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Between regulatory innovations, climate challenges and social opportunities, businesses and institutions are at the center of transformations for a sustainable future. Every week, we share with you the 10 CSR news that you should not miss.
Executive compensation: increasing consideration of climate goals
IFA, Chapter Zero France and Ethics & Boards have published the fourth edition of their compensation barometer. The latter makes it possible to draw conclusions on changes in the consideration of climate in the variable remuneration of top business managers.
Thus, we learn that 92% of SBF120 companies have included social and environmental criteria in the remuneration of their CEOs. A figure that has increased by 12% since 2022. The priority indicator selected by businesses was GHG emissions, mobilized by 58 of them.
However, the proportion linked to the achievement of these CSR objectives represents only 7.1% on average of the share of variable remuneration for managers. Although these figures are encouraging, these performances remain “perfect”.
Mental load: 25% of women held back in their careers
The News RSE agency commissioned a study from IFOP, in which 25% of respondents say they “have reduced their career ambitions” to support the accumulation of professional, personal and domestic responsibilities. Thus, the mental load does not only concern household life and significantly influences career pursuit.
71% say they bear a significant mental load, 53% that it has a negative influence on their professional performance, and 25% that they have already “given up opportunities” in order not to be overloaded.
Thus, a “recognition of invisible efforts” is required. To do this, it is necessary to support inclusive policies to take these efforts into account in the performance evaluation criteria, or to promote the work/life balance of these employees.
The European right continues its attacks against the Green Deal
After the CSRD and the CSDDD, the European right is continuing its campaign to unravel the European Green Deal and is tackling the ban on the sale of combustion vehicles in 2035. In other words, they are campaigning to reduce the climate obligations that automotive manufacturers will have to comply with.
Indeed, the EPP (European People's Party), together with European car lobbies, would like to postpone or amend the text. While the first lobby in the sector, the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA), has changed its position and criticises the EU for not sufficiently supporting the automotive energy transition, the association of experts Transport & Environment says that the situation is more due to the strategic choice of manufacturers to “favour heavy and expensive electric vehicles”, rather than affordable vehicles.
300 billion: the cost of natural disasters in 2024
Extreme weather events and natural disasters have cost nearly 300 billion euros this year, argues a report by the Swiss Reinsurance Company. Compared to the previous 10 years, this figure is up by 26%. Insurance companies, in particular, insured nearly 130 billion in losses this year.
Hurricanes, storms, torrential rains, floods, etc., these disasters are gaining in frequency and intensity “under the effect of the climate crisis”. Europe is no exception to these conclusions and climate phenomena would have cost 10 billion euros there in 2024.
The report states that global economies are in an “adaptation deficit”, and that our ways of occupying spaces tend to increase the severity of disasters. The fear of an insurance crisis is being felt in some quarters, which highlight the risk of exploding costs.
How is fast fashion threatening the textile sector?
The association Les Amis de la Terre - France has published a report highlighting the harmful economic influence of fast-fashion on the French textile sector, which is already quite in a bad shape. Indeed, its offshoring practices, the use of synthetic raw materials and aggressive marketing are hurting national businesses.
The association even goes so far as to say that fast-fashion is “surfing the textile crisis”, in an astonishing paradox: overproduction and overconsumption are redoubling the sector's difficulties.
Thus, while the consumption of clothing has continued to increase (3.3 billion products sold in 2022), the “average duration of use” of these products has been halved since 2000. Paradoxically, the French sector experienced a deficit of 15.9 billion euros in 2022. The association therefore proposes a binding legislative framework to protect the sector.
Tourism pollution is constantly increasing
Global tourism is responsible for 8.8% of global GHG emissions in 2019. The increase in emissions linked to tourism has increased by +3.5% per year, twice as much as those of the global economy.
Thus, the very strong economic growth of the tourism sector goes hand in hand with a very strong growth in its carbon impact (5.2 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2019). American tourists represent the largest share of these emissions (19%), followed by Chinese tourists (15%) and Indian tourists (6%).
To adapt to the requirements of the Paris Agreements, the study affirms that a reduction in tourist volume would be an unfair and inequitable solution depending on the country, and that the focus should be on modes of transport, in particular the aviation sector.
2024 exceeds the threshold of 1.5°C of warming
The climate change service (C3S) of the European Copernicus Observatory announced as a “sure fact” that 2024 would be the hottest year in the history of recordings. Notable fact compared to the records of recent years: the threshold of 1.5°C of warming exceeded compared to the pre-industrial era (1850-1900).
If this limit of 1.5°C is remarkable, it is because it corresponds in particular to the most ambitious objective of the Paris Agreements. However, it should be borne in mind that in order to definitively consider the threshold crossed, this trend must be observed over the long term over at least twenty years.
Thus, the IPCC estimates that the 1.5°C mark will be exceeded between 2030 and 2035 in light of current trends, regardless of the changes in our GHG emissions.
Agreement reached for Mercosur: double threat for the climate and French farmers
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that a free trade agreement between the countries of the EU and those of Mercosur had been reached after negotiations.
However, some Member States (including France), environmental associations and a large part of the agricultural sector have expressed their opposition to the project.
Thus, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina should see their conditions for importing agricultural products into Europe facilitated, without customs fees. In return, Europe intends to intensify its industrial exports of manufactured products.
Greenpeace speaks of this text, which must always be voted on to enter into force, as an “environmental, social and human disaster”.
The 2030 World Cup will take place on 3 continents
FIFA, after a meeting bringing together the 211 members of the federation, announced that the 2030 men's football World Cup would be held on three continents: between the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), Morocco and Portugal, Morocco and South America, Morocco and South America (where three matches will take place).
This global anniversary, taking place 100 years after the first edition in 1930, was already raising questions about its environmental impact. Indeed, it will require numerous air travel by fans between the three continents.
In addition, FIFA is also under fire for its designation of Saudi Arabia as the host country and organizer of the 2034 World Cup. Indeed, many observers point out that this decision was motivated in disregard of human rights, in favor of an ultraconservative kingdom in this area.
Cost of the drought: 300 billion euros
While COP16 on desertification is being held in Riyadh, a report published by the United Nations alerts on the multiple sources of risks for which droughts are responsible.
The report highlights the damage to health, the environment and the economy of this phenomenon, which grew by 30% compared to the year 2000.
The intensification of droughts has a dual origin, with global warming on the one hand and unsustainable management of water and soil on the other. Thus, it affects “nearly 2 billion people per year”, the vast majority of them in the least economically endowed countries.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) comes to the following conclusion: droughts are among the “most expensive and deadly” ecological risks, amounting to nearly 300 billion euros per year worldwide.
sourcing
RSE Magazine “Mental load: how it hampers the career of one in four women”
Novethic “The ban on internal combustion vehicles in Europe under threat”
Novethic “Nearly 300 billion euros in losses related to natural disasters in 2024”
Carenews “The acceleration of fast fashion threatens the French textile sector”
Sustainable news “Climate: global tourism responsible for 8.8% of greenhouse gas emissions”
Youmatter “300 billion euros per year, the cost of droughts worldwide”
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