In 2023, on the request of the Secretary General, the Groupe’s CSR Department initiated an analysis of impacts on biodiversity with the help of an external firm. Publicis Groupe’s intellectual services activities make it difficult to understand its direct and indirect impacts on biodiversity.
This work focused on an initial analysis of the Group’s biodiversity footprint (scopes 1+2+3) based on the GBS (Global Biodiversity Score) model which uses the so‑called MSA (Mean Species Abundance) which is offered in MSA.km² or in MSAppb, or MSAppb* (ppb = party per billion / * meaning aggregate). This method covers static and a dynamic impacts linked to the past year's activity. The model covers land and fresh water ecosystems, four of the five categories of the IPBES – Intergovernmental Science‑Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (the IPCC of Biodiversity); namely, a) change of use of soils, b) over‑exploitation of natural resources, c) climate change, and d) pollution (the assessment of invasive species is not yet sufficiently reliable, nor is the analysis of impacts in the marine environment). UNEP (the United Nations Environment Programme) provides the secretariat for this intergovernmental IPBES body, which has 130 member countries.
The impacts were analyzed by associating the NACE codes of all subsidiaries with the sectors of Exiobase, the international database which makes it possible to convert financial data (subsidiaries' revenue) into physical data. The Globio model then assesses the impacts of the activities of the 163 industries considered on biodiversity. This classification shows that two‑thirds of Publicis Groupe’s activities are in the category "Other Business Activities," i.e. advertising, media, consulting, design, events and other technical services, and one‑third is part of the so‑called "Computer and related activities," i.e. digital activities, IT programming, IT consulting, and data processing & hosting. This classification into 28 NACE codes provided an initial assessment of impacts that did not show any significant dependence on biodiversity. This analysis remains to be further developed, given the wide disparity and differences between the activities included in the “Other Business Activities” category.
These calculations were made using public data from 2022. The total sum of impacts on biodiversity amounted to 232 MSAppb*, more than two‑thirds being attributed to terrestrial impacts (versus aquatic).
| Biodiversity | in absolute value MSAppb* | Static | Dynamic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aquatic | Aquatic in absolute value MSAppb*72 |
Aquatic Static37 |
Aquatic DynamicN/A ** |
| Land | Land in absolute value MSAppb*160 |
Land Static993 |
Land Dynamic1 |
** This indicator currently has too many uncertainties to be significant
Publicis Groupe stood out with an impact of 18 MSAppb* (ppb = party per billion / *meaning aggregated), i.e. a rather low impact (the average of French companies, mainly industrial or commercial, having published their data between 2020 and 2022 is around 62 MSAppb* per billion euros of revenue).
Locally, the Groupe’s entities are concerned about biodiversity, but to a limited extent in terms of what is accessible and easy to implement. More symbolically, the protection of biodiversity is approached locally, depending on the immediate environment of each agency and its actual capacity for influence and action. In France, the Groupe continued to install several beehives on the roofs of three of its sites, including the Champs-Élysées, Bastille and Gambetta. Employees are trained each year to support the care of the beehives. In addition to supporting the French beekeeping sector, a partnership has been established with the Apiflordev association, which fights against poverty in Africa: 100% of the honey from the Parisian beehives is used to finance the installation of beehives in Togo (canton of Tado) which are then entrusted to a community of women.
In Costa Rica, Re:Sources is continuing its plan involving employees in a carbon offsetting program designed to promote local biodiversity by preserving tropical flora and fauna in protected forests.
Nature protection is the subject of pro bono campaigns or volunteer activities in favor of environmental associations and the defense of natural resources and biodiversity (plant and animal) in many countries.
Lastly, Publicis Groupe is also monitoring the development of the first forests toward which it participated, in 2008 in Cameroon, by financing the planting of 6,000 trees for the Sanaga Forest (Douala – Yaoundé).
