Ardian Circle Day 2026: Making sustainability count for business performance

Guillaume Cravero, Global Head of Sustainability and Europe Policy Strategy at Ardian, offered the introductory remarks at Ardian Circle Day, a first-of-its-kind iteration on Ardian Circle workshops. Since the program’s launch in 2021, Ardian has hosted over 20 smaller-format workshops with hundreds of participants from portfolio companies. Ardian Circle Day was designed to meet the need for an expanded, international forum for exchange. It was an opportunity for attendees to meet peers from across the portfolio who face similar challenges in their own businesses and to gain actionable insights.  

Read Guillaume Cravero's op-ed on sustainability at Ardian 

Laura Andremont, Sustainability Senior Manager at Ardian, opened with context for sustainability within the global market at large. She said, “Sustainability has shifted from a reporting obligation to a driver of revenue, operational resilience, cost reduction and enterprise value.” A strong strategy can help companies win tenders, for example, as many clients now need to reduce the scope 3 emissions coming from their suppliers. 

Roundtable: Prioritizing sustainability to drive operational value

Moderated by Tamara Krzisch, Sustainability Director at Ardian, the roundtable brought together Paul-François Cossa, CEO of Inula Group; Mathieu Parfait, CSR Director of DIAM; Alexis Manet, Managing Director in Ardian's Buyout team; and Clément Marty, Head of Value Creation for Ardian Expansion.

Paul-François Cossa described Inula's mission to provide natural health solutions for everyday life. Its sustainability approach rests on three pillars: improving health and life, acting for nature and sharing expertise. Inula's sustainability-linked loan rewards progress on its roadmap with a lower cost of debt, and reducing plastic in packaging has cut costs. Cossa stressed the importance of sustainability in recruitment. He explained that candidates increasingly question the depth of a company's sustainability roadmap “My advice for the sustainability leaders in the room would be to ensure your roadmap is part of the business strategy of your company," Cossa said. "It's not the cherry on the cake, it's the cake.”

DIAM creates shopfitting and visual merchandising solutions for beauty and luxury retailers, many of which have made significant public sustainability commitments. Around 80% of DIAM's sales are made to clients committed to Science Based Targets. Mathieu Parfait explained that the company initially lacked the data to prove its ESG efforts. He emphasized the importance of quantifying goals with a clear baseline and target. “It's important to target the areas that need improvement and then demonstrate that we're heading in the right direction,” Parfait said. “Once we had the data, we were able to make a commitment in numbers, and that really changed my capacity to help transform the company.”

From the investor's perspective, Alexis Manet explained that Ardian does not invest only in sustainability defenders. Where the ambition and alignment exist, Ardian's role is to help companies improve sustainability performance by the time of exit. He added that industry expectations have shifted, and that sustainability permeates every facet of the business as opposed to being an isolated activity within an organization. 

Clément Marty shared the four themes he focuses on to create value in operations: top-line growth, cost inflation and supply chain resilience, talent attraction and upskilling, and AI. He compared sustainability to AI as a topic that touches every part of the business and remains complex to grasp. Companies may identify ten priorities but will realistically push two or three in the short term, so focus is essential. 

Ardian's climate strategy and the changes to SBTi frameworks

Antoine Bateman, Sustainability Director at Ardian, outlined Ardian's climate strategy for its portfolio companies and how the team supports them in achieving their goals. He laid out three pillars: decarbonization, resilience and investment in green sectors. Bateman presented Ardian’s suite of tools to help portfolio companies reach their targets – from climate risk analysis to tailored support for management and operational teams. 

Attendees also heard from guest speaker Oliver Orlik, Europe Engagement Manager at Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). He presented the main changes introduced in version 2.0 of the Corporate Net-Zero Standard and shared practical guidance for companies considering when to submit their targets. 

Using AI to advance sustainability initiatives

Arthur Garnier, IT Chief of Staff and Senior Data Scientist at Ardian, presented Ardian's approach to integrating AI into value creation. He asserted that clean data and clear processes were prerequisites to delivering impactful value with AI tools. 

Skander Kamoun, Lead Data Scientist at Ardian, presented Ardian AirCarbon as an example of what Ardian has built in-house. Launched in 2019, the proprietary platform tracks airport scope 3 emissions in near real time and allows operators to model future emissions under different scenarios. It is now deployed at five European airports serving 59 million passengers a year.

Shared takeaways between industry peers

Before ending the day, participants broke into smaller groups to discuss how these approaches apply to their own businesses. The closing remarks summarized the day’s themes as practical next steps, from building the data foundations that make progress measurable to bringing more colleagues into the sustainability conversation. 

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