All of the quantitative data and qualitative information is checked and analyzed by the Group CSR Department, who compiles the consolidated reporting for the whole Group. The Bureau Veritas auditors carried out 56 on-site audits in agencies: United States,
Colombia, United Kingdom, France, South Africa, India and China, and 23 off-site audits (Germany, Brazil, Canada, etc.), making a total of 79 agencies, accounting for 47% of employees including Epsilon and 52.8% excluding Epsilon. All Epsilon entities
will be in the 2020 scope. The whole CSR report is checked by the external auditors (see opinion at the end of this section) in accordance with regulatory requirements: they check the consolidated quantitative and qualitative data, processes and hence
the consistency of the whole financial year by conducting random checks in all Group entities.
Guidelines
Non-financial reporting was prepared in accordance with article L.225-102-1 of the French Commercial Code and with reference to articles L.205-101-1 and R.225-105 and R.225-105-1 on corporate social and environmental transparency obligations and auditing
methods. This reporting includes information arising from more recent laws on energy transition and green growth, or on the fight against food waste, as well as on modernizing social dialog and safeguarding career paths. This also integrates the law
regarding Duty of Care and the Sapin 2 Law (anti-corruption), as well as the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The other guidelines that the Group voluntarily follows are:
- the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standard, which is the main structure that the Group has followed since 2009. Publicis Groupe follows the GRI’s sustainable development reporting by applying its 10 principles (GRI 101). The 2019 reporting was prepared in accordance with GRI standards: Core option. A GRI content index provides an overview of the significant sustainable development information and is available at: https://publicisgroupe-csr-smart-data.com/fr/;
- the 10 Principles of the UN Global Compact, to which Publicis Groupe has been a signatory since 2003; now supplemented by the UN Women’s seven Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs);
- the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs (see Section 4.8);
- the ISO 26000 guidelines, which the Group has followed since 2011 in order to better accommodate the views of stakeholders;
- the American SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board) guidelines, drafted in 2014 for the technology and communications sector;
- the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises (Recommendations for responsible business conduct in a global context) are also used as a reference;
- the United Nations Caring for Climate pledge signed by Publicis Groupe in 2007, as well as the pledges signed by the companies at the COP 21 in 2015 (Paris Agreement);
- the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) endorsed by the Group on a voluntary basis since 2009 in order to contribute to the general effort to achieve transparency concerning the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental data are published using the location-based rule for scope 2;
- the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) which defines environmental governance and disclosure rules in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
- the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), designed to validate companies’ objectives in terms of reducing environmental impacts and carbon emissions, an approach which is in line with the Paris Agreement 1.5° scenario.
The Group’s new objectives for 2030 will be published in 2020. The cross-reference table with all of the guidelines used can be accessed by the general public, and the CSR indicators, grouped together according to the GRI grid, or the SDGs, are shown
in the CSR Smart data https://publicisgroupe-csr-smart-data.com/en/.
