Contributing to the preservation and sustainable management of oceans, seas and marine resources
In 2025, 32% of Heppner‘s financial sponsorship went to supporting projects that seek to preserve aquatic resources and ecosystems, through two major partnerships at Group level but also through several locally-supported initiatives, particularly by our branches in Southeast France.
As the first year of a three-year partnership between Surfrider Foundation Europe and Heppner, 2025 was devoted to raising employee awareness of the issues addressed by the NGO, which has been working for nearly 30 years to protect and restore the oceans and preserve the coastlines and their users.
This action consisted of an interactive MasterClass, offered to all of the Group’s employees, in French and English. Entitled “ONE HEALTH“, the two awareness-raising sessions organised by the NGO focused on the links between human health and ocean health, echoing Heppner’s 2025 QVCT (Quality of Life and Working Conditions) Weeks launched at the same time, centred this year on mental health.
These sessions provided an opportunity for employees to reflect on the essential role played by “blue spaces” in climate regulation and our physical and mental well-being, the threats to water quality (plastic, chemical and biological pollution), and above all to explore specific avenues for taking action – individually and collectively – to preserve this vital resource.
Support for the European Water & Sustainability Chair led by UNISTRA
Through a 3-year Group Partnership Agreement (2025-2027), Heppner undertakes to provide financial support for the European Water & Sustainability Chair, led by the University of Strasbourg and the University Hospitals of Strasbourg Foundation.
The Water & Sustainability Chair seeks to imagine and test new solutions to address water-related challenges: urban water management, ecosystem resilience, equitable access, or food and energy security.
Officially inaugurated on 28 February 2025 at the European Doctoral College in Strasbourg, the Water and Sustainability Chair embodies the determination of public and private partners to address together one of the greatest challenges of our century: sustainable water management.
Our Southeast branches as partners of the Fondation de la Mer
As part of the Group’s undertakings, the Heppner branches in Southeast France are providing financial support to the Fondation de la Mere, which has been working for over 10 years to protect the oceans.
In 2025, Heppner’s Southeast branches supported two projects:
- a study intended to deepen knowledge of the Risso’s dolphin populations, currently classified as “endangered” by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature);
- a project led by the French Mediterranean Turtle Network (RTMMF) targeting the preservation of turtles, classified as “vulnerable” by the IUCN.
Branches committed to the preservation of terrestrial ecosystems
An ongoing commitment rooted in the territories
To foster biodiversity as close as possible to our branches:
- 35 beehives installed across our sites in France;
- an eco-grazing initiative implemented at the Metz branch;
- a collaborative vegetable garden developed on the Saint-Priest site, etc.
These initiatives help bring employees together while raising their awareness of the critical issues related to the preservation of terrestrial ecosystems.
Protecting Provence‘s bees with the ADAP
For the past 3 years, Heppner has also been supporting the ADAP (Association for the Protection of Bees in Provence), which works to preserve the Apis mellifera bee through educational actions and promoting knowledge of beekeeping practices related to the protection of the pollinators‘ natural environment. Thus, the Heppner branches in Southeast France have sponsored 28 hives, directly contributing to the preservation of bee populations.
The Treely Challenge with SAFRAM: walking to plant trees
For the second year running, Heppner has proposed the Treely Challenge to the employees at its SAFRAM branches.
From 18 to 29 September 2025, as part of European Sustainable Development Week, employees could use their steps to promote reforestation through the Treely app. With every 15,000 steps, a tree was planted in Tanzania in partnership with the NGO Changamoto Youth.
While employees had fun and kept fit with this collective initiative, 333 trees were planted!
