CSR - How to get your foot in the door?

Your customers are asking you to have a better-established CSR management system, but you don't know where to start? This toolbox will give you all the keys you need to get started.

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I - Current situation

Before throwing yourself wholeheartedly into actions that seem relevant to you, you need to diagnose your company's level of maturity and "performance" on the subject.

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1. Create a materiality matrix

According to AA100, the benchmark standard for stakeholder consultation, materiality analysis is a methodology for determining the relevance and scope of a CSR issue.

Illustrated by the materiality matrix, its aim is to highlight the most important CSR issues for the company's internal and external stakeholders.

It can take the following form:

By highlighting the organization's priority CSR issues, it enables us to prioritize the actions to be taken and determine the indicators to be tracked in order to measure the company's progress. In this way, the materiality matrix serves as the basis for implementing a CSR strategy.

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2. Complete diagnosis with B Corp's BIA:

B Corp is one of the most highly regarded general CSR labels, but also one of the most demanding. Companies wishing to obtain this invaluable label must first complete the B impact assessment, a tool for diagnosing and evaluating their sustainability practices, and then have their answers audited by an accredited expert. Only companies achieving a final score of over 80 points are awarded B Corp status.

With just over 200 questions, the BIA covers 5 main categories: governance, employees, the community, the environment and customers. There are over 60 versions of the BIA, depending on the sector and size of the company.

By creating a free account on the B Impact assessment website, and completing the questionnaire with your organization's practices, you will be able to identify your overall level of CSR maturity (and in particular how you measure up against the 80-point mark), as well as your organization's strengths and weaknesses on these subjects.

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‍II - Progress on specific dimensions ‍

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Environment

1. Raising team awareness of environmental and climate issues

Raising employees' awareness of environmental issues results in greater commitment to the subject.

To raise your teams' awareness of these issues, you have two options:

• Create an in-house training course. We recommend that you base your training on subjects that you are familiar with, or that you find easy to explain.
• Participate in one or more recognized training courses or workshops on the subject. Here are two examples of awareness-raising workshops you can set up:‍

> The Climate Fresco :

Based on the IPCC reports, the Climate Fresco is a neutral tool designed to popularize global warming. Widely used, it has already been deployed over 1 million times since its creation.

Its strength lies in the fact that it is a game of collective intelligence, not a "top-down" training course. Its aim is not to provide solutions, but to explain the causes and consequences of global warming.

> The two-ton workshop :

This workshop takes its name from the target to be met, on a per capita basis, to comply with the Paris Agreements*, namely a maximum of two tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year and per inhabitant by 2050.

This workshop provides possible solutions to achieve this objective, and is therefore complementary to the Fresque du Climat, which focuses more on the cause-effect relationships of climate change.

> "B.A.B.A. climate and biodiversity" training:

A free course offered by the CNED, this course has been designed by experts in the field Jean Jouzel, paleo-climatologist and Valérie Masson-Delmotte, co-chair of the IPCC working group. Comprising 5 modules, each lasting between 1h and 1h30, this training course entitled the "B.A.B.A. of climate and biodiversity" will cover the definition of climate change, the causes of climate change and solutions for mitigating them, the consequences of climate change and solutions for adapting to them, biodiversity, but also collective and individual choices for achieving carbon neutrality.

2. Drawing up a greenhouse gas emissions inventory

According to Arnaud Brohé's "Les principes de base de la comptabilité carbone", "a GHG emissions inventory is a document listing and quantifying emissions for an entity (State, local authority, company or association) over a given period (generally one year) or for a product, based on an analysis of its climate impact throughout its life cycle (from design to end-of-life waste treatment). This inventory makes it possible to identify emissions and deduce the most important ones, in order to help the entity carrying it out to act on them as a matter of priority". One of its applications is the carbon footprint*.

Carbon emission inventories are divided into 3 scopes. Scope 1 and 2 concern the company's own activities. Scope 3 covers activities upstream and downstream of the value chain, i.e. the activities of suppliers and customers.

In France, a decree dated July 2022 requires all companies with over 500 employees to produce a scope 3 carbon footprint. If they fail to do so, they risk a fine of €10,000, and €20,000 in the event of a repeat offence.

Drawing up a greenhouse gas emissions inventory can be a fairly technical process. If no one has been trained in these matters, we recommend that you call on one of these service providers:

> Carbon 4 :

Carbone 4 is a leading consultancy on the subject, co-founded by Jean-Marc Jancovici, the creator of the carbon footprint. Its carbon footprints are of the highest quality, but more expensive than the market average.

Laurent Morel, partner at Carbone 4, is also an investor at Beavr!

> Plan A :

Plan A is a platform dedicated to carbon accounting and corporate decarbonization. The software includes modules for collecting data, visualizing emissions, setting reduction targets and managing reduction actions. Plan is one of Europe's leading providers of carbon accounting software.

> Intermission :

As a consulting firm, Entracte stands out for its holistic and comprehensive approach to supporting companies in their CSR initiatives. To achieve this, Entracte has more than one string to its bow:

• CSR audits
• greenhouse gas assessments
• non-financial reporting
• training and awareness-raising
• seminars

But also to participate in obtaining labels and certification.

In addition, you may be eligible forassistance from ADEME to carry out this carbon assessment.

Indeed, ADEME can finance your carbon footprint up to 80%, with a ceiling of €5,000, if you are an SME with fewer than 250 employees and annual sales not exceeding €50 million.

3. To go further, understand Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) :

According to the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), life cycle assessment is the most advanced tool for global, multi-criteria evaluation of environmental impacts. This standardized method makes it possible to measure the quantifiable effects of products or services on the environment.

As the name suggests, it focuses on assessing the entire life cycle, from resource extraction to product or service disposal. LCA quantifies not only greenhouse gas emissions, but also energy consumption, water use and other environmental impacts. It enables us to identify the most problematic stages and guide decisions towards more sustainable solutions.

4. Answer the CDP questionnaire

Founded in 2000, the Carbon Disclosure Project is an international non-profit organization that acts as a global system for reporting the environmental performance of companies, local authorities and public authorities.

It measures impacts on climate, water and forests. Organizations are free to disclose their environmental strategy and respond to CDP questionnaires, reporting in particular on their greenhouse gas emissions, the implementation of measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and employee awareness of climate risks.

Answering the CDP questionnaire will give you structure in the way you approach the management of your organization's GHG emissions, and will also enable you to identify any gaps or areas for improvement.

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Social

1. Raising awareness of diversity, equity and inclusion issues (fresco)

As with raising awareness of environmental issues, the aim is not only to train them but also to get them more involved in these issues.

Once again, you have two options:

• Create your own in-house training. On cognitive biases in stereotyping, for example.
• Take an external training course such as :
• The MOOC "Integrating disability into your company over the long term": this 4-part e-learning course covers prejudices about disability, legal obligations in terms of disability, recruiting and integrating a disabled worker, and ways of supporting an employee facing health problems in the workplace.
• Diversity fresco: this collaborative workshop raises awareness of discrimination and the cognitive biases that can exist within an organization,

It's also possible to create your own in-house training course on topics such as the role of cognitive bias in stereotyping.

‍2. Set up a satisfaction survey system

Setting up a satisfaction survey system may seem a bit clumsy, but it has many advantages.

In fact, according to a study by the Gallup organization, companies that measure employee satisfaction are 21% more productive on average than those that do not.

What's more, implementing a satisfaction survey leads to higher employee engagement - around 18% higher, according to a study by Aon Hewitt. Moreover, ensuring employee satisfaction inevitably leads to greater talent retention, and therefore lower recruitment costs. Last but not least, the implementation of an employee satisfaction survey reduces absenteeism and increases customer satisfaction.

Here are a few examples of solutions that can help you conduct satisfaction surveys within your company:

• Peakon
• Lattice
• Leapsome

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Ethics

1. Map the ethical risks facing the company‍

The aim of ethical risk mapping is to highlight the main ethical risks to which an organization is, or may be, exposed.

To draw up this map, the organization must first draw up a list of actual or potential risks, then assess them along two axes:

• the potential impact on the organization if the risk materializes
• the probability of this happening

Here's a matrix you can use to measure the intensity of your CSR challenges:

Mapping enables better management of ethical risks, as it clearly summarizes and prioritizes the risks a company may face. It thus enables an organization to better orient its strategy in full knowledge of reality.

It's also an effective communication tool, both internally and externally, helping to increase stakeholder confidence.

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III - Formalizing your approach

While taking action is an absolute priority, it's also important to formalize your approach and strategy to sustainability. This will enable you to define a clear framework, set objectives, and put in place processes to ensure that your company makes continuous progress on these issues.

Here are three things you can do to structure your approach.

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1. Write your policies

Generally defined as the set of guidelines chosen by a company to conduct its business, a policy aims to highlight an organization's commitments and principles in relation to a given subject.

A complete policy consists of the following elements:

• company background on the subject
• organization principles
• qualitative commitments and quantitative targets
• the systems put in place to achieve its objectives
• governance and review mechanisms

To find out more, here's a guide to creating an environmental policy. Although specific, certain general principles can be applied to any type of policy.

2. Select indicators and set up reporting

To be sure you're making progress, it's essential to measure. Indicators need to be defined for this purpose.

To find out more, we've written a guide to the subject. In this guide, we offer you a selection of 100 indicators to help you see things more clearly.

3. Communicating without greenwashing

According to ADEME, greenwashing refers to "allegations that can mislead the public about the real ecological quality of a product or service, or about the reality of an organization's sustainable development approach, regardless of how they are disseminated".

At Beavr, we recommend :

• communicate on concrete, specific figures
• use high-quality, verified data
• focus on transparency
• if in doubt, wait and analyze data

To find out more, here's an article dedicated to the subject.