Paris (AFP)
Thirty-four multinationals, totaling more than $ 1,000 billion in annual sales, have joined a coalition that aims to consolidate and strengthen efforts to fight inequality.
This initiative (Business for Inclusive Growth, B4IG) supported by French President Emmanuel Macron, led by Danone CEO Emmanuel Faber and supported by the OECD, will be presented Friday at the Elysee, ahead of the G7 summit in Biarritz.
"In many G7 countries, the erosion of the middle classes, which are the foundation of the market economy, must be an alert because it is shown that beyond a certain threshold, inequalities weigh on the economy. economy, "said Faber, quoted in a statement Thursday evening.
So it's not "a question of ideology", but "realism", which "calls for collective and inclusive action by governments and companies," he says.
These 34 companies, employing a total of more than 3.5 million people, commit to a charter to "step up their action to advance human rights at all stages of their value chains (...) and strengthen inclusion in their internal and external ecosystems, "the statement said.
This manifesto is "extremely engaging", and "word for word with the companies concerned, because this text is opposable", told AFP the general secretary of Danone Mathias Vicherat.
"When it is written that companies are committed to decent work all along the production chain, including the supply chain, when companies say they fight forced labor and want to respect freedom association, these are very strong terms because it means that they take these commitments in all the countries of the world where they operate, "he says.
In addition, these multinationals, which spend more than $ 1 billion on projects benefiting more than 100 million people, intend to discuss these initiatives in order to optimize, accelerate or duplicate them in other countries, according to the communicated.
Current members of this coalition are: Accenture, Agropur, AXA, BASF, BNP Paribas, BPCE, CareCentrix, Cogeco, Credit Agricole, Danone, Edelman, Engie, GINgroup, Goldman Sachs, Henkel, Ingka Group, JPMorgan, Keurig Dr. Pepper, Johnson & Johnson, Kering, Legal & General, L'Oreal, Mars, Renault, Ricoh, Schneider Electric, Sodexo, Suez, TIAA, Unilever, Veolia, Virgin and Ylva.
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