Greentech : products for the future
The story begins 30 years ago, in 1992.
For the first time, the environmental responsibility of countries was raised on a global scale: the Rio Earth Summit laid the foundations for better management of the planet, and established the concept of “sustainable development”.
That same year, in October, we created Greentech, one of the first French biotechnology companies.
Our ambitions were great: to probe the promises of living organisms, to go beyond research, to imagine biotechnologies applied to cosmetics, agronomy, pharmaceuticals, agri-food, the environment, etc., in order to one day produce natural alternatives on a large scale to the all-chemical model that was then dominant.
A story of pioneers, with all that this implies: exploration, trial and error, convincing… But starting before everyone else finally gives you a head start. In the mid-1990s, in the midst of the mad cow crisis, the cosmetics industry made a radical shift towards plant-based products. We were ready to accompany this change. From scientists, we became explorers, travelling the world in search of natural raw materials, discovering sources, unknown plants, micro-organisms; in the earth, in the water, in the ice, even in the clouds at an altitude of 5,000 m…
Sourcing is not about finding the right source; it is about preserving that right source. By applying to the letter the recommendations of the Earth Summit – conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of resources, fair and equitable sharing of their exploitation – we have laid the foundation for an ethical model, guaranteeing the future.
Over the years, cosmetics have naturally led us to a crossroads, towards applications in agronomy, nutrition, health and the environment.
At Greentech, plant, marine and microbial biotechnologies now feed each other, at the crossroads of scientific disciplines. Healthy soils are linked to balanced skin, plant proteins can compensate for animal proteins, algae can be transformed into ingredients for tomorrow’s nutrition, micro-organisms can replace chemical pesticides, and an understanding of the microbiota opens up a formidable field for shared progress…
In 2022, 30 years after the Rio summit, the new IPCC reports are a stark reminder that the answers to climate change and pollution can no longer wait. How can we feed and care for 10 billion people in 2050 without destroying the planet?
More than ever, biotechnologies are an important part of the solution… Through concrete, efficient, natural and sustainable alternatives, producing without destroying, they are transforming industrial models and reinventing the way we consume.
Connected to the major issues of the century, the companies of the Greentech group and their teams want to be committed actors, at the service of future generations.
On our 30th anniversary, we are proud to have proven that a new, more resilient economy, based on renewable living resources, is possible on a large scale.
Greentech, we source nature to resource the future