What was your CSR strategy before contacting Sami?

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‍CSR has always been an important issue for the EBRA group and is an integral part of our DNA.

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Our internal CSR committee is directly led by the COMEX, and all our industrial directors have annual objectives to improve our environmental and social impact.

This desire to constantly improve our impact is also driven by our shareholder, a mission-driven banking group very committed to these issues.

It is also this desire that made us want to go further than the CSR policy initiated by our group to structure an approach specific to our activity and sector.

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Thus, EBRA is the first regional daily press (PQR) group to have obtained the CSR label Positive Workplace 1 star in 2021, and for the entire group and its subsidiaries.

To continue this dynamic of progress, we wanted to obtain the 2nd star of this certification, requiring the realization of a complete carbon footprint including the scope 3.

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Had you already done a carbon footprint?

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The EBRA group measures and monitors its BEGES (carbon footprint scope 1 & 2) for over 10 years, in particular to be able to integrate it into the global carbon reporting of our shareholder and its extra-financial performance statement (DPEF).

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This carbon footprint already allowed us to define and monitor objectives for reducing our energy consumption.

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Calculating our scope 3 was first and foremost a voluntary approach to precisely measure the carbon impacts specific to our press sector and define improvement objectives for all entities.

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Why did you choose Sami?

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We compared different service providers, including the main historical consulting firms.

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We unanimously chose Sami for three main reasons.

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First, the agility and simplicity of the approach, which allowed us to move quickly and save time on collecting the necessary information. The other players seemed too established to have the flexibility we were looking for and to adapt to our needs.

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Then the online platform, which allows us to easily collaborate with all internal referents and keep track of all our history.

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And finally the support from our dedicated expert Alexis on reducing our emissions. Ultimately, the most important thing is to do a balance sheet, but defining and implementing concrete actions is the most important thing for us. And the collaboration with Alexis is precious for that, always listening and available to help us move forward.

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The doubt we had was about Sami's experience and expertise, a platform that is still recent. Will the database and the hindsight be sufficient?

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What I understand today is that what matters above all is the ability of the service provider to follow sectoral references that are constantly evolving, which Sami does very well.

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What did you think of Sami?

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The shared platform is a real plus to collaborate effectively with all the people involved within us, and to centralize all the information.

Everyone understands what their work contributes to and how it advances the overall approach.

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Sami's expertise and the quality of the support have simply allowed us to adapt to our sector of activity, essential to provide a relevant measurement and reduction recommendations.

From data collection to reduction coaching format, everything has been customized to meet our needs and Alexis has always been the driving force behind the approach.

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The platform and the results presented are always simple, fun and educational.

When Sami came to present the results of this assessment to the COMEX, there were no questions. Not because the subject is not interesting, but because everything was fluid and understandable and even if it was the first carbon assessment they were presenting.

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What are the main lessons from your carbon assessment?

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We already had a good idea of the impact of our activities, but it was impossible to confirm it without conducting this complete carbon assessment.

The work also allowed us to compare the impact of our different poles and our different entities among themselves.

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The numerous comparisons provided by Sami were very useful for us to compare ourselves by category of emissions to our sector of activity, and to understand on which posts we were already well advanced and on which we still had work to do.

We identified that one of our industrial suppliers was very advanced in its environmental approach and that its products have a low carbon footprint. We are going to work to favor this type of suppliers to reduce our carbon footprint.

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The results of our carbon assessment also allowed us to prioritize our actions to first target our main emission posts.

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What are the next steps before next year?

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We have started working on our main emission posts.

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Regarding our purchases, we have implemented a sustainable procurement charter, asking our suppliers to provide us with their carbon assessment and to commit to adopting responsible practices.

To our great surprise, the reception was very favorable among our industrial customers, congratulating us on the initiative. It is now a matter of generalizing this charter to all our purchases.

We will then be able to favor the most committed suppliers and with the lowest carbon footprint.

‍Another major part of our action plan concerns buildings and their energy consumption.

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With the implementation of flexible work and teleworking, our premises are never fully occupied. It is therefore imperative for us to rationalize our real estate portfolio, in a carbon but also economic logic.

An action plan and objectives will be defined for each of our entities, stemming from the global objectives.

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We are also the only player in our sector to enhance our old papers by working directly with a papermaker. These papers are thus reused directly in the paper industry and not in cardboard or construction as is the norm, more financially interesting but contributing according to us to increase the price of paper and the probabilities of a shortage.

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