2021 Universal Registration Document
4 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
Environmental Responsibility: Carbon-neutral trajectory – Net-zero emissions by 2028
Offsetting unavoided emissions from indirect activities Unavoided emissions arising from Sopra Steria’s indirect activities will be offset, as for the direct activities, through investments in carbon capture projects, in line with the Climate Neutral Now project. This will enable the Group to achieve its net-zero emissions target by 2028 in the following two stages: By 2025, offset the emissions linked to waste, commuting and • homeworking by our employees via carbon capture projects, By 2028, fully offset the unavoided emissions from to our • supply chain via this type of project. Green taxonomy (Regulation (EU) 3.5. 2020/852 of 18 June 2020) The Taxonomy Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of 18 June 2020) is one of the key measures in the European Union’s action plan set out in its Green Deal. It consists of a number of initiatives for going carbon-neutral by 2050 by: Reorienting capital flows towards sustainable investments; p Managing the financial risks caused by climate change, natural p disasters, environmental damage and social issues; Promoting transparency and a long-term vision in economic and p financial activities. The Green Taxonomy, which is laid down in delegated acts published on 10 December 2021 in the Official Journal of the European Union, establishes a unique and transparent system of classification using common terminology, for economic activities that can be considered as sustainable from an environmental perspective for the purpose of distinguishing them from other economic activities. This system of classification separates the activities conducted on behalf of clients, investment activities and those related to day-to-day operations. It reflects these using three indicators : Turnover; p They are to be stated in terms of percentage alignment with the taxonomy. An aligned activity is a sustainable activity that helps deliver progress towards one or more of the following environmental objectives: Climate change mitigation; p Climate change adaptation; p Sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources; p Transition to a circular economy; p Pollution prevention and control; p Protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems. p In the financial year 2021 data, only the first two of the aforementioned environmental objectives are taken into account. Capital expenditure (capex); p Operating expenses (opex). p
Irrespective of the indicator, activities are classified using a five-step process: Identify the activities eligible for the Taxonomy based on one or p more environmental objectives. These are listed in delegated acts laying down how the EU regulation is to be implemented; Determine the activity’s substantive contribution to the p environmental objective based on satisfaction of technical criteria; Make sure, with the assistance of technical reviews, that the p activity does not significantly impair any of the other five environmental objectives; Ensure compliance with the OECD Guidelines for Multinational p Enterprises and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, particularly with regard to fundamental labour rights and human rights; At the end of this stage, an activity that has met all the above criteria will be considered to be aligned, i.e. sustainable; Determine the value of the indicator by dividing the aligned p activities (the numerator) by the total activities. The indicator will be expressed as a percentage. For 2021, the three Taxonomy indicators to be published apply only to the eligible activities and not the aligned activities. ACTIONS UNDERTAKEN IN 2021 TO IMPLEMENT 3.5.1. THE TAXONOMY REGULATION The Group’s process for Taxonomy reporting in 2021 involved the following three steps: Interpreting the activities recognised under the 1 Taxonomy in terms of the Group’s activities The Group set up internal pilot entities to clarify the scope of the eligible activities, determine the approximate volume of these activities at 31 December 2021, and test its methodology before rolling it out across the Group in 2022. Mobilising the stakeholder community 2 In order to gain a harmonised understanding of the European regulation and its delegated acts, particularly with regard to the identification of activities that are eligible for the turnover indicator, the project team regularly communicates with its peers in France via Numeum, a professional association that represents digital services companies, software vendors, platforms and engineering and technology consulting companies. 2021 reporting based on the results of the pilot entities 3 and estimates At this point, the project is still in its scoping phase. The Group-wide deployment, Group entity reporting, and overall results implementation phases have not yet begun, nor has the creation of a sustainable and industrial reporting solution. At this stage, the Group is therefore only able to provide ‘corporate’ estimates of the potential magnitude of its eligible activities, and mainly in relation to turnover. These estimates may be raised or lowered in 2022. These changes will be made in response to the European Union’s clarifications on the activities within the regulatory scope, discussions with industry peers, most notably via Numeum, any interpretations that may result from these discussions, and a detailed analysis of projects at all Group’s entities during the deployment and analysis phases.
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SOPRA STERIA UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 2021
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