The episode in detail
Ekodev, 12 years of CSR and sustainable mobility consulting
Timothée Quellard co-founded Ekodev in 2009 with two partners. An engineer by training, he left industrial consulting to support businesses on their CSR and sustainable mobility policy. The trigger: realising that mobility accounts for a third of an individual’s carbon footprint, and that his 50,000 km a year in a company car were hard to justify. Since then, the bike has become his main mode of transport. Eleven kilometres, 30 minutes, every day. For Timothée, a CSR consultant’s legitimacy also rests on his own consistency between what he says and what he does.
“When I did the maths, 120 grams of CO2 per kilometre, multiplied by 50,000, I told myself: I have to change.”
The mobility plan, a practical tool for business
Ekodev’s core mobility work is built on employer mobility plans. The approach is methodical: geolocate employees’ homes, calculate distances, identify barriers and expectations through qualitative surveys, then cross-reference this data to set priorities. The results are often telling. Across the last ten assignments in Île-de-France, covering more than 4,500 employees, 26 to 27% were driving alone less than 5 km to get to work. A potential shift to the bike that alone justifies rolling out company bikes, parking infrastructure and financial incentives.
“27% of employees drive less than 5 km to get to work. This potential shift to the bike is huge.”
The weather argument dismantled by the numbers
Timothée does not deny the weather constraints. He puts them in perspective with data. Météo France calculated the probability of a cyclist getting completely soaked on their commute. The worst case: Brest, in January, with a 20% risk. In other words, even in the most unfavourable scenario, a bike commuter has an 80% chance of staying dry. The rest comes down to equipment: a waterproof jacket, rain trousers, mountain gloves, a beanie. The better equipped you are, the less weather is a barrier. And the benefit is immediate: arriving at the office awake and refreshed, rather than frustrated by traffic jams or a packed metro.
“The worst case is Brest in January. Even then, I have an 80% chance of not getting wet.”
Supporting change without imposing it
At Ekodev, bike commuting is not imposed, it is supported. The company has set up a sustainable mobility allowance at rates above the legal minimum, offers to help fund bike purchases, and provides showers and lockers on site. Timothée applies the same logic to his clients: the theory of small steps. Some switch within 24 hours, others take three years. The key is to create the right conditions without forcing anything. He notes that Covid accelerated the momentum: before the pandemic, the bike was a topic set aside in mobility plans. Since then, it has been at the centre of discussions.
“Behaviour change needs support. For some, it takes 24 hours. For others, three years. You have to accept that.”
Greenwashing or sincerity: the CSR consultant’s tightrope
Timothée does not refuse to work with businesses whose models are high emitters. He works with people, not with logos. His condition: sensing sincerity in the approach. He also insists on a say over external communications, to stop a small project being oversold as a shop window. His conclusion after 12 years: corporate CSR officers are almost always dedicated, campaigning people. Greenwashing more often comes from ignorance and clumsiness than from a deliberate intent to manipulate. Reaching out to these players, imperfect as they are, moves the cause forward more than staying among the already convinced.
“I’d rather convince people who throw tomatoes at me at first than be surrounded by activists like me.”
Education, infrastructure, civility: the three levers of bike commuting
For Timothée, developing bike commuting rests on three strands. The first is education, from school and throughout life: learning to ride, understanding the highway code from a bike’s perspective, feeling entitled to a place in public space. The second is infrastructure: cycle tracks, secure parking, showers at work. The third is mutual civility between cyclists, pedestrians and drivers. The influx of new cyclists after Covid made this last point more visible. Timothée points out that the bike’s freedom must not be confused with impunity: respecting others is the condition for that freedom to last.
