Beyond theory: the applicability of a durability index in Canada

In her third year of a bachelor's degree in international studies at the Université de Montréal Julie-Christine got hooked on environmental policies, which led her to a master's degree in applied political studies - environmental pathway - at the Université de Sherbrooke. During her master's degree, she was part of the Université de Sherbrooke's student delegation to COP25, which allowed her to become familiar with international climate negotiations and to grasp the importance of citizen pressure on governments.

It was the link between scientific research and activism that led Julie-Christine to join Équiterre. She completed her first internship in the fall of 2020 within the mobility team, before staying on as a part-time research assistant. In the summer of 2021, still at Équiterre, she began her final master's internship, on source reduction and circular economy issues. In July 2021, she took on the role of full-time Research Advisor, before being promoted to the position of Project Manager, Source Reduction in May 2023.

Marc Journeault is head of the Centre de recherche en Comptabilité et Développement Durable (CerCeDD), co-director of Mouvement Entreprises Vertes Québec (MEVQ) and co-holder of the Réseau de Recherche en Économie Circulaire du Québec (RRECQ). His expertise covers strategy, sustainable development, green accounting and the circular economy. His research projects aim to demonstrate the environmental, social and economic impacts of adopting an organizational and territorial approach to sustainable development and the circular economy.
Adopting a systemic approach, Professor Journeault's research projects also focus on the tools and regulatory frameworks that foster a transition to a more sustainable and circular economy. Among these, several have focused on the tools and regulatory frameworks associated with the durability and reparability of goods.

Méralie Murray-Hall is an anthropologist with Humain Humain, a consulting firm specializing in the social sciences, and uses proven and sensitive qualitative methodologies, notably ethnography, to deepen understanding of people's behaviors and tacit knowledge in a wide variety of social contexts. As part of this study, she and her colleague Francis Therrien co-directed the portion of the qualitative study that interviewed 25 consumers across Canada, with a view to documenting the applicability of a durability index and its potential influence on purchasing behavior.