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Between regulatory innovations, climate challenges and social opportunities, companies and institutions are at the center of transformations for a sustainable future. Every week, we share with you the top 10 CSR news stories not to be missed.
Executive compensation: climate objectives increasingly taken into account
The IFA, Chapter Zero France and Ethics & Boards have published the fourth edition of their remuneration barometer. The barometer enables us to draw conclusions on changes in the way climate is taken into account in the variable compensation of top corporate executives.
We learn that 92% of SBF120 companies have included social and environmental criteria in their CEO remuneration. This figure has risen by 12% since 2022. The priority indicator chosen by companies 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 executives' variable compensation. While these figures are encouraging, there is still room for improvement.
Mental workload: 25% of women are held back in their careers
The News RSE agency commissioned a study from IFOP, in which 25% of respondents said they had "reduced their career ambitions" to cope with the accumulation of professional, personal and domestic responsibilities. So, mental workload is not just about home life, and has a significant influence on career development.
71% say they have a heavy mental workload, 53% that it has a negative influence on their professional performance, and 25% that they have already "given up opportunities" to avoid being overloaded.
Recognition of invisible efforts" is therefore essential. To achieve this, we need to support inclusive policies that take these efforts into account in performance evaluation criteria, or encourage a better work/life balance for these employees.
The European Right continues its attacks on the Green Deal
Following on from the CSRD and CSDDD, the European right-wing is continuing its campaign to unravel the European Green Deal and is attacking the ban on the sale of combustion-powered vehicles in 2035. In other words, they are campaigning for a downward revision of the climate obligations to be met by the automotive industry.
Indeed, the EPP (European People's Party), together with European automotive lobbies, would like to postpone or amend the text. While the sector's leading lobby, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), has changed its position and is criticizing the EU for not providing sufficient support for the automotive energy transition, the expert association Transport & Environnement argues that the situation has more to do with manufacturers' strategic choice to "favor heavy, expensive electric vehicles" over affordable ones.
300 billion: the cost of natural disasters in 2024
Extreme weather events and natural disasters 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 26%. Insurance companies, in particular, insured losses of almost 130 billion euros this year.
Hurricanes, storms, torrential rains, floods, etc., these disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity "under the effect of the climate crisis". Europe has not escaped these conclusions, and climatic phenomena are estimated to have cost the continent 10 billion euros in 2024.
The report states that the world's economies are in "adaptation deficit", and that the way we occupy space tends to accentuate the severity of disasters. Fears of an insurance crisis are being voiced in some quarters, who point to the risk of exploding costs.
How is fast-fashion threatening the textile industry?
The association Les Amis de la Terre - France has published an analysis of the harmful economic influence of fast-fashion on the French textile sector, which is already in a bad way. Indeed, its offshoring practices, use of synthetic raw materials and aggressive marketing are damaging national companies.
The association even goes so far as to assert that fast-fashion is "surfing on the textile crisis", in an astonishing paradox: overproduction and overconsumption are redoubling the sector's difficulties.
So, while consumption of clothing has continued to rise (3.3 billion products sold in 2022), its "average life" has been halved since 2000. Paradoxically, the French sector has seen a deficit of 15.9 billion euros in 2022. The association is therefore proposing a binding legislative framework to protect the sector.
Tourism-related pollution on the increase
Global tourism is responsible for 8.8% of global GHG emissions in 2019. Tourism-related emissions are increasing at a rate of +3.5% per year, twice as fast as those of the global economy.
As a result, the tourism sector's very strong economic growth goes hand in hand with a very strong growth in its carbon impact (5.2 gigatonnes equ.CO2 in 2019). American tourists account for the largest share of these emissions (19%), followed by Chinese (15%) and Indian (6%) tourists.
To adapt to the requirements of the Paris Agreements, the study argues that a reduction in tourism volume would be an unfair and inequitable solution depending on the country, and that the focus should be on transport modes, particularly aviation.
2024 exceeds 1.5°C warming threshold
The Climate Change Service (C3S) of the European observatory Copernicus has announced as a "certain fact" that 2024 will be the hottest year in recorded history. Notable in comparison with the records of recent years: the threshold of 1.5°C warming compared with the pre-industrial era (1850-1900).
If this 1.5°C limit is remarkable, it's because it corresponds to the most ambitious objective of the Paris Agreements. However, it is important to bear in mind that to definitively consider the threshold crossed, we need to observe this long-term trend for at least twenty years.
For example, the IPCC estimates that the 1.5°C mark will be exceeded between 2030 and 2035 on current trends, regardless of changes in our GHG emissions.
Mercosur agreement: a double threat to the climate and French farmers
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced that a free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur countries had been reached following negotiations.
However, some member states (including France), environmental associations and a large part of the agricultural sector have voiced their opposition to the project.
Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina, for example, should find it easier to import agricultural products into Europe, free of customs duties. In return, Europe intends to step up its industrial exports of manufactured goods.
Greenpeace refers to this text, which still has to be voted on before it comes into force, as an "environmental, social and human disaster".
The 2030 World Cup will take place on 3 continents
Following a meeting of the federation's 211 members, FIFA announced that the 2030 Men's World Cup would be held on three continents: the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), Morocco and South America (where three matches will take place).
This anniversary World Cup, taking place 100 years after the first edition in 1930, was already raising questions about its environmental impact. In fact, it will require many fans to travel by air between the three continents.
FIFA is also under fire for its choice of Saudi Arabia as host and organizer of the 2034 World Cup. Indeed, many observers point out that this decision was motivated by disregard for human rights, to the benefit of an ultraconservative kingdom in this field.
Cost of drought: 300 billion euros
While COP16 on desertification is being held in Riyadh, a report published by the United Nations warns of the multiple sources of risk for which droughts are responsible.
The report highlights the damage to health, the environment and the economy caused by this phenomenon, which has grown by 30% since 2000.
The intensification of droughts has a dual origin, with global warming on the one hand, and unsustainable water and soil management on the other. As a result, it affects "nearly 2 billion people a year", the vast majority of them in the least economically endowed countries.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) concludes that droughts are among the "most costly and deadly" environmental hazards, amounting to almost 300 billion euros a year worldwide.
Sources
RSE Magazine "Mental workload: how it holds back the careers of one in four women".
Novethic "Europe's internal combustion vehicle ban under threat".
Novethic "Nearly 300 billion euros in losses due to natural disasters by 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 a year, the cost of droughts worldwide".
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