Environmental Commitments In French Companies: A New Role For The Social And Economic Committee?

• Published date: 27 July 2021
• Subject Matter: Corporate/Commercial Law, Employment and HR, Environment, Corporate and Company Law, Health & Safety, Environmental Law
• Law Firm: lus Laboris
• Author: Marie-Pierre Olive (Capstan Avocats)

The French Citizens' Climate Convention came up with a number of proposals to help France meet its Paris Agreement commitments. Now a new law will implement the proposal on environmental transformation in companies, with an enhanced role for the Social and Economic Committee, the body representing employees' interest in French companies.

France has set itself the objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% compared to 1990 levels by 2030, before achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 in accordance with Paris Agreement commitments. To develop the public policy needed to achieve this first step in a spirit of social justice, the government called on the direct and unprecedented participation of 150 French people in the Citizens' Climate Convention.

The French Parliament has definitively adopted a bill 'to combat climate change and strengthen resilience to its effects' (available here in French) including proposals from this convention requiring legislative intervention.

A stronger environmental role for the Social and Economic Committee

As soon as it was presented, the draft law was criticised by the Convention's citizens, who noted its lack of ambition and the distortion of their proposals on everyday issues (travel, consumption, housing, production and work, and food).

The same cannot be said of the plan to transpose the citizens' proposal into the Labour Code (Proposal PT 4.2). It aims, in particular, to strengthen the role of the Social and Economic Committee (CSE), the staff representative body, 'in the transition of the company's products and processes to low-carbon'. This would take place through:

• consultation on company strategy and social policy;
• mandatory annual negotiations on forward-looking management of jobs and skills (known as GPEC).

GPEC negotiations

The CSE is not, of course, an organisation's natural negotiating partner. However, the bill reflects the spirit of the initial proposal with additional provisions on mandatory GPEC negotiations at branch and company level.

These proposed negotiations respond specifically to the challenges of green transformation. Neither the scope of mandatory negotiation (which applies to companies with 300 or more employees and groups with 300 or more employees) nor its frequency (three-yearly, unless otherwise agreed) would change.

This clarification will not lead to any major upheaval with regard to the main purpose of GPEC: to anticipate the consequences of future changes on employees. Rather, it...