CSR issues at the heart of Res publica

The consultation processes that Res publica organises for its public or private clients most often apply to issues relating to the ecological and social transition (climate policies, urban planning, housing, public transport, waste management, water management, work integration policies, social policies, etc.).

Our contribution cannot be reduced to supporting our clients without applying the requirements of the transition to ourselves: limiting our carbon footprint, contributing to a better functioning of society, building a work group that is concerned about the comfort of its members. This is how we exercise our corporate social responsibility.

For Gilles-Laurent Rayssac, President of Res publica, "all companies, whatever their size, are responsible for their means as well as their ends. They must be accountable not only for what they do, but also for how they do it and the impact they have on their human and physical environment.

Res publica's environmental actions

Since 2020, we have been carrying out an annual carbon audit, so that we can take action to reduce the carbon footprint of all our activities. The Citizens'Climate Conventionswe organize at both national and local level (Rouen, Grenoble Metropole, etc.) speak for themselves: reducing greenhouse gases is the responsibility of everyone involved. We'd be cynical if we didn't do our utmost to limit our own emissions.

That's why we asked the agency Sami to carry out our carbon footprint.

Carbon footprinting is a carbon accounting method created in France in 2004 by the French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME). There are other calculation methods, such as the GHG protocol dating from 1998 and ISO 14064-1, created in 2018. These different methods provide a framework for data collection, as well as a database of Emission Factors (EFs). Once the data on the company's activity has been collected, the corresponding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are quantified for each activity datum thanks to this database, which enables a coefficient (emission factor) to be applied to each datum to calculate the emissions of the activity in question.

The carbon footprint is calculated on the basis of three "scopes ", which designate the different perimeters of GHG emissions:
- Scope 1: direct GHG emissions, mainly due to the combustion of fossil fuels for heating or company vehicles.
- Scope 2 : indirect emissions associated with the production of electricity and heat.
- Scope 3: all other indirect emissions from the company's value chain (travel, purchasing, waste, etc.). It generally concentrates most emissions.

Carbon audits are mandatory every 4 years for companies with over 500 employees for Scopes 1 and 2, and strongly recommended for Scope 3. The Citizens' Climate Conventionwhich Res publica supported, proposes extending this obligation to all organizations and all Scopes. Since 2020, we have therefore decided to carry out our carbon assessment every year. To have a basis for comparison and to take a step back from the effects of the pandemic, we have chosen to calculate our 2019 assessment in addition to that of 2020.

In 2019, Res publica emitted 85 tonnes of CO2e (CO2 equivalent: a unit created by the IPCC that enables the various Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) to be counted together, the main one being CO2). In 2020, due to confinements and the very sharp reduction in travel linked to Covid-19, our emissions dropped to 66 tonnes of CO2e.  

Establishing a carbon footprint allows us to define an annual action plan to reduce our emissions. It consists of two parts.
On the one hand, to continue the actions already taken: limiting energy consumption in our offices (programmable thermostat), purchasing 100% renewable electricity supplied by the Enercoop cooperative reducing the impact of our employees during their home-office and business travel (Sustainable Mobility Package and reimbursement of subscriptions to self-service bicycle systems, use of public transport in preference to the car, etc.), optimised hosting of our data and digital services, etc.
On the other hand, we are carrying out new actions to further reduce our carbon footprint: carrying out our carbon footprint each year, raising our team's awareness of digital ecogestures and waste prevention/reduction, introducing a zero aeroplane policy (with exceptions authorised by management), training the entire Res publica team in the Climate Fresco, offsetting our CO2 emissions.

Our social commitments

One of the challenges of our work is to organise dialogues that involve all the people who are affected by the subject of the consultation (a project, a strategy or a policy). Without great care, only the most 'comfortable' people (often men, well-educated and without social difficulties) participate or speak out. What is true for the consultation processes we organise is also true for the participation of all in social life.

This is why, since 2019, Res publica has been supporting the Kodiko association by participating in its mentoring programme and by accompanying it in co-constructing its advocacy and the participatory training of the programme's mediators.

In 2021, we decided to take our commitment further by becoming one of the founding members of the Work with Refugees collective.

Kodiko is a non-profit association created in 2016. Its objective is to support refugees towards and in employment through an innovative mentoring programme in companies. To do this, the association builds partnerships with companies whose employees participate in the programme by hosting, every fortnight and in their workplace, a refugee pair member of the Kodiko promotion.
The Work with Refugees collective is made up of 8 members, including 6 associations (Kodiko, ActionEmploi Réfugiés, Singa France, Konexio, JRS France, Les entreprises pour la cité), a social and solidarity enterprise (Simplon.co) and Res publica. The objective of the collective is to act in favour of the professional integration of refugees by promoting a change of perspective, deconstructing existing prejudices and promoting the skills and wealth that refugees bring with them. The collective is particularly committed to raising awareness among companies about the recruitment and integration of refugees, as well as about intercultural issues.

In addition, during our missions, we set up actions and tools adapted for people with disabilities. All our web services and multimedia productions comply with the recommendations of the General Accessibility Guidelines (RGAA) and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), particularly for the visually and hearing impaired.

Finally, we adhere to the Participation Charter of the Ministry of Ecological Transition (MTE) which sets out the values and principles of a virtuous participatory process.

HR policy to reduce mental workload

Res publica's activity takes place in the human field: we organise dialogues between people who are very different from each other. We strive to make these dialogues useful by ensuring that everyone has a real place and a real voice in the exchange. We need to regulate disagreements, not to erase them, but to overcome or settle them. This requires that all the members of Res publica feel comfortable in the exercise of their profession, so that they are united and the mental burden of their work is bearable.

Within the company itself, this requires recognition of the place and role of each team member in the functioning of the company, a policy of mutual trust, attention to the parity and diversity of our teams and the practice of equal pay for equal responsibility between women and men.

This is also achieved through a recruitment policy that invests in the long term and favours permanent contracts (often at the end of an internship for young consultants), a policy of internal training and the composition of teams that facilitate the dissemination and sharing of skills, particularly for young consultants (but not only!).

In terms of social benefits, we have put in place a series of measures for the benefit of employees: an employee savings contract (PEE, PERCO) enabling them to prepare for their future and their retirement with investments of the "solidarity generation" type, a profit-sharing agreement which enables them to share part of the company's profits, allowances above the legal minimum for interns, etc.

Lastly, in terms of work organisation, we have been introducing "open bar" teleworking for the past two years in order to facilitate the articulation between professional and personal life so that each member of the team can organise themselves more easily.  

CSR is a voluntary action by companies to respect the environment and better recognise social rights. For us, CSR consists of commitments and practices that reinforce Res publica's mission and raison d'être. We work to increase the practice of democracy in our daily work: our professional credibility depends not only on the competence of our teams and the quality of our actions, but also on our individual and collective capacity to respect the best social and environmental standards. All Res publica members are spontaneously committed to this objective.