is why she created C#SeeSharp, a creative laboratory that allows those who study music (and not only them) to become acquainted with their emotional life without having to repress it. Because she has put her talent and her exceptional experience at the service of those following the same path as her, with a generosity that is in itself a true creative force.”Recommended by Ilaria Gaspari
• Café JoyeuxParis, France“A café run by people with disabilities, with real hospitality. Inclusion becomes ordinary, and warm.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• CarbocultureHelsinki, Finland“Farm waste turned into stable carbon. A modest, useful answer to a loud problem.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Ceinture Aliment-Terre LiégeoiseLiège, BelgiumRecommended by Rob Hopkins
• CopenhillCopenhagen, Denmark“A power plant you can ski down. Bold, and I respect that they also show its contradictions honestly.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Ellen MacArthur FoundationLondon, UK“Ellen gave the circular economy its language. That language went on to shape real policy.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• EurasantéLille, France“A health-innovation cluster gave a whole region a future after heavy industry.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• FairphoneAmsterdam, Netherlands“Bas showed that a phone can be built for repair and with fair sourcing. The whole industry feels the pressure.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Floating FarmRotterdam, Netherlands“A dairy farm floating in Rotterdam's port. A playful answer to cities running out of room.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• François MarchesseauChampdenier, France“An organic farmer since the 1980s, François Marchesseau chose to take charge of processing his own harvests.”Recommended by Paul Emilieu Marchesseau
• Grain de SailConcarneau, France“A company that runs decarbonised freight for real, out of Saint-Malo, across the Atlantic.”Recommended by Simon Bernard
• Growing CommunitiesLondon, UKRecommended by Rob Hopkins
• InovaYaLyon, FranceRecommended by Simon Bernard
• Institut Océanographique Paul Ricardîle des Embiez, France“Fifty years of independent science on the Mediterranean, open to the public for free. A gift.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• JazzilePutignano, Italy“Jazzile is a social cooperative that supports wine producers with the aim of creating a community cellar based on agroecological principles and natural, artisanal winemaking, for those who wish to share spaces and knowledge while respecting the diversity of the people, businesses and territories involved. Because the idea of sharing the means of production by building a network of solidarity is a beautiful one.”Recommended by Ilaria Gaspari
• Knepp Wildland / Isabella TreeDorset, UK“They let a worn-out farm go wild, and the turtle doves and nightingales came back. That story changed how I think about land.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• La ChartreuseAiguenoire, France“They chose to make less so as to stay what they are. That takes courage, and I admire it.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• La Ferme des VolonteuxBeaumont-lès-Valence, France“A collective farm run as a worker cooperative in the Drôme, La Ferme des Volonteux pools land, tools and know-how around organic market gardening, direct sales and the training of future farmers.”Recommended by Paul Emilieu Marchesseau
• La Preuve par 7Paris, France“They prove an idea by doing it, with the people who live there. That is urbanism I trust.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Les Beaux MetsMarseille, France“A Marseille kitchen where excellence and second chances grow together. And the food is good.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Libera TerraCorleone, Italy“Land taken from the mafia, turned into honest farming work. Justice you can taste.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Low-Tech LabConcarneau, France“Every solution they test is published open source. The knowledge belongs to everyone, and that is what stays with me.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Malene LundenSamsø, DenmarkRecommended by Søren Hermansen
• Mondragon CorporationMondragon, Spain“Eighty thousand worker-owners have governed their own companies since 1956. I know no more serious alternative to shareholder capitalism.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Muriel Richard-NocaLausanne, SwitzerlandRecommended by Katy Foraz
• NotplaLondon, UK“Seaweed packaging you can eat or compost. It looks like common sense, and we had forgotten it.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Ocean AliveSetúbal, Portugal“Raquel hands the protection of the seagrass to the fisherwomen who know the estuary best.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Olivier RoellingerCancale, FranceRecommended by Katy Foraz
• Paul Emilieu StudioParis, France“He starts every project from what already exists. Craft and conscience, working together.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• PhytobokazPetit-Bourg, Guadeloupe, France“Dr Joseph puts Caribbean plant knowledge on the scientific footing it always deserved.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Plastic OdysseyMarseille, France“Simon's ship goes from port to port and shows coastal towns how to turn their plastic into something they can use locally.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Plateau UrbainParis, France“They keep empty buildings alive between two projects, and make room for people who could never afford the rent.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Proxima FusionMunich, Germany“A European path to fusion that runs continuously. It is a bet, and I am watching it closely.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Raphaël HaumontParis-Saclay, FranceRecommended by Katy Foraz
• Refettorio ParisParis, France“Bottura turns surplus food into beautiful meals, served with dignity. The beauty is part of it.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Refugee Food FestivalParis, France“Refugee chefs in great kitchens. They arrive as talent, with stories you can taste.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Rotor DeconstructionBruxelles, Belgium“They prove that salvaging a building's materials can pay for itself. That is what convinces builders.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• rrreefsZurich, Switzerland“They print reef bricks shaped like real coral, and the larvae move in. Direct, and rather beautiful.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• SailcoopVannes, France“They make crossing the Atlantic by sail a real option again. I like that.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Samsø Energy AcademySamsø, Denmark“An island where the people own the wind together. I know no clearer proof that energy can be democratic.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Sara TurettaCernavodă, Romania“Sara Turetta decided, before turning 30, that she would devote her life to helping animals. She left her job in advertising after a trip to Romania that had shaken her deeply, opening her eyes to the tragedy of stray animals beyond any control and the brutality with which dogs were treated. She then founded Save the dogs and other animals, a foundation active in Italy and Romania, dedicated to rescuing dogs and other animals from the violence of a world that treats them as invisible. Her love for animals turned into concrete action. Her work is immense and unrelenting, and it allows thousands of dogs and other animals to escape a horrific fate.”Recommended by Ilaria Gaspari
• Simonetta CheliFrascati, Italy“She turns satellite data into tools for climate decisions. That is Europe taking its responsibility seriously.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Slow Food Foundation for BiodiversityBra, Italy“Carlo Petrini reminded us that eating well is a pleasure, and one to defend everywhere.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Svalbard Global Seed VaultSvalbard, Norway“A cold mountain holding more than a million seeds. The most patient insurance humanity has.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Sweet OmLamentin (Guadeloupe), France“Therese grows wellbeing out of a Creole garden. The care in it is real.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Transition NetworkTotnes, UK“Rob taught me that imagining the future is a tool in itself, and the climate transition needs it.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• VelaParis, FranceRecommended by Simon Bernard
• WindcoopLorient, FranceRecommended by Simon Bernard
• Éditions WildprojectMarseille, France“Founded in Marseille in 2008, the publishing house Wildproject brought the great texts of ecological thought into French and laid the foundations of the French environmental humanities.”Recommended by Paul Emilieu Marchesseau
• Éliane Vogel-PolskyBrussels, Belgium“Because she used strategic litigation to establish gender equality as a fundamental EU principle, and because she showed how a single well-crafted legal case can reshape an entire constitutional order.”Recommended by Alberto Alemanno