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2014 Registration Document
Social responsibility
2
CSR at Carrefour
2.1.3.2
The role of stakeholders
◗
Discussing and debating with partner
organisations
Carrefour has built partnerships with organisations that enable it to
combine its own specialist skills with those of outside experts, thus
improving the approach. This type of cooperation is essentially operational
in nature: experts from NGOs confer with Carrefour’s business experts
to find a common long-term vision.
The partnership between Carrefour and WWF France established in
1998 addresses two issues: developing responsible supply chains for
products such as wood, paper, soya, palm oil, and seafood, and promoting
responsible consumption amongst consumers (see page 54).
The partnership of almost 20 years between Carrefour and Union Network
International (UNI) resulted in the May 2001 signing of an international
agreement on respect for fundamental rights and the recommendations
laid down in the guidelines of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The agreement is applied in all countries in which the Group operates.
In 2013, the partnership contributed to the signature of the Fire and
Building Safety agreement in Bangladesh (see page 53). The first audits
for this agreement took place in 2014.
Since 1997, Carrefour has also worked in partnership with the International
Federation of Human Rights (FIDH). The cooperation was formalised
through the creation of a joint association: INFANS. The association
runs practical projects in partnership with local NGOs to prevent human
rights abuses (see page 52).
◗
Dialogue with staff representatives
The agreement between Carrefour and UNI forms the basis of social
dialogue within the Group. In particular, it commits the Carrefour group
to promoting union rights and the right to collective bargaining in each
of the countries in which it operates. This has resulted in the creation of
a European body dedicated to social dialogue, the Carrefour European
Consultation and Information Committee (ECIC), and in regular social
dialogue at both a Group and local level. As a forum for discussion and
consultation, the ECIC provides an opportunity for Carrefour’s social
partners to talk transparently to General Management and Human
Resources on a wide range of topics, including CSR. The annual ECIC
plenary meeting is dedicated to subjects affecting the Group’s activities,
including Human Resources and CSR.
A Sustainable Development Committee within the ECIC meets three
or four times each year. Changes to the CSR approach are presented
and members work on drawing up action plans, such as the in-store
Waste Reduction Plan.
◗
Cooperating with stakeholders on specific issues
Following the 2012 update to its stakeholder mapping, based on a method
inspired by the ISO 26000 standard, Carrefour reinstated a forum for
discussing CSR in 2013. In 2014, the Group reinforced this model by
holding three consultation meetings to discuss energy, marine resources,
and gender equality within the Company. The aim was to listen more
effectively and improve the quality of information exchange, and to identify
pragmatic, effective actions. Depending on the topics of the meeting,
customers, experts, NGOs, representatives of Ministries, agricultural
suppliers, food industry suppliers and rating agencies, etc. are invited.
RESULTS OF CONSULTATION MEETINGS
WITH STAKEHOLDERS IN 2014
The first meeting, on the topic of energy, offered two
sub-topics for consideration: “Purchasing energy and
renewable energy” and “Energy efficiency and customer
service”. It inaugurated the Group’s action plan to
eliminate energy consumption and reduce CO2 emissions
while promoting customer involvement.
On the topic of marine resources, the consultation
meeting held on 10 June 2014 allowed the Group to
identify the following work priorities: developing a policy
on seafood, limiting the use of resources, communicating
with consumers, developing sustainable procurement
criteria for fishing and aquaculture (see page 47), and
ensuring traceability and quality.
At the third meeting, held on 2 October 2014 to discuss
gender equality, many stakeholders worked together
to address the following two questions: “Under what
conditions is gender equality beneficial to the Company?”
and “How can we do more to achieve gender equality at
every level, without positive discrimination or quotas?”.
The Group adopted several of the proposals, including
creating an “International Diversity File” to more
effectively share best practices, and supporting women,
especially through mentoring
programmes
.
◗
Interacting with the financial community
Carrefour responds to requests for interviews as well as occasional
requests for information concerning policies and initiatives launched by the
Group’s various businesses. CSR teams also respond to questionnaires
from the main non-financial rating agencies and to investors, who examine
environmental, social and governance information in addition to purely
financial information in their investment decisions.
KEY FIGURES
18
investor meetings took place in 2014
12
general questionnaires from non-financial rating
agencies or investors and
8
topic-specific questionnaires
from NGOs and institutions were completed