Does your company have a publicly available commitment to respect human rights? If so, please provide a link.
The Group adopted in May 2014 a dedicated policy on Human Rights, called “the Human Rights Referential: commitments and implementation”. This policy describes the procedure for implementing the ethical principle “respecting others” of the Group Ethics Charter (2009). In addition, the 2014 existing specific Group’s policies (health and safety; responsible procurement) reflect the Group’s commitments set forth in the dedicated Human Rights Referential.
The Human Rights Referential highlights the Group’s commitment: “to carry out its activities in accordance with internationally recognized human rights wherever it operates” by explicitly referring to international standards, as the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the core ILO conventions. It also asks Group’s business relationships to respect its own commitments, through a contractual provision.
It was approved by the Group General Management Committee. It is included into the Group’s ethical approach, which is led and managed at the highest corporate level by the CEO and by the General Secretary. Within the General Secretary’s office, the Ethics and Compliance Department manages the implementation of the Human Rights Referential with the support of a global network of Ethics & Compliance officers.
The Human Rights Referential is public and freely available on the Group’s website. http://www.engie.com/en/group/ethics-compliance/charters-guidelines/human-rights-referential-commitments-and-implementation/
Does your company identify its salient human rights issues and does it have a due diligence process to manage them? If so, please list the issues and describe the due diligence process (key steps include: impact assessment, integrating & acting on findings, tracking responses & communicating how impacts are addressed).
Salient human rights issues:
In addition to the global commitment of respecting all human rights, the Referential declines specific commitments linked to the Group’s activities (identified by internal feedbacks of existing processes and of Business Units):
- Ensuring compliance with the fundamental rights of its employees, as defined by the ILO standards.
- Rejection of all forms of harassment and violence in the work place and offering to its employees of a work environment respectful of their individual freedoms and their privacy.
- Ensuring that its activities do not infringe on the rights of local communities surrounding its sites and that assignments related to the security of its assets and its employees are conducted with respect for human rights.
Operational entities also identify their salient human rights issues by assessing their specific human rights risks linked to their new commercial project or to their daily activities (see after “the due diligence process”).
The ENGIE due diligence process:
The human rights Referential is based on the United Nations Guiding Principles on business and human rights. It aims to implement a global due diligence process to identify and manage adverse human rights impacts of business activities and so to ensure effective implementation of the Group’s commitments.
If the monitoring of the Referential belongs to the Group Ethics & Compliance Department (2), entities are in charge to implement human rights operational processes (1).
1) Operational risks assessments and risk management
Two human rights risks assessments are required by the Referential at the operational level:
- For each new project, activity or business relationship. In addition, an in-depth country analysis is required for “at risk” countries.
- Annually for daily activities and ongoing projects. Feedbacks of entities are analysed by the corporate level (Group Ethics and Compliance Department) which produces itself its dedicated analysis of the global human rights risk for the Group
In order to assess human rights risks, check-lists have been designed to allow entities to identify their dedicated impacts on human rights. These tools are based on international human rights standards requirements and specific questions are related to communities potentially affected by business activities, especially regarding indigenous populations. A greater vigilance is also required by the Referential for vulnerable communities.
In particular, these check-lists include questions on:
- Risk management process
- Employee rights and working conditions (interdiction of forced and child labor, non-discrimination, freedom of association, working hours, health & safety…)
- Impacts on communities:
- community health and safety
- land acquisition and involuntary resettlement, including the issue of free, prior and informed consent
- community security
- grievance mechanisms
- vigilance for vulnerable communities
- Supply chain management
Appropriate action plans must be implemented for risks identified. The Referential encourages also entities to raise awareness of local project managers. Dedicated Group trainings on human rights are available for all employees: one-day classroom training and an eLearning module on “Business and human rights”.
2) Monitoring
The implementation of the Referential is monitored through ethics compliance processes; it is included into:
- The section dedicated to ethics of the Group internal control program
- The Group annual ethics compliance procedure: Ethics & Compliance officers prepare a report on the progress in ethical organisation made by their respective entities, submitting this, together with a compliance letter from the entity's manager, to the Group CEO via the Business Units’ ethics & compliance officers. Based on these reports, the Group Ethics & compliance Officer prepares the annual ethics compliance report.
Human rights incidents must also be reported via an internal reporting tool deployed in all Business Units.
What criteria does your company use to identify communities that may be affected by renewable energy projects it is involved in?
ENGIE through Environmental and Social Responsibility Department has developed the Stakeholder Mapping and Engagement Framework (SMEF). The process encourages the Group Business Units to identify stakeholders that may be affected by the infrastructure projects, in all stages – since the feasibility study to the operation life.
The method relies on an incremental system based on the following criteria.
The first step consists in listing and describing all the stakeholders: individuals, local and traditional communities, groups and organizations that are directly or indirectly impacted positively or negatively by our operations. Stakeholders, including identified communities affected by project, are then characterized respecting transversality and cultural ethnic background in an initial map.
The second step consists in determining the context and perceptions at the general level, the business level and the project specific level. The objective is to identify all the elements of context that need to be taken into account while defining strategy, communications and corporate responsibility, and also to understand how do the others perceive the context and the project and how do we perceive it. This step allows us to identify potential new stakeholders and affected communities to take into account and to update the map according the news findings.
The next step consists in identifying and prioritizing specific issues linked with our operations, such as environment, biodiversity, health and safety at work, community health and safety, etc. mainly based on the ISO 26 000 standards, to adapt the map by relating the stakeholders to these key issues. The objective is to be the closer as possible of the real number of stakeholder/communities impacted by the project in order to better build the actions plans (dialogue plans) which are the following step.
Does your company ensure its consultations include the perspectives and respect the rights of all affected community members (including those who may be marginalised for reasons of gender, social status, age, religion, wealth or income or other considerations)? How is this ensured?
Regular exchanges with stakeholders take place through specific dialogue and consultation mechanisms. They are put in place throughout the projects to enable them to express their expectations and their concerns.
Affected communities consultations are then carried out at each step of the project’s cycle, since the feasibility study to the operation life of the project.
To optimise our consultation method, the prerequisite is to reach clear and direct communication through meetings with affected communities.
Our methodology:
- Prior to the meeting, ENGIE ensures its notification in collaboration with local authority. Other institutions, intermediary organisations can distribute the information through their community networks. Leaders have also a big part to play. The information can also be distributed by cards, prospectus or even by van with loudspeaker and door-to-door.
Then the agenda is prepared to narrow down the objective and define the scope of issues for debate. It is also important, from a logistic point of view, to choose an appropriate place for the meeting that best fits with the community expectation and to provide tables, chairs, microphones and drinks.
- The day of the meeting, for the proper conduct of the latter, ENGIE ensures to introduce it by creating the atmosphere, by defining the proposal as well as the methodology and the rules for speaking. It is fundamental to seek the appropriate methodology for the community and the topic, and also, to seek to strengthen our speaking techniques to clearly define messages, to pay attention to the community’s interests and to encourage participation.
During the meeting, showing respect and humility is the key to allow community members to speak. When conflicts arise, instead of disapproving, it is better to add, explain, support and reinforce. The idea is to pass the ball, play as a team to show our solidarity to ensure that the meeting include the perspectives and respect the rights of all affected community members Then, to close the meeting, it is important to be clear regarding the next steps and to express gratitude.
- Lastly, ENGIE ensures the follow-up of the meeting in order to not create false expectations and make sure that promise are kept. Simple and practical actions as part of a win-win proposition are defined and we make sure that everyone understand and encourage input from everyone.
Continuity of the relationship with the affected community must be ensured by the implementation of activities that meet their needs and by the strengthening of the links with the local authority and other actors.
The key of a good consultation process is to be honest and transparent in a sustained way and to involve affected communities in the process in order to be constructive.
Under what circumstances does your company commit to seeking an affected community’s free, prior & informed consent to a project? Please provide examples of projects where free, prior & informed consent was sought (if applicable).
In France, ENGIE in its Renewable Energy activities answer mainly to public tender offers. The Group is developing two offshore wind parks: one in the English Channel off Le Tréport near Dieppe, and the other on the islands or Yeu and Noirmoutier off the Atlantic Coast in consortium with EDP Renewables, Neoen marine and AREVA.
ENGIE committed to seeking an affected community’s free, prior & informed consent, especially when it won the public tender offer to implement an offshore wind park on the islands of Yeu and Noirmoutier.
When ENGIE won the tender, we started by communicating with the regional committee representing fishermen at the regional level. At the beginning, this regional committee preferred another consortium comprising a business developer with whom they used to work.
Nevertheless, ENGIE’s proposal, by providing less wind turbines and requiring then less space to be implemented, was finally supported by the regional committee. But the latter also consists of local committees representing fishermen at a local level. The one representing the fishermen of the island of Yeu was clearly opposed to ENGIE’s proposal.
ENGIE starting a dialogue process with this committee and its fishermen to get their consent. Fishermen are not only a professional body but above all they are individuals with an history and land occupation rights.
It took 2 years and half to negotiate but, at the end, the local committee endorsed the project unanimously (see below).
What is your company’s process for obtaining and evaluating free, prior & informed consent?
The process for obtaining this consent depends of the country where the affected community is located (regulatory framework; contractual obligations and actions on a voluntary basis).
In France, considering that the State have a duty to facilitate public participation in environmental decision-making, the National Commission for Public Debate (Commission Nationale du Débat Public, or CNDP) organizes public debates on proposals for major development projects (more than 300M€).
When projects worth more than 300M€, it is required for the developer to refer the proposals to the Commission. For example, ENGIE’s offshore wind parks project worth more than 300M€, the company had to refer to the CNDP, whom decided to organize a public debate, and then set up a special ad hoc commission to conduct the debate. This process is dedicated to listen global population concerns.
Another procedure for companies in France consists in its participation to the "consultation and monitoring committee" (Instance suivi et concertation - ISX) under the auspices of the State also. ENGIE asked therefore to establish a specific working group related to fishery within the marine working group in order to prepare this committee.
ENGIE also set up processes on its own initiative for obtaining free, prior & informed consent by organizing affected communities consultation by means of meetings above mentioned (questions 4&5) and by carrying out negotiation to set up an agreement as explained hereinafter.
Has your company faced any challenges in its process to seek free, prior & informed consent for renewable energy projects? If so, please describe what steps your company has taken to overcome these challenges.
At the time ENGIE won the public tender offer for an offshore wind park on the islands of Yeu and Noirmoutier, the local committee representing the fishermen of the island of Yeu was clearly opposed to ENGIE’s proposal.
This local committee representing refused to participate to the public debate carried out by the National Commission for Public Debate. ENGIE decided to prepare, on its own initiative, a draft convention which was presented to the local committee. It took 2 years and half to negotiate but it allowed to know better each other and to get the trust of fishermen. By understanding that the location of the wind turbines was not appropriate to the fishermen, ENGIE changed its proposal to move their location. For that, ENGIE entered in contact with the technical team and the financial team to implement it. Consultation shall be carried out also with these stakeholders.
This convention was then presented to the local committee who endorsed it unanimously. The committee even sent us a letter to give us their approval.
What steps does your company take to ensure that its own personnel, private security companies it contracts with, and/or government forces providing security to its projects, respect the rights of workers and community members, including those who may oppose its projects?
The Group Human Rights Referential includes a dedicated commitment on security forces: “the Group will make sure that assignments related for the security of its employees and assets are conducted with respect for human rights”. The Voluntary principles on security and human rights, are used by the Group as guidelines to ensure the implementation of the commitments.
Check-lists included in the Human Rights Referential (see above question No.2) allow entities to assess new project or their daily activities explicitly by referring to this commitment, according to which entities have to ensure that practices of security forces are compliant with international rules (due diligence on contractors, contractual provisions, training programs, monitoring measures…).
Does your company have a grievance mechanism in place at each project site for affected communities and workers to raise concerns about local impacts, including human rights abuses? If so, were affected communities involved in the design of the grievance mechanism, including its set-up and the types of remedies it provides?
The Human Rights Referential provides for the implementation of operational grievances mechanisms for any stakeholder who feels affected by the activities of the Group by the entities. Entities at local level are in charge to implement such mechanisms, including in particular by the identification of a person in charge of dialogue with stakeholders and the external communication of the name and the way to contact this person.
If they are not satisfied at the local level, stakeholders have the possibility to use two mechanisms available at the corporate level: the Mediator of the Group for commercial matters and the Group ethics whistleblowing mail ([email protected]) for other matters.
Please provide any further information regarding your company’s policies and practices on human rights that you think is relevant.
The Group is a founding member of the association edh (“companies for human rights”) and has held the Presidency since its creation. Edh aims to improve integration of human rights into companies’ policies and practices, especially by the operational implementation of the UN Guiding Principles. It is a think tank where members can exchange about their human rights approaches. It also contributes to French debate, through its participation at the French national platform on CSR (multi-stakeholder forum with government, NGOs, trade-unions, experts, etc.).
Case study related to this company *DISCLAIMER: This has been collected by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre and is not part of the company's answer to the questionnaire
France: Offshore wind farm in Yeu and Noirmoutier
In France, after winning the tender of an offshore wind farm off the islands of Yeu and Noirmoutier, Engie began communication with a regional committee representing local fishermen. Although the committee originally opposed Engie’s plans, the company changed its plans and proposed to install fewer wind turbines therefore reducing the land used. This new proposal gained support from regional committee, though the fishermen were still opposed. Engie began a dialogue process with this committee and its fishermen and after 2 and a half years the local committee endorsed the project unanimously.