As part of the implementation of the European Commission’s program to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 in the European Union and the financing plan for the ecological transition, with the application from 2022 of the new European regulation known as the Green Taxonomy (EU Regulation 2020/852) and in accordance with Article 8, Publicis Groupe has carried out an analysis of its activities that may meet the expected eligibility criteria defined in the Climate Taxonomy Delegated Act (EU 2021/21393). The Groupe is required to publish the three required indicators on the description of eligible activities and for those ineligible: revenue, CapEx (capital expenditure) and OpEx (operational expenditure). Simplified provisions have been made for the first year of application, for the 2021 financial year, for so-called eligible activities. For the 2022 financial year, companies will have to publish the same indicators for sustainable activities said to be aligned with the Taxonomy, and their contribution to the achievement of the first two objectives.
The taxonomy provides for four criteria that an economic activity must meet to qualify as “ecologically viable” or sustainable:
The European taxonomy has set a framework around six quantitative and qualitative objectives – at present only the first two have been clarified through the public technical documentation:
The working method was as follows: a tandem team composed of the Finance Department for financial reporting, and the General Secretariat for non-financial reporting, steers this work. With the support of operational managers, the analysis of the Company’s activities was carried out on the basis of NACE codes and a more qualitative analysis of certain activities, with checks at local and central level.
Among the activities listed in the taxonomy, category J63.11 "Data processing, hosting and related activities" was selected as eligible. Other categories of activities were examined, but their operational reality did not allow them to be retained.
Epsilon’s activities were identified, representing 13.4% of Publicis Groupe’s 2021 revenue, with 41.2% of eligible CapEx. OpEx were not considered to be significant.
| In millions of euros | Total | Eligible activities | Non-eligible activities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | Revenue Total 11,738 |
Revenue Eligible activities 1,575 |
Revenue Non-eligible activities 10,163 |
| % total revenue | % total revenue Total
|
% total revenue Eligible activities 13.4% |
% total revenue Non-eligible activities 86.6% |
| Capex | Capex Total 136 |
Capex Eligible activities 56 |
Capex Non-eligible activities 80 |
| % total capex | % total capex Total
|
% total capex Eligible activities 41.2% |
% total capex Non-eligible activities 58.8% |
Calculation method: the share of revenue used is aligned with the Groupe’s financial structure and with the Company’s accounting data at December 31, 2021. Publicis Groupe does not publish its data by business line; the data are therefore taken from an approach based on the NACE code of the activities concerned to define the numerators.
