- The law on the duty of vigilance obliges companies with more than 5,000 employees in France to establish a plan, in particular to prevent environmental risks linked to their activities and those of their subcontractors.
- A law still far from being respected, deplores the association Notre Affaire à tous, which this Monday published a comparative study of the vigilance plans of 25 French multinationals.
- The association points to the lack of transparency in the accounting of their greenhouse gas emissions, but also the lack of measures to limit their carbon footprint.
Publish and implement a vigilance plan to prevent serious violations of human rights and the environment, in their own activities but also those of their subsidiaries, subcontractors and suppliers, in France and abroad. Since March 27, 2017 and the adoption of the law on the duty of vigilance, this is the obligation to which must henceforth submit French companies which employ at least 5,000 employees in France, and those of more than 10,000 employees in the '' Hexagon headquartered elsewhere in the world.
A heavy cumulative carbon footprint
Three years after its promulgation, is the account there? This is the question that arose, on the climate side, Our Affair to all. In a report published on Monday, the association immersed itself in the 2019 vigilance plans of 25 French multinationals chosen for their heavy climate impact. There are heavyweights in energy (Total, EDF, etc.), finance (BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Societe Generale), industry (Air Liquide, Suez, Schneider Electric, etc.), construction ( Bouygues), transport (Air France, Renault, Airbus), food industry (Carrefour, Danone)…
"If we take the figures given by these companies, their cumulative carbon footprint amounts to 1,517 million tonnes of CO2e [CO2 equivalent], three and a half times greater than France's territorial emissions", says Paul Mougeolle, author and coordinator of the study for Our Affair to all.
"Five companies have the average"
In its comparative study, Notre Affaire à tous then sought to measure where these 25 multinationals were on their obligations under this law on their duty of vigilance. "We rated them on three main criteria," says Paul Mougeolle. First, the identification they make of climate risk through the activities they carry out. Secondly, the actions they put in place, which the law on the duty of vigilance says must be adapted to prevent and mitigate serious attacks on human rights and the environment. Third, the integration of climate issues into their vigilance plan. "
The whole gave a mark on 100, "100 being the mark which would only allow to be in legality", specifies Our Affair to all. None of these 25 multinationals reaches it. It is Schneider Electric, manufacturer of electrical equipment, which comes closest to it with a score of 77.5. The association mainly retains from its study that 20 of the 25 companies taken into account did not reach the average. The worst student is Air Liquide (15), followed by Natixis and Total (both 17.5).
"A lack of transparency"
To explain these bad copies, Notre Affaire à tous already points to the lack of transparency of these companies. "They do not yet correctly disclose their direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions," criticizes Paul Mougeolle. The carbon footprint of a company is divided into several perimeters, called Scope 1, 2 or 3, from the smallest to the largest. Scope 1 represents the company's direct emissions. Scope 2 takes into account the GHG emissions linked to the energy consumption required to manufacture a product. While scope 3 includes all other GHG emissions that are not directly linked to manufacturing, but to other stages in the product life cycle (supply, transport, use, end of life, etc.). "Several of these 25 companies, such as Airbus or Axa, have not disclosed their scope 3 at all, even though this field is important in their field of activity," continues Paul Mougeolle.
For Notre Affaire à tous, the carbon footprint of these 25 companies would be much heavier than what the figures they officially publish suggest. "If we take into account certain counter-expertises, if only the study published last November by the cabinet Profundo, for Friends of the Earth and Oxfam, on the carbon footprint of French banks, the carbon footprint total of these 25 companies would not only be 1,517 million tonnes of CO2 eq, but 3,549 million tonnes of CO2 eq, or eight times the French territorial emissions ", indicates the study.
Difficulty recognizing their responsibility?
So much for the lack of transparency. Our Affair to all also regrets that 10 out of 25 companies still do not integrate the climate into their vigilance plans, being content to develop on the identification and prevention of serious human rights abuses. "However, this should be done systematically, especially for companies that are major contributors to global warming," deplores the NGO.
"Many of the companies in this ranking do not recognize that the activities of their group are contributing to global warming," adds Notre Affaire to everyone. It also regrets that the parent companies have not yet implemented all the measures to reduce the direct and indirect emissions of their subsidiaries and subcontractors. Here again, however, this is the heart of the duty of vigilance law. Result: "no company has yet implemented a strategy to reduce its climate impact in line with a trajectory of + 1.5 ° C, while it is the only one that achieves the objectives of the Agreement of Paris on the climate ”, continues Paul Mougeolle.
A letter of inquiry to the twenty-five
Last January 28, relying already on the duty of vigilance, Our Affair to all, with the associations Sherpa, France Nature Environment or Eco Maires, had brought Total to justice by asking that it be ordered to take the necessary measures to drastically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
This Monday, Notre Affaire à tous does not go so far as to sue the 24 other companies in its ranking, but it accompanies the release of its study by a letter addressed to each of them and asking them to act. "Within a few days, they must publish their 2020 vigilance plan," recalls Paul Mougeolle. By the end of 2020, we will publish a new study to see if there is anything better in the copies, and if the gaps between what these plans contain and direct actions are narrowing. "
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