With the backing of the Board of Directors, Renault Group outlined its CSR policy roadmap and the role it will play within the Renaulution strategy at the Annual General Meeting on Friday, 23 April 2021. An ambitious policy, based on the rolling out of new mechanisms, it will help the Group realise its transformation strategy and reach its performance objectives. The policy builds on three major pillars that are deeply integrated into the company’s business: the ecological transition, the safety of customers on the road and employees in the workplace, and inclusion by improving employability and having more women in the workforce.
We consider our environmental and societal responsibility as one of the chapters of Renaulution. Our commitments to reduce our carbon footprint, to the safety of people who use our vehicles and of employees in the workplace, and on inclusion meet our strategic challenges and support value creation. Developed with the company’s teams, and according to our values of innovation and solidarity, this action plan is supported by a group of executive committee members and will be fully integrated into our activities. These commitments embody our Purpose while contributing to the Group’s transformation.
Luca de Meo, CEO of Renault Group.
The ecological transition as an integral part of the whole value chain
In addition to commitments made on vehicle electrification, with electric vehicles accounting for 65% of sales by 2025, and 90% in 2030 for the Renault brand in Europe, the Group aims to achieve carbon neutrality in Europe in 2040 and worldwide in 2050.
Since 2005, the Group has been committed to reducing the environmental footprint of its vehicles throughout their entire life cycle and is ramping up efforts to become carbon free with measurable targets for 2025 and 2030*. New ecological transition initiatives include:
- The Group commits to reducing its procurement carbon footprint by focusing efforts on six components (steel, aluminium, polymers, electronics, tires, and glass) that currently account for 90% of the procurement carbon footprint. Carbon pricing will be put in place to encourage the entire ecosystem to produce more sustainably. By 2030, the Group is aiming to reduce the carbon footprint associated with its purchases by 30% (as CO2 per kg of material).
- Assembled in France with carbon free energy, the 2025 roll out of the R5 will include more sustainable batteries that boast a reduced carbon footprint of at least 20% (compared to ZOE in 2020). Beyond this one target, the Group is working to secure a responsible and sustainable supply of minerals. This parallels the partnership with Veolia and Solvay for the recycling of metals found in batteries in a closed loop (cobalt, nickel, lithium, etc.).
- On the manufacturing side, the Group aims to reduce emissions from facilities by 50% worldwide (compared to 2019). To reach this target, the company will invest €20 million in its industrial facilities, thereby generating up to €90 million in savings, through reduced energy bills and avoided penalties for excess emissions. Electro-Northpole facilities will be carbon neutral by 2025, with remaining facilities in Europe following suit by 2030.
- Vehicle dismantling and part recycling – including batteries – at the Re-Factory in Flins and Renault Environment subsidiaries will generate more than €1 billion in sales by 2030.
* Renault Group is currently issuing its first climate report. The report outlines the Group’s ambition for carbon neutrality, with key actions and commitment milestones for 2025/2030. It applies guidelines issued by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). Access to the full document here
The safety of customers on the roads and employees in the workplace
To help reduce the number of road accidents, the Group provides a clear response based on two key aspects: preventing accidents and assisting emergency services. The preventive safety program operates in three areas:
- Detect: The ‘Safety Score’ will analyse driving data using sensors located on the vehicle to encourage safer driving.
- Guide: the “Safety Coach’ will process road and traffic data to inform drivers of potential risks on their route and will give real-time warnings on danger-prone areas.
- Act: A fail-safe mechanism will trigger automatically in the event of a clear and present danger (a far too dangerous turn, loss of steering wheel control for a prolonged period, drowsiness, etc.). Thanks to the ‘Safe Guardian’, the vehicle will then slow down and return to a safe driving mode.
As of 2022, the Megane-E will come equipped with an automatic speed limit adjuster, set by default. The vehicle’s top speed will also be capped at 180km/h. The speed will also be capped on Renault and Dacia models, and will not exceed 180km/h.
Lastly, to reduce emergency response time and give emergency services easy vehicle access in the event of an accident, the Group has also developed two major innovations, which will be rolled out on all future releases in Europe:
- The ‘Fire-fighter access’ helps fire-fighters put out accidental battery fires. It considerably reduces response time (from nearly 2 hours to only a few minutes). Already a feature on electric vehicles, it will be added to all future hybrid rechargeable and electric models the Group releases.
- The ‘Rescue Code’ is a QR code to help first responders identify a vehicle and access its structural information, and in the event of a serious accident, to reduce by roughly 15 minutes the rescue time for passenger. Renault Group has trained fire-fighters in 12 countries in Europe on how to use the code, while also donating several hundred vehicles to be used for training purposes.
The Safety Plan also includes commitments to Group employees:
- An objective of zero work-related accidents and illnesses: as part of the Group’s HSE policy, the Group endeavours to have zero workplace accidents and illnesses across all industrial and tertiary sites.
- “Health for all”: the Group’s ambition is to achieve optimal health coverage for all its employees worldwide.
- Raise employee risk awareness: with the Group’s health officers at the helm, there are two preventive health campaigns in the works, the first of which will kick off 2021. These campaigns will focus on diseases for which being informed and aware can make all the difference: women’s cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
Inclusion : employability, parity, solidarity
As vehicles become more and more electric, connected, and are fitted with on-board smart systems, new skills are required. In light of the fundamental shifts throughout the industry, the company’s inclusion policy will rest upon 3 pillars: employability, parity, solidarity.
The Group is set to inaugurate a tertiary education centre dedicated to the learning of new skills in electrification, data management, analysis and cybersecurity, and the circular economy, including engineering related to the recycling of vehicles and their batteries. The ReKnow University, initially aimed at Group employees in France, will train nearly 40% of the workforce affected by these changes by 2025. The program will gradually phase in industrial and academic partners with whom the Group pools together efforts on vocational training design and dissemination.
While Renault Group has the largest proportion of female employees compared to other vehicle manufactures, women still only account for 25% of its workforce. The Group is setting bold targets for gender balance, that will be reached through the following initiatives:
- by promoting women to the key positions within the Group, in governance bodies, the top 4,000, and the top 11,000. In each of these three categories, the Group aims to have women making up 30% of its workforce by 2030, 35% by 2035, and 50% by 2050.
- by upholding our position as industry leader in terms of reducing the gender pay gap, which is already close to zero at Group level and is set to hit zero around the world by 2025.
- by 2025, Renault will reach gender balance among apprentices and interns, thereby creating a recruitment pipeline and ensuring future generations are familiar with the trades of the industry.
Developing inclusive mobility for all: mobility can be a primary source of inequality and a barrier to stable employment in some areas. It is an essential part in getting, keeping, or training for a job. As such, since 2012, the Group has worked with the support of the Renault solidarity garages to foster a partnership with Pôle Emploi (French job-seekers agency) and the Adie microcredit agency to provide unemployed people – who are unable to contract a bank loan – with a new leased vehicle. The 2025 target is to increase the number of beneficiaries tenfold – from a few hundred to a few thousand – by mobilizing its network and vehicles from the Factory VO.
As part of its latest missions, the Renault Foundation and the worldwide foundation network also support initiatives that help those who have been out of stable employment find a job, by focusing their efforts on local job markets around the Group’s locations and by giving employees the opportunity to be active partners in the program. To learn more about the Foundation: https://group.renault.com/groupe/la-fondation-renault/.
In an effort to incorporate the CSR strategy into the heart of the company’s primary operations, a CSR Strategy Executive Committee has been created and includes representatives from the highest echelons of the Group’s key functional divisions: Industry, Purchasing, Engineering, and Human Resources. All decisions will be presented to and approved by the CSR Committee of the Board of Directors, chaired by Jean-Dominique Senard, Chairman of Renault ‘s Board of Directors.
SOURCE: Renault Group
