CSR news from 02/12/2024

This week, CSR issues are at the heart of the discussions. 

Between climate challenges, social initiatives and regulatory adjustments, companies and institutions are playing a key role in the transformation towards a sustainable future. Here are the 10 highlights of the week that are reshaping the shape of CSR.

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Limiting environmental disasters costs less than repairing them

The highly prestigious scientific journal Nature has published an article corroborating an observation increasingly shared by researchers: the damage caused by the consequences of climate change will cost far more than the investment required to limit the change itself.

In this study, which focuses on the notion of a "tipping point", scientists explore the hypothesis of a sudden melting of the ice cap. They show that crossing this "tipping point" would cost 4 times more "than attempting to limit the damage".

In this way, the notion of the "tipping point" is a useful tool for understanding the almost irremediable effects of events that cause serial reactions beyond human control, leading to major ecological degradation.

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Companies committed to fighting violence against women

"What can the company do to help combat domestic violence?" This was the question posed on International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, at a meeting of members of OneInThreeWomen: the first European network of companies committed to combating domestic violence.

A first response, considering that gender-based violence is part of a "continuum of gender-based violence", is to implement internal measures within the company to give a voice to victims, and to fight against ordinary sexism, in order to improve behavior in the private sphere.

The network includes some very large companies (L'Oréal, BNP Paribas, Clariane, Carrefour...) and obtains their commitment by signing a Charter of Commitment against domestic violence.

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Voices raised to save CSRD

Entrepreneurs, researchers and consultants take the floor in an article published in Le Monde to give a different tone to all the rhetoric that has tended in recent weeks and months to call into question and undermine the CSRD, the European sustainability reporting directive for companies.

They argue that, behind the arguments of simplification, we must not forget the directive's great ambition: "to prepare a sustainable and competitive economy". What's more, changing a European directive takes many years, leaving economic players in a state of uncertainty, a handicap far greater than the production of sustainability reports.

The collective argues that alarmist rhetoric exaggerates a situation that is actually much simpler to negotiate: "Barely 20% of the subjects listed are worth deferring. The challenge is toinform everyoneabout CSRD and make it accessible to all, so as to turn it into a competitive and transformative tool for the company.

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Censure of the Barnier government: what consequences for ecology?

On Wednesday December 4, 331 deputies censured the government of Michel Barnier, who handed in his resignation to the President. This will most likely postpone the next government's presentation of a finance bill until 2025.

At first glance, therefore, it would seem that the renewal of the 2024 budget is very good news for the climate, given that the government has allocated "unprecedented resources" to it. On the other hand, the budget currently under discussion for the 2025 financial year presaged a drastic reduction in green spending.

But the reality is more difficult than that: the spending automatically rolled over to avoid a shutdown only concerns "appropriations necessary for the conduct of the life of the nation". In other words, operating expenses that don't include the usual big-ticket items of French environmental policy...

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Environmental law under threat from industrial arguments

The French government has announced that certain key provisions of French environmental law are in danger of being relaxed. Indeed, the "Ambition Industries" plan emphasizes the need to reindustrialize the country, justifying a series of measures that weaken social and environmental regulations in this area.

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Temu: a flood of low-cost products, but at what cost?

France is the second-largest European market for Chinese e-commerce giant Temu. With a gigantic product range, unbeatable prices and free delivery, Temu has won over French consumers, reaching "94 million monthly recipients" and surpassing Amazon in some markets.

La Poste reported that Temu and Shein alone account for "more than one in five parcels" (22%). In February, the European Toy Industries Federation published a study highlighting that 95% of products tested were harmful and potentially dangerous to children.

Temu has invested $2 billion in Facebook and Instagram advertising. This aggressive marketing is not without consequences for the environment: it is estimated that 54,900 tonnes of CO2e are emitted every day by the company (Forbes).

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Global treaty on plastic pollution postponed

The 175 countries meeting in Korea under the aegis of the United Nations were unable to agree on a common text. Discussions on a treaty to reduce the damage caused by plastic pollution have been postponed.

Yet 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced worldwide every year. While less than 10% of this amount is actually recycled, much of it ends its life in the ocean.

At the heart of the disagreements are the major oil- and plastics-producing countries (India, China and Russia) and the nations grouped under the name of the "coalition of high ambitions".

Negotiations will not continue until the spring of 2025, with a possible change of stance on the part of the United States, which will then be represented by a new administration.

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Coca-Cola targeted by greenwashing lawsuit

The French federation of associations for the protection of nature and the environment, France Nature Environnement (FNE), has filed a complaint against the giant Coca-Cola Europacific Partners France. This legal action is justified by FNE on the grounds of misleading commercial practices, more specifically greenwashing.

The federation of environmental associations accuses Coca of having "served more than 6 million drinks in reusable cups made from plastic bottles, without informing spectators" during the Olympic Games.

And yet, the brand went on and on about its ambition of "zero packaging waste at these Games", presenting itself as a company in support of a world without waste. But this was clearly not in keeping with the reality of a large-scale production of industrial waste.

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Recycling reaches record levels in France

67%. This is the household packaging recycling rate achieved by French households in 2023. Each French citizen sorted 1.5 kg more waste than in 2022, i.e. 58 kg per household.

Interestingly, the explosion in e-commerce and online shopping practices is generating increased circulation of cardboard (+12% recycled) and plastic (+15% recycled) waste.

A positive trend that has accelerated since 2015, as a direct consequence of policies to simplify sorting instructions. To date, "98% of French people have access to unified yellow bins". What's more, it's the result of major investment in recycling infrastructure and new oversorting centers that are beginning to bear fruit.

To achieve 100% recyclability, Jean Hornain suggests a "drastic reduction in over-packaging", particularly for e-commerce.

Sustainable tourism: a priority for the French

An Accor study entitled European Travel 2025: Balancing Growth and Impact, analyzes travel dynamics across Europe in the light of record transit flows on the continent in 2024. As a result, 75% of French travelers surveyed say they "take climate change and sustainable options into account" when planning their trips.

The three main approaches are :

• Avoid areas threatened by extreme weather conditions (24%)
• Not flying (17%)
• Finding sustainable accommodation (9%)

However, half (50%) of the travellers questioned "deplore the high cost of sustainable options". Indeed, this remains the main obstacle to sustainable travel practices, at the risk of feeding the more accessible overtourism circuits.

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Sources

• Novethic: "Ecological tipping points
• Carenews: "Fighting violence against women".
• Le Monde: December 5 Tribune
• Green: "Barnier government collapses".
• Novethic: "Reindustrialization and environmental standards".
• Green: "The Temu platform and its impact".
• RSE Magazine: "Plastic pollution and stalled negotiations".
• Carenews: "Coca-Cola accused of greenwashing".
• RSE Magazine: "Packaging recycling on the rise".
• RSE Magazine: "The French and sustainable tourism