As a socially responsible company, IFPEN takes into account social, environmental and economic challenges when conducting its activities and in the way it operates.
It is committed to carrying out efficient R&I activities while meeting its responsibilities to its stakeholders, hinged around four priority areas:
Challenge 1
Maintaining dialog with stakeholders: a lever for performance and risk reduction
Understand expectations and needs in order to provide the appropriate solutions and build a relationship of trust.
IFPEN’s governance system is founded on the principles of ISO 26000 and strategic directions, and the group’s social responsibility commitment gives rise to numerous exchanges with stakeholders.
Challenge 2
Fostering employee involvement, as active players and ambassadors
Give meaning to actions with a view to fostering employee loyalty, involvement and motivation and enabling them to innovate.
IFPEN’s human resources policy is hinged around the identification and anticipation of the expertise required to reflect the ambitions of its Performance and Objectives Contract and evolving national ecological transition priorities.
The priorities defined by IFPEN for the implementation of this corporate social responsibility policy concern:
- professional development
IFPEN invests in the skills development of its employees, their mobility and their training. The individual and collective skills of employees are a major success factor for IFPEN, which focuses on ensuring the coherence of its medium to long-term strategy and the skills required to conduct its R&I programs.
Training is an important tool for maintaining and developing employees’ scientific, technical, behavioral and managerial skills.
Mobility represents a means of building and promoting skills and expertise, preparing future managers for the responsibilities they will have and maintaining a high level of employability.
- diversity in the workplace
Given that diversity, in all its forms, is a source of enrichment and performance, IFPEN implements a highly proactive policy in this field. The policy is structured around measures targeting gender equality, the integration of young people in difficulty and disability support.
IFPEN is a partner of the "Elles bougent" association, which works with middle and secondary schools to help young girls realize that women can make careers in scientific and technical professions. This initiative is part of a forward-looking HR policy based on the principle that: encouraging gender diversity today will increase the company's chances of developing successful innovations in the future.
In accordance with the French law of 5 September 2018 "Pour la liberté de choisir son avenir professionnel" ("The freedom to choose one's professional future"), IFPEN has published its gender equality index for 2023, which achieved a score of 100/100.
The index consists of five criteria that assess pay inequalities between women and men.
- Indicator concerning the pay gap: 40
- Indicator concerning differences in the level of pay increases: 20
- Indicator concerning the difference in the percentage of promotions: 15
- Indicator concerning the return from maternity leave: 15
- Indicator concerning top salaries: 10
IFPEN's score reflects its commitment to gender equality.
In accordance with the French “Rixain” law of December 24, 2021 aimed at accelerating economic and professional equality, IFPEN publishes its representation gap between men and women among senior executives.
For 2023, the female/male ratio among senior executives is:
- 45% women
- 55% men
- stringent risk prevention (health, safety, psychosocial risks)
The safety of its employees, as well as those of external companies working on its sites is a priority commitment for IFPEN. A health and safety management system has been adopted by IFPEN based on OHSAS 18001 standards.
Risk prevention is hinged around three priority areas:
- prevention by the occupational health department
In order to ensure the physical and mental health of all employees, the occupational health department regularly assesses health- and accident-related risks in the workplace. This involves prevention, protection, information and training measures aimed at making employees active players in their own day-to-day health and safety.
- safety
Health and Safety Policy adopted at the start of 2020 and reaffirmed in 2021 by General Management reflects IFPEN’s determination to reinforce the safety culture and change individual and collective behavior.
The major priorities to reinforce this culture are:
- the individual commitment of each and every employee;
- the commitment of managers as role models;
- the commitment of contracting parties and support services to select high-performance external companies;
- the attention to quality of life at work and factors that could generate situations of stress or suffering.
Conferences on the theme of “Neurosciences and Safety” organized in 2019 brought into focus the need to introduce security checks relating to risky situations and activities for which operating on “automatic pilot” may result in an accident (expert error).
The two establishments are also members of the MASE (Company Safety Improvement Manual) Normandie and MASE Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes associations.
- psychosocial risk management
Psychosocial risk prevention is an integral part of daily life and involves all of the company’s stakeholders; the objective is to enhance group performance by ensuring well-being at work. The strategy adopted by IFPEN is a multidisciplinary approach based on input from all of the company’s players to gather and evaluate different perceptions, with a view to constructing a global vision of situations for analysis.
In 2021, IFPEN and its social partners signed an amendment to the corporate contract concerning the implementation of teleworking, reflecting the desire to change operating methods, at the same time fostering a better work-life balance. By decreasing the amount of time spent traveling, teleworking is beneficial in terms of performance (decreased fatigue) and the reduced environmental footprint associated with fewer journeys made between home and the workplace. Employees have been made aware of digital eco-practices, as well as good practices designed to ensure the compatibility of teleworking with cybersecurity. They have also been informed of their right to disconnect.
Key figures as of 31 December 2021
Mobility: 61 employees were mobile
Training: 92 % of employees benefit from at least one training initiative per year / €1 058 k invested in continuing vocational training
Number of days teleworked: 23,428
Number of people who teleworked*: 1,336
Safety results: 3 accidents resulting in time off work / IFPEN frequency rate of 0,75
Percentage of employees with a disability: 3.53%
*Since half of the year was subject to the exceptional teleworking arrangements introduced during the lockdowns, the figures presented above only represent voluntary teleworking, which was only possible for 6 months of the year in 2020 and 2021.
Challenge 3
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Reducing the environmental footprint
Tackle climate change; preserve natural resources; protect biodiversity.
As a socially responsible organization, IFPEN is committed to reducing the average CO2 emissions associated with its activities and the way it operates.
- Reducing CO2 emissions through mobility plans
IFPEN promotes and encourages soft transport modes. The target objective is to improve the footprint of employees’ journeys and encourage recourse to alternatives to solo car use.
Moreover, for a number of years now, IFPEN has been committed to adapting its vehicle fleet, firstly by reducing the total number of vehicles and, secondly, by reducing the fleet’s average CO2 emissions by introducing vehicles that emit lower levels of CO2.
Key figure as of 31 December 2021
Average CO2 emissions: 62 g of CO2 per km traveled / 75 g in 2018
Mobility plans
Conscious of the need to protect the environment, IFPEN has had a mobility plan in place for a number of years and is pursuing its commitment to soft and sustainable mobility.
In the context of climate change and the energy transition, IFPEN’s objective is to seek solutions for its employees and improve the transport offer, with a view to reducing CO2 emissions.
On the Lyon site, where the public transport offer is limited, IFPEN has signed up to an inter-company travel program, led by the Association for the Sustainable Development of Chemistry Valley (ADDVC) in consultation with Lyon Metropolis.
IFPEN has introduced a pooled electric bicycle purchasing scheme, as well as a bicycle travel allowance. In 2021, 238 employees either regularly or occasionally traveled to work by bicycle/electric bicycle.
IFPEN also endeavors to limit work-related travel between the two sites via the development of its video- and audio-conferencing facilities.
- Waste management and recycling
The resources preservation program hinged around optimized waste sorting is aimed at increasing recycling and conversion.
Beyond the objective of reducing waste since "the best waste is waste that is not produced", IFPEN strives to:- increase its materials conversion rate by reducing the share of energy recovery and/or landfill,
- maintain the quality of waste-sorting and recycling and ensuring the long-term future of existing sectors.
Centralized recycling: a necessary step on the road to zero waste
Following three years of tests in several divisions, in 2019 IFPEN deployed centralized waste recycling across all the divisions at both sites. The objective is to improve the quality of the process in order to increase overall waste recycling. This project takes into account all aspects of sustainable development: beyond economic and environmental considerations, it incorporates a social dimension, preventing the risk of musculoskeletal problems in people handling waste containers.
Key figures as of 31 December 2021
Volume of waste: 549.6 tons of non hazardous waste (NHW) and hazardous industrial waste (HIW) produced, compared to 612.2 tons in 2021.
Overall waste recycling rate: 93%
NHW recycling rate: 62%
- Long-term energy commitments for its real-estate
The management of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (GGEs) of IFPEN’s buildings is of strategic importance. Optimizing the energy efficiency of buildings is vitally important, from an environmental, social and economic point of view.
Energy performance represents a priority area in renovation and construction projects, awareness-raising among employees concerning eco-practices, the rationalization of consumption of the most energy-greedy zones and the roll-out of equipment management.
For the period 2016 to 2020, projects concern the introduction of LED lighting and the replacement of boilers for more efficient, new-generation solutions of equal comfort.
- Green IT
IT system hardware has a significant impact on the environment throughout its lifecycle. This impact relates to CO2 emissions, toxic waste and waste production (WEEE), as well as the consumption of paper and ink cartridges via peripheral devices.
IFPEN is pursuing its efforts via its Green IT policy and has launched its corporate “digital transformation” project, aimed at providing users with technologies compatible with their evolving needs and sustainable development requirements.
Key figures as of 31 December 2021
Paper:
Share of recycled paper in purchased paper: 79%
challenge 4
Promoting a responsible economy
Support innovation and entrepreneurship; maintain responsible relations with suppliers; reinforce the development and appeal of the regions
As a public research and training body, IFPEN supports the ecological transition and creates wealth and employment.
2023 Activity Report (PDF - 3.8 Mo)
Within the framework of its activities, IFPEN involves partner companies in its policy and supports the development of the regions where it operates.
To promote its sustainable development policy in all its aspects, IFPEN is keen to involve its suppliers and subcontractors; an approach that fosters continuous and reciprocal improvement.
IFPEN's Procurement policy incorporates safety, quality and sustainable development requirements. In its 2017 version, it also includes the global dematerialization of the Procurement process in line with the regulatory measures in force.
As for the Procurement Charter, it defines the rules that IFPEN and its suppliers must comply with to contribute to the control of the social and environmental risks associated with the contracting-out of services. It underlines the company’s societal commitments via a set of wider ethical principles: the prevention of corruption and potential conflicts of interest, non-discrimination, the protection of health, safety and the environment at work, respect for fundamental human rights and the prevention of illegal work.
In 2017, calls for bids relating to the procurement of goods incorporated environmental criteria relating to the goods themselves, their packaging, their transport and the optimization of the number of deliveries. The objective is to improve service provision, optimize the global cost and reduce CO2 emissions. Social requirements are also taken into account with contracts reserved for ESATs (work integration facilities for the disabled).
- Subcontractors involved and associated with sustainable development policy
IFPEN works closely with its service providers to identify and implement eco-responsible solutions together:- via eco-labeling, asking its subcontractors to use eco-labeled products wherever possible, particularly for routine cleaning services in its premises and for catering;
- encouraging the use of organic produce, prioritizing local, high-quality ingredients or taking into account the culinary specialties of a region;
- prioritizing day work, notably by the introduction of an improvement initiative with the cleaning company.
Calls for bids issued for corporate catering at the two sites in 2019 incorporated environmental criteria. The aim was to help employees eat more healthily but also to ensure alignment with the measures set out in the French EGalim* law to reduce food waste, increase the share of organic, labelled and local products, and minimize plastic waste.
Key figure as of 31 December 2021
Percentage of organic purchases in restaurants: 32.9%, compared to 33.2% in 2020
- Promoting regional vitality
IFPEN has sites at Rueil-Malmaison in the Île-de-France region and Solaize, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. IFPEN maintains close relationships with public players at local, metropolitan, territorial and regional levels. These numerous relationships reflect IFPEN’s determination to make an active contribution to economic vitality and the reinforcement of research capacities, knowledge transfer and innovation in the regions where it operates.
As a member of the French Sustainable Development Club for Public Institutions and Companies (CDDEEP), IFPEN participates in and contributes to the activities of public institutions
As part of CSR working groups, IFPEN participates in reflection and exchange concerning good practices, within the framework of the regulations in force and the Exemplary Administration Plan, to help meet objectives and address the challenges of the energy transition. A broad variety of themes are tackled by these working groups, ranging from governance, mobility plans, Sustainable Development Goals and changes in behavior.