23 CSR actions for a more sustainable company

In this article, we share 23 CSR actions you can implement to make your company more sustainable and responsible.

We’ll explore these actions through the four main pillars of CSR: environment, social, ethics, and responsible purchasing.

These 23 practical initiatives will help you embed CSR principles into your overall strategy.

Of course, the right actions depend on your industry, company size, maturity, and the sustainability challenges you face. Still, certain initiatives are essential for any organisation looking to launch or strengthen its CSR journey — like the ones you’ll discover below.

You’ll find examples such as conducting a carbon-footprint assessment, training employees on environmental issues, creating an occupational-risk prevention plan, and more.

All of these actions will help you roll out an effective CSR strategy that engages employees and suppliers, improves quality of life at work, and delivers a positive impact on both society and the planet.

What is CSR?

CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) refers to a company’s commitment to integrating social, environmental, and economic concerns into its daily operations. Beyond profit, businesses act responsibly by considering the effects of their decisions on society and the environment. In practice, this can mean reducing carbon emissions, protecting workers’ rights, or supporting local initiatives.

The main pillars of a CSR strategy are: environmental responsibility, social responsibility, ethics, and responsible purchasing.

CSR Actions under the Environmental Pillar

Depending on your industry, company size, and specific context, the environmental actions you can take are nearly endless.
In this section, we present six concrete CSR actions under the environmental pillar that most companies can implement to better manage their impact.

1. Conduct a Carbon Footprint Assessment

One of the first environmental actions to take is conducting your company’s carbon footprint assessment.
This process helps identify your main sources of greenhouse gas emissions and design strategies to reduce them.
By integrating this analysis, your company takes a responsible step toward reducing its carbon footprint and contributing to a more sustainable future.

Several specialised organisations can support you with this process — for example, Sami, Carbo, Plan A, GCI, or Greenly.

2. Partner with a Waste Recovery and Recycling Provider

If your company struggles to manage waste properly, consider partnering with a service provider specialised in waste recovery, sorting, and recycling — such as Les Joyeux Recycleurs.

This provider can quantify the amount of waste generated, enabling you to use that data in your CSR reporting.
This action fits into a broader sustainable development strategy that aims to minimise your environmental footprint.
By taking this step, your organisation actively contributes to the circular economy and encourages material reuse.

3. Implement an Internal Waste-Management Procedure

Still on the topic of waste, one of the easiest ways to raise employee awareness about waste management is to create a formal procedure.

A waste-management procedure defines the rules and practices for collecting, sorting, storing, treating, and disposing of company waste.
By training employees on these CSR practices, the organisation strengthens its commitment to a more sustainable environment.

4. Reduce Electricity Consumption

An environmental action that helps reduce both your impact and your costs is lowering electricity consumption.

You can achieve this through simple measures such as installing LED lighting, motion sensors, and automatic shut-off systems for equipment and lights.
This action directly reduces energy costs and carbon emissions.

By adopting these technologies, the company commits to a CSR strategy that promotes a more efficient use of resources.

5. Raise Employee Awareness about Responsible Water Use

After electricity, improving how you consume water is another strong environmental CSR action.

Encourage employees to use water responsibly and promote sustainable habits throughout the workplace.
This responsible approach helps preserve water resources and reduces costs linked to water consumption.

6. Switch to a Renewable-Energy Supplier

To make an even greater impact on the environmental pillar, consider switching to a renewable-energy supplier.

By choosing clean energy, your company reduces its environmental footprint and supports the energy transition.
Alternatively, you can select a traditional energy provider that includes a significant portion of renewable sources in its supply mix.

CSR Actions under the Social Pillar

When it comes to the social pillar of CSR, many actions can be implemented to improve employees’ quality of life at work.
Here are six that we consider essential to building an impactful CSR strategy focused on people.

1. Conduct an Employee Satisfaction Survey

Struggling to understand how your employees feel within the organisation?
Running an employee satisfaction survey is an effective way to gauge their well-being and perception of working conditions.

By collecting feedback, the company can identify areas for improvement and strengthen its workplace culture.
This approach fosters a positive environment, reinforces engagement, and shows that management values employees’ opinions.

The next step is to run this survey annually to track progress and measure the impact of implemented actions.

2. Train Employees to Develop New Skills

Want to energise your organisation? Provide opportunities for employees to develop new skills — a step that enriches their professional journey.
You can choose training programmes that best fit your business activities and future needs.

This approach not only improves employability but also helps the company adapt to market changes.
By investing in learning and development, you demonstrate a genuine commitment to employees’ personal and professional growth — fostering a dynamic and inclusive work environment.

3. Organise Annual Performance and Career Reviews

To build trust and give employees a voice, consider implementing annual one-on-one reviews to discuss career plans and gather constructive feedback.

These conversations help managers better understand individual aspirations and align them with company objectives.
Ideally, each meeting should follow a clear structure that allows both parties to provide thoughtful input — on management practices, performance, and professional development.

Together, they can define a personalised career plan within the organisation.
This practice strengthens internal communication and creates a workplace where employees feel valued and heard.

4. Complete a Workplace Health and Safety Risk Assessment (DUERP)

Have you heard of the “Document Unique d’Évaluation des Risques Professionnels” (DUERP)?
It’s a mandatory document for all French companies as soon as they hire their first employee.

The DUERP identifies and assesses occupational health and safety risks.
Implementing it helps protect employees, improve working conditions, and reduce workplace accidents.

By carrying out this assessment, the company demonstrates its commitment to employee well-being and ensures a safer working environment.

5. Measure Gender Equality with the Professional Equality Index

In France, all companies with more than 50 employees are required to publish the Index Égapro, which measures gender equality.
It assesses pay gaps, promotion and raise rates, and the representation of women in top management.

Even if your company isn’t legally required to publish this index, we recommend conducting an internal social audit to identify existing equity issues.
This step helps you build a fairer and more inclusive organisation.

6. Establish a Recruitment Procedure to Mitigate Bias

Developed by psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, the concept of cognitive bias describes the mental shortcuts that influence how we make decisions or form judgments.
One of the most common is the confirmation bias — our natural tendency to focus on information that supports our existing beliefs and ignore evidence that challenges them.

There are over 200 known cognitive biases, many of which can unconsciously reinforce unfounded racial or gender stereotypes.

You can explore this topic further through Daniel Kahneman’s book “Thinking, Fast and Slow”, or take a dedicated training course on bias awareness.
Addressing these biases in your hiring process promotes diversity, fairness, and equal opportunity.

CSR Actions under the Ethics Pillar

Business ethics — or professional ethics — examines the moral principles and ethical challenges that can arise in a business environment.

CSR actions under this pillar help companies better understand their exposure to risks such as corruption, fraud, anti-competitive practices, influence, and confidentiality breaches.
Here are the six ethical CSR actions we recommend for your organisation.

1. Train Employees on Ethical Issues

Training employees on ethical issues such as corruption, fraud, and money laundering is essential to raising awareness of responsible business practices.
This initiative helps employees recognise ethical risks that are often overlooked by the general public and strengthens a culture of integrity within the company.

2. Conduct an IT Security Audit

Performing an IT audit helps companies assess the strength of their IT infrastructure and identify potential risks such as system intrusions or data breaches.

This process highlights vulnerabilities and ensures data protection in line with cybersecurity best practices.
By taking this step, your company demonstrates its commitment to ethical responsibility and the protection of sensitive information — building trust among stakeholders.

3. Partner with a Cybersecurity Provider

Once an IT audit has been completed, you can take things further by partnering with a specialised cybersecurity provider to safeguard company data against potential threats.

This ensures compliance with security standards and protection of confidential information.
Implementing this CSR action addresses ethical responsibilities toward employees and society by ensuring that all data is handled securely and responsibly.

4. Map Ethical Risks

Developing an ethical risk map helps identify all areas of your organisation — operations, suppliers, clients, transactions, etc. — that could be exposed to ethical risks.
This mapping exercise evaluates the likelihood of each risk and defines preventive measures to mitigate them.

Understanding your company’s ethical challenges enables you to anticipate issues more effectively and strengthen your governance practices.
Through this action, your organisation demonstrates a strong commitment to ethical management — a cornerstone of any sound CSR strategy.

5. Verify the Legal Information of New Partners

Verifying the legal information of each new supplier or client is a fundamental step to ensure the compliance and integrity of your business partners.

This CSR action helps minimise risks associated with commercial relationships and reinforces your company’s credibility.
Such vigilance is key to maintaining high ethical standards across all business activities.

6. Establish an Ethical Alert Procedure

Setting up an ethical alert system helps companies identify potential red flags, designate a compliance officer, and ensure confidentiality of reports while upholding the principle of non-retaliation.

Examples of alerts include fraud, corruption, money laundering, data breaches, or harassment.
This CSR initiative fosters a climate of trust within the organisation, where employees feel safe reporting inappropriate behaviour.

CSR Actions under the Responsible Purchasing Pillar

CSR actions under the responsible purchasing pillar help companies gain a better understanding of their value chain and ensure their commitments align with sustainable and responsible practices.

1. Send a CSR Questionnaire to Your Strategic Suppliers

A key element of a strong CSR strategy is engaging your value chain on sustainability issues.
To begin, you can send a questionnaire to your suppliers by following these main steps:

• Build your questionnaire with questions that assess their CSR practices.
• Share it with your strategic suppliers.
• Collect the data and, if relevant, prioritise suppliers based on their CSR performance.

This process helps you understand how your suppliers’ practices align with your company values and engage them in your responsible purchasing strategy.
By knowing your suppliers’ CSR maturity, you can make more informed sourcing decisions and work with partners who share your commitments.

2. Create a Purchasing Risk Map

To manage risks effectively, you first need to identify them — that’s the purpose of a purchasing risk map.

Building this map helps identify your main purchasing categories, the risks associated with each, their probability level, and the preventive actions to take.
By involving stakeholders in this process, the company can better anticipate challenges related to procurement and proactively manage risks.

This initiative also helps establish a relationship of trust with suppliers.

3. Develop a Supplier Code of Conduct

To engage your suppliers in responsible and ethical practices, formalise your expectations in a Supplier Code of Conduct.

Once created, share this document with your strategic suppliers and collect their signatures.
The code serves as a reference for partners, promoting alignment with your company’s CSR values.

By involving suppliers in this process, you strengthen mutual commitment to responsible practices and transparency — benefitting all stakeholders in the value chain.

4. Train Your Purchasing Teams

To spread responsible purchasing practices across your organisation, offer dedicated training sessions.

Training your purchasing teams on responsible procurement raises awareness about the ethical and environmental issues tied to supplier selection.
By developing these skills, buyers are better equipped to make informed decisions and integrate CSR criteria into their purchasing process.

This initiative enhances the positive impact of your procurement strategy on all stakeholders — including suppliers and the wider community.

5. Build a Responsible Purchasing Procedure

To ensure a systematic and consistent approach to supplier relations, establish a formal responsible purchasing procedure.

This procedure sets clear criteria for supplier selection and guarantees that procurement choices meet your company’s ethical and environmental standards.
By integrating this process into your CSR strategy, you demonstrate a strong commitment to sustainable purchasing, strengthening your company’s social responsibility and stakeholder impact.

Conclusion

Integrating CSR at the heart of a company’s strategy is far more than a compliance exercise — it’s a true driver of growth.

Whether through environmental, social, or ethical actions, every initiative helps improve employees’ quality of life and create a more sustainable environment for all stakeholders.

By putting CSR at the core of its operations, the company reinforces its commitment to a more responsible and sustainable future, while enhancing employee well-being and its positive impact on society.