Large French corporates have placed CSR at the heart of their strategies for many years and are leaders in Europe on this involvement. They have made public and concrete commitments to reduce their GHG emissions, respect human rights, preserve biodiversity and develop circular economy. They welcome the Commission’s action plan but regret they were not sufficiently involved in the work and discussions leading to the action plan.
In order to deliver efficient and proportionate measures fostering sustainable finance, it is crucial to involve companies, which play the central role in energy transition and reporting processes.
French corporates already present the highest level of non-financial information compared to companies worldwide, notably regarding climate risks, and continue their progress towards the integration of different reportings.
Corporates call on the European Union to establish a framework which will enable progress on reporting regarding environmental topics and, more generally, non-financial issues whilst creating the conditions for a constructive and balanced dialogue between investors and corporates.
Whilst understanding the need for establishing a taxonomy of environmentally sustainable activities, corporates stress the need to evaluate the consequences of this approach. It should not lead to exclusion strategies by investors. On the contrary, corporates call for the development of attractive financing to support their ecological and energy transition process. The taxonomy should therefore take into account the specificities of business sectors as well as current and planned transition efforts by corporates.