Providing employees with information and training on environmental issues
Employees are informed and trained locally on these issues within each agency during Green Week, an internal week of action and events, and Cleaning Days, which are held several times a year. Depending on the issue, billboards or internal notifications make it possible to keep awareness high and monitor progress (in terms of reductions in electricity and paper consumption, improved waste-recovery management, etc.). The aim is to make environmentally-friendly behaviors more widespread, both in and out of the workplace, so as to reduce negative impacts.
The negative impacts of the Group that are taken into consideration when calculating greenhouse gas emissions come, in order of importance, from:
1. travel (calculation: business trips + employee commutes) estimated at 990,000 km. The Group has continued to deploy teleconferencing rooms and collaborative distance working tools (video and voice) to avoid travel as much as possible. For its company car fleet, the Group has adopted European objectives, i.e. CO2 emissions lower than 130 g (European objective being to reduce this to 95 g by 2021). Finally, individual habits are starting to shift significantly with requests for hybrid and even electric vehicles;
2. energy consumption is estimated at 146,340,000 kWh. Renewable energy accounts for 37.1% of total consumption (based on the certifications given by electricity suppliers). Efforts continue to improve energy efficiency and best practices (switch-off policy for computers and machines such as printers, as well as night and weekend lighting);
a. data centers: work to optimize and rationalize servers is ongoing, as well as the consolidation of applications, including digital products and services created for clients. This work is being conducted with the Group’s partners so that the results can be uniformly monitored. Efforts have been ongoing in all countries since 2016. Savings of 12% are made annually on server consumption in North America and 10% in Europe. An ambitious multi-year plan has enabled the number of machines to be reduced and all employees to be equipped with a range of powerful and energy-saving virtual tools,
b. energy audits: pursuant to the application of the Directive 2012/27/EU, the agencies in Europe carried out energy audits which enabled progress plans to be drafted for the coming years (for example, improvements to systems or the strengthening of individual and collective eco-friendly practices). In 2017, savings of 15% were recorded on electricity and heating at the head office in Paris. In the United Kingdom where the efficiency plan is beginning to reap rewards in London, the renewable energy targets were met (30%);
3. fixed assets (buildings, office materials such as IT equipment and servers, etc.); the Group seeks to use Green IT solutions in order to be able to work on more energy-saving computers and use more virtuous software packages and programs;
4. paper consumption: 610 metric tons were consumed, of which 80% was certified and/or standard-compliant paper (FSC, PEFC or other labels); as well as consumables (ink cartridges, office supplies, etc.). For several years now, the “zero paper” policy has been encouraged everywhere. The rollout of applications such as Follow Me makes it possible to select printers according to the type of document to be printed and to use a badge to launch the printing, reducing paper consumption by 50% in just a few weeks;
5. water consumption is estimated at 727,200 m3 – approximately 8.8 m3 per capita. Agencies rent premises in serviced buildings; the main improvements concern washroom facilities (sensors) and prompt response once a water leak is detected. Water is supplied from municipal distribution systems or private operators, under long-term contracts with the managers of the buildings in which the Group’s agencies are located. The aim is to reduce water consumption in all agencies;
6. the volume of non-hazardous waste recycled is estimated at 2,211 metric tons. Most of this waste is paper and cardboard. It is recycled with traceability (some agencies have traceability in place for 100% of these volumes).
