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Businesses are increasingly encouraged to adopt a sustainable and responsible approach.
These CSR news encourage us to reflect and explore new ways of integrating social and environmental issues into our practices.
We will look at topics such as wage transparency, the challenges of greenwashing, and biodiversity loss and its economic impact on Europe. These CSR news stimulate our thinking and push us to make progress on these essential issues.
Be sustainable: be rebellious!
In an op-ed that they gave to Novethic, the 3 managers of B Lab France plead in favor of a “constructive rebellion” companies in the face of the immobile consensus of business models that do not take seriously the challenges of “human progress and the protection of living beings”.
Their first observation points to the urgent need to put an end to economic models that are solely focused on competition, the vision of short-term profit and an excessive concentration of wealth in the company.
Also, they emphasize the importance of “redefining economic success”, which must be considered in its interdependent relationships with social and ecological issues.
Finally, they affirm the need for businesses to cooperate with each other and with society.
Improving its CSR performance through pay transparency
As early as 2026, a European directive will require companies with more than 100 employees to be more transparent in terms of remuneration. However, taking action today and regardless of the size of your company is an excellent opportunity to improve the social performance of your organization.
According to an Ifop study, “8 out of 10 employees believe that wage transparency is beneficial”, and 60% of them that it improves policies to reduce inequalities.
Pay transparency allows for better pay equity between all employees. It is not only a question of making the pay scales completely visible, but also of explaining the criteria for calculating them. The first objective is to reduce gender inequalities in business.
Scope 3 is essential in the carbon balances of VSEs and SMEs
The company Carbo, specialized in carbon balances, has published a barometer on the subject, focusing on VSEs and SMEs. A survey that uses a sample of 944 small and medium-sized French companies that have recently carried out a carbon assessment.
First conclusion: 65% of respondents include scope 1, 2 and 3 in their impact measurement. That is to say, direct emissions, those related to energy but also all indirect emissions related to company activities.
In other words, more and more French companies are taking into account their environmental impact throughout their value chain. This reflects a gradual change in ways of looking at corporate social and environmental responsibility in society and on Earth.
Greenwashing, towards an improvement of practices?
The Professional Advertising Regulatory Authority (ARPP) has published its 12th “Advertising and Environment” report, which lists a large amount of data on greenwashing practices and their evolutions. Conclusion: they are down, “but it's still too much”!
Between November and December 2023, 33,080 ads were broadcast, of which 3.1% promoted an environmental argument. In this set, 65 of them (or 6.4%) are judged “non-compliant”. This figure is improving compared to 2022 and 2019.
Although greenwashing practices are on the decline, they are still “two to ten times greater” to the number of abuses identified in other advertising sectors, according to the ARPP.
Finally, the study shows that these behaviors are found at all levels, in all types of sectors and in all sizes of companies.
The very high energy bill for streaming
Arcom, Arcep and ADEME have published a study on the impact of audiovisual practices on the environment, giving an important part to the analysis of the market for streaming platforms. They are facing a complex paradox in order to meet the growing demand for sustainability from consumers.
Indeed, while they consume more and more energy, the economic model of streaming platforms is based on the retention of users' available time. In other words, to generate profits, you have to generate flow, and therefore consume a lot of energy.
The results of the study show that, without change on their part, the carbon footprint of the sector could increase by 30% by 2030. It focuses on two areas of improvement: better energy performance of electronic equipment (tablets, smartphones, etc.) and better internal management of the companies concerned.
Retro-pedaling big oil tankers on the environment
The British BP, following the giants Shell and TotalEnergies, is reviewing its climate commitments to reduce its oil and gas exploitation by 2030. In addition, its stated ambition to transition its business to renewables has been largely revised downwards.
Sources say that the purpose of these changes is to “regaining the confidence of investors” And of “bridging a valuation gap with its rivals” on the energy market. A situation that can also be explained in the light of the geopolitical uncertainties linked to the war in Ukraine.
Recently, oil majors are adopting strategies to accelerate investment in fossil fuels and hydrocarbons. Approaches that go against their initial commitments on the one hand, and on the other hand, the reduction goals set by the Paris Agreements to contain global warming to 1.5°C by the end of the century.
In Poland, Decathlon goes 100% renewable
The major French brand Decathlon will connect its 14 Polish stores to solar energy. And this in partnership with another French company: GreenYellow. Thus, this sustainable energy solution will prevent the sports equipment manufacturer from emitting 2,000 tons of Co2 per year.
This approach is based on an innovative energy solution: Photovoltaics-as-a-Service (PVaaS). This allows businesses to provide themselves with renewable energies “without mobilizing capital for the installation of equipment”.
Lasting 15 years, the contract signed by Decathlon offers it the benefits of a largely reduced carbon footprint, long-term financial savings, but also real energy independence in a country (Poland) where production is massively provided by coal.
The erosion of biodiversity threatens the European economy
The ECB has just published a report that highlights the importance of fighting the erosion of biodiversity. At the same time, the WWF recalls that the collapse of biodiversity has reached a rate of 73% over the last 50 years.
This analysis is based on the observation of the dependence of European companies on natural ecosystems. According to the ECB, around 3 million businesses in the eurozone, or 72% of them “depend critically” on biodiversity and “will face significant economic problems” in the future for this reason.
For example, the collapse of biodiversity could increase the production costs of the agricultural sector and In fine speeding up inflation. Not to mention the number of loans “granted to businesses that are critically dependent on at least one ecosystem service.”
Biodiversity has been collapsing for 50 years
The WWF has published a report whose conclusions are as clear as they are alarming: the population of wild vertebrate animals (mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, etc.) declined by 73% between 1970 and 2020. Data that should feed the discussions at the upcoming 16th World Biodiversity Conference (COP16) in Colombia.
These figures are based on the “Living Planet Index” (LPI), which assesses the abundance of populations of wild vertebrate animals every year. The report also states that around the disappearance of a species, entire ecosystems are threatened and weakened.
Finally, the report does not hesitate to highlight the risk of a “tipping point” at which climate change “feeds itself” and generates chain reactions to the effect. “often brutal and potentially irreversible”.
Pathologies linked to the management of large groups?
Winner of the “Thinking about work” prize, the sociologist and occupational clinician Thomas Périlleux gives an opinion piece to the World. His work questions the ills and pathologies linked to managerial methods in large organizations, especially when this confiscates the voice of employees.
He says that organizational mechanisms can lead some employees to act in disagreement with their values, driven by the machine, and that this causes serious damage over time.
Also, he affirms that the culture of managerial “agility” and “flexibility” tends to embellish the sometimes very violent reality of professional constraints, speaking of “sneaky violence, which takes place in low noise” when they prevent the expression of disagreements and the discomfort of employees.
The sources
Novethic “Businesses: let's be rebels, not revolutionaries”
Youmatter “Pay transparency: why and how to get involved?”
Carenews “A broad spectrum in corporate carbon balances”
Youmatter “Greenwashing: 6.4% of non-compliant advertising”
RSE Magazine “Energy: digital technology consumes more and more”
Novethic “BP, TotalEnergies, Shell: back to fossils”
RSE Magazine “In Poland, Decathlon will supply its stores with 100% solar energy”
Novethic “COP16:72% of European businesses are dependent on biodiversity”
Le Monde “Wild vertebrate populations have declined by 73% in fifty years”
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