This week, dive into the heart of CSR news. From the historic election of Claudia Sheinbaum, former member of the IPCC, to the presidency of Mexico, to the French legislative battle against eternal pollutants, through the challenges of the CSRD for businesses and the controversies on carbon credits, each event illustrates the crucial issues of our time.
Learn how initiatives and debates are shaping a more sustainable and inclusive future, influencing policies, economies, and societies across the globe.
An ex-member of the IPCC elected president of Mexico!
Former IPCC scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum is the first woman elected president of Mexico. She won with a 30% lead over her rival, with an ecological, social and inclusive program. It opens the perspective of Mexican political renewal.
She has been a member of the IPCC since 2007, and as such is expert on climate issues. In particular, a specialist in energy issues and the mitigation of the climate crisis, these are themes that she has been dealing with for many years.
His program includes An increase in the minimum wage and a marked development of access to education. In addition, it promotes egalitarian policies that aim to work for women's safety via dedicated budgets.
What job to manage the CSRD?
While the first reports are being prepared to be published next year, the countdown is accelerating for companies affected by CSRD. A question then arises: what are the jobs that should take care of this file? CSR managers? financial management? communicators?
In other words: Who should manage the materiality of extra-financial issues? Arbitrating on this subject already means expressing a certain point of view on the strategic goals of the company.
In large companies, CSR managers are the ones who have historically been in charge. However, CSRD involves accounting issues that involve financial services. So we observe the formation of a “CSR and finance binomial”. In the end, the communicators take over the fruits of this work.
“Junk” carbon credits benefit greenwashing
The NGO Corporate Accountability warned about a widespread practice among major international players such as Disney, Volkswagen, or even Air France: the purchase of carbon credits to finance “potentially worthless” projects.
In other words, the mechanism allowing companies to offset their emissions by financing responsible projects would prove to be ineffective. Even worse, it would also be In the service of greenwashing of these groups, who also communicate about their alleged ecological actions.
“These trends are extremely worrying”, says Rachel Rose Jackson, manager at the NGO, about a device that weighs nearly 2 billion dollars worldwide.
The State invites CSR in the tourism economy
Since the beginning of the 2000s, CSR labels have existed in the tourism sector. The Directorate-General for Enterprises (DGE) has just made them state labels. So, “Tourism Quality” and “Tourism and Handicap” become State trademarks registered in the Tourism Code.
From now on, the “tourism and disability” label will be managed by Atout France, which intends to accentuate its importance and impact on actors in the sector. The aim is to valorize inclusive actions as well as tourism professionals who are committed to making their services accessible to all.
“Tourism quality” becomes “Destination excellence”, and renews its criteria in terms of sustainable development. It will require a concrete commitment to reduce the environmental impact of tourist activities.
47 venture capital funds want to clarify the concept of impact
The United For Impact movement brings together 47 so-called “impact” funds, which urge Europe to provide“regulatory adjustments” around the definition of impact. According to them, the SFDR (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation) certainly makes it possible to measure ESG performances, but not to attest to the positive nature of the CSR impact of companies.
In other words, this movement wants to put an end to the confusion that exists between accounting and sustainable approaches, which are treated in the same way by article 9 of the SFDR: “Article 9 is ESG, not impact. The regulation pushes to postpone the environmental policy of participations, but nothing says that their activity is producing a positive impact, creating confusion between impact funds and ESG funds.”
Unions and employers divided over the duty of vigilance
Adopted on 24 May last by the Council of the EU, The duty of vigilance forces companies to ensure their social and environmental impact up and down the value chain. It concerns companies that employ more than 1000 people and have a global turnover of more than 450 million euros.
Its adoption is divisive. The CFDT, for example, welcomes the more demanding European extension of the duty of vigilance, which “recognizes the essential role of trade unions in drawing up the vigilance plan”. On the other hand, Medef is critical of a situation that would cause a harmful “distortion of competition” for European companies.
Emmanuel Daoud, a lawyer specializing in CSR litigation, says about this directive that it “guides towards the adoption of a sustainable model”, making one step ahead of tomorrow's standard.
The climate crisis will be an economic crisis
A study recently published by the National Bureau of Economic concludes that the cost of inaction will be much more expensive than expected. According to them, an increase of 2 °C would lead to a fall in global GDP of the order of 50%. These billions lost will have a direct impact on the standard of living of individuals, “equivalent to that observed at the peak of the Great Depression” in 1929.
This challenges the widespread idea that climate has no effect on economic performance. Taking into account the consequences of extreme climate events at the global level changes the situation, and allows a systemic projection of the effects of climate change on the global economy.
Such a reversal of the “cost-benefit ratio of the fight against climate change” may change the strategy of major international groups, which will see decarbonization as a long-term investment.
Impact 40/120, the sustainable economic performance index
Impact 40/120 is an index recently launched by Impact France in March 2024. French, it rewards the “most promising” companies that stand out for their CSR commitments. According to the director of Impact France Caroline Neyron, he “values companies that have a positive impact on the environment or on society”.
The underlying idea is to shift the focus on entrepreneurial performance, by not only measuring financial valuation. The criterion for comparing companies used is that of “the positive impact generated”.
Finally, the concept of innovation is not techno-centric, since the index also values social innovation or even low-tech innovation.
The Senate votes to ban eternal pollutants
A new legislative step has been taken by the text of law to restrict the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). These chemical compounds highly toxic and persistent present in many everyday products are widely used by industries.
The text aims to establish a polluter pays tax, up to €100 per 100g. However, the “pot lobby”, led by Seb, has managed to evade these obligations, which now almost only concern cosmetics and textiles.
From now on, the text must be voted on as it stands by the National Assembly in order to be promulgated, final stage of a political battle scheduled for September.
Sustainable finance: Enerfip passes the 500 million mark
The responsible and participatory financing platform that is Enerfip has been working since 2014 to promote sustainable projects. With the energy transition as the main investment point, it has crossed the 500 million euros mark.
To date, these are 50,000 people funding 438 projects (wind, photovoltaic, hydroelectric...) through which the carbon impact of investments is “divided by 10” according to Enerfip.
In addition to energies, soft mobility or solutions linked to ecological transition are also found in the projects carried out by the initiative. These “have made it possible to reduce CO2 emissions by 300,000 tons”, says the platform.
The sources
Novethic “Claudia Sheinbaum, former IPCC scientist, and first female president of Mexico”
Novethic “CSR, finance, communication: who to manage CSRD in companies?”
Sustainable news “Major global companies are buying carbon credits that are probably worthless”
Carenews “The “Tourism Quality” and “Tourism and Disability” labels become state labels”
Les Echos “European venture capital funds call for clarification of the concept of impact”
Le Monde “A European directive reinforces the duty of vigilance of companies”
Sustainable news “Impact 40/120: “It is possible to reconcile economic performance and positive impact”
Green “The Senate votes to ban PFAS in textiles and cosmetics: “now, things will accelerate””
Carenews “The Enerfip responsible investment platform exceeds 500 million euros raised”
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