Sustainable Production System

Introduction

Since 2012, with the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development “RIO +20”, more strongly than before, the capitalist enterprise is invited to contribute to the achievement of the community’s ecological ambitions. In France, the Direction générale du Trésor (Directorate General of the Treasury) and the Commissariat général au développement durable (General Commission for Sustainable Development) declare in a joint report that the States alone have neither the vocation nor the capacity to assume the financing of the ecological transition (Dron 2013). Regulations, soft law, tax instruments and public financing must accompany the responsible company toward more environmentally sound practices. This role entrusted to the capitalist enterprise is that of a private social institution contributing, beyond the private purposes to which it devotes itself, to serving the general interest (Touraine 2003).

In June 2016, the Agence française de l’environnement et de la maîtrise de l’énergie (French Environment and Energy Control Agency) mentioned the positive effects of a scenario of switching to a “100% renewable” electricity mix (ADEME 2016). By 2050, this technological transition could, according to this report, create 800–900,000 jobs and generate a GDP increase of 3.8–3.9%. Such a scenario involved an investment of 31 billion euros per year, an increase of 7% compared to the investments already planned. The State would have had to bear only 4–5 billion per year, ...