Universal Registration Document 2021

4.3.3 Eco-design: Training of employees in environmental issues

Employees are regularly informed locally in each agency of the progress made. Joint actions between the general services teams and volunteers mobilized within the agencies are carried out throughout the year. Depending on the issue, 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, partnerships for recycling or giving a second life to objects. For nearly 15 years, “Green Teams” have been in place in a large number of agencies: they are at the heart of local actions to raise awareness about their daily activities.

The deployment of A.L.I.C.E was the occasion of multiple working sessions with many teams according to their business challenges and the customers with whom they work, conducted by the Groupe’s CSR department. Each country then set up workshops and working groups to familiarize employees in depth and to integrate specific contextual or legal elements. The We are Positivers program rolled out by France, which enabled the training of 4,500 employees in eco/socio-design, as part of the #NIBI (No Impact for Big Impact) program, reflects the determination of Management to deeply transform business.

In 2021, Prodigious France was named the No. 1 Agency in the 10^th annual PAP50 survey, on the corporate paper policy barometer thanks to a responsible approach developed in recent years, which includes the sourcing of paper (NFC, PEFC, eco-label, etc.) up to the recycling of all paper with specialized partners.

Eco-friendly design is now at the heart of client campaigns in many Groupe agencies. Teams are looking for partnerships to make projects more sustainable using new approaches such as the circular economy or sharing economy. Eco-friendly design and assessment approaches have been trialed and the results These voluntary initiatives make it possible to involve clients, suppliers and partners and to give employees the ability to take concrete action. For instance, the mobilization of Publicis UK at the time of the COP26 in Glasgow had a knock-on effect among British employees throughout the year, increasing their awareness and understanding of the environmental challenges of our business lines, thus contributing to the development of operational solutions.

4.3.4 Consumption and impacts

The negative impacts of the Groupe that are taken into consideration when calculating greenhouse gas emissions come, in order of importance, from:

1. travel estimated at 168,564,000 km (calculation of business trips + employee commutes). Due to the multiple travel restrictions, 2021 has shown a sharp decrease in business flights and a general shift towards collaborative remote work tools (video & voice). Commuting journeys have also been greatly reduced due to teleworking. For its company car fleet, the Groupe has adopted European objectives, i.e., CO₂ emissions lower than 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 108,136,700 kWh. Renewable energy accounts for 38.8% of total consumption (based on the certifications given by electricity suppliers). Electricity consumption was significantly reduced in some entities due to the number of teams working from home. 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):
   1. 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 Groupe’s partners so that the results can be uniformly monitored. Efforts have been ongoing in all countries since 2016. Energy savings of 10% to 12% are made annually on server consumption in North America and Europe,
   2. energy audits: pursuant to directive 2012/27/EU, the agencies in Europe carried out energy audits enabling progress plans to be drafted for the coming years (for example, improvements to systems or the strengthening of individual and collective eco-friendly practices). Savings of 15% were recorded on electricity and heating at the head office in Paris;
3. fixed assets (buildings, office materials such as IT equipment and servers, etc.). The Groupe 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;