The Pierre Fabre Group's CSR approach has just been recognized by the independent body AFNOR Certification at the "Exemplary" level of its Engagé RSE label (internationally recognized under the Responsibility Europe label). With an overall score of 788 points out of a total of 1,000, Pierre Fabre joins the Top 1% of 266 companies and becomes the first industrial group with over 5,000 employees to be awarded the "Exemplary" label by Afnor Certification. This result confirms the performance of the CSR approach implemented by the Group since 2019 within Green Mission Pierre Fabre.
More demanding than a self-declaration or online questionnaire, the label awarded by Afnor Certification requires the company to provide objective evidence of its control over the social, environmental and economic impacts of its activities, and to do so on site. Between April and May 2022, Afnor Certification auditors assessed all the company's departments, 3 industrial sites, a distribution site, 4 international subsidiaries, 3 dermo-cosmetics brands (Eau Thermale Avène, Klorane, Naturactive) and the department in charge of some of the Group's medicines. They also met with a wide range of external stakeholders (customers, suppliers, regulatory authorities, local authorities, scientific partners).
" By placing respect for people, nature and the land above all else, our founder was a pioneer of sustainable development. Today, it's up to us to perpetuate his vision and rise to the challenges created by global warming in terms of decarbonation and naturalness. This is the ambition of Green Mission Pierre Fabre, which we launched in 2019 as part of the company's transformation plan. For us, it was essential to have the initial results of this approach assessed by an independent certifying body in order to objectify our performance and identify our avenues for improvement. Transparency and continuous improvement are at the heart of our approach. "says Eric Ducournau, General Manager of the Pierre & Vacances Group.
Fabre.
The Engagé RSE label examines more than 50 criteria grouped around 5 general themes - CSR vision and associated governance, operational implementation of CSR strategy, human resources and working conditions, sustainable production and consumption methods, territorial anchorage and local development - to which are added 3 results themes: environmental results, social results and economic results. For each of these 8 themes and criteria, Pierre Fabre scored above 75%, with peaks of 87% for territorial anchorage and 82% for social indicators.
" The Pierre Fabre Group is further consolidating its long-standing commitment to sustainable development, in line with the company's mission as envisioned by its founder. Moving from a logic of controlling negative impacts to one of optimizing positive societal impacts is a reality, and the company has truly demonstrated the relevance of its thinking in this area. "commented Muriel Lassus-Pigat, independent CSR Assessor for Afnor Certification, in her audit conclusions.
In its audit report, Afnor Certification's assessors highlighted a number of strong points, including :
- The creation of the cross-functional Green Mission Pierre Fabre and its direct reporting to General Management
- Ensuring that the Ethics Charter is clearly visible and regularly updated
- Strong regional roots
- Decarbonization policy
- Attention to stakeholders
- HR training and internal mobility policies
- The international employee share ownership plan
- Responsible sourcing of plants used by the Group
- The design and international deployment of the Green Impact Index, a tool for measuring the eco-socio-design of products.
- The development of a solvent-free extraction technology (Green Native Expression).
" This labeling at the highest level of the Engagé RSE label is in line with the assessments we have had carried out regularly by independent bodies since 2012. We have given new impetus to our CSR and naturalness approach with the creation of Green Mission Pierre Fabre in 2019, and it was our duty to draw up an initial assessment after 3 years of mobilizing all energies within the company. The assessment carried out by AFNOR Certification also opens up new avenues for progress. I'm thinking, for example, of a better integration of CSR criteria in our purchasing, the reinforcement of CSR training in our international subsidiaries and the development of a more ambitious sobriety strategy. "said Florence Guillaume, Green Mission Director at Pierre Fabre.
