Indicateurs et reporting environnemental

Before it can improve or even communicate, a company must understand its own system, identify its significant environmental impacts, and measure and document the key elements. To do this, it needs indicators that allow it to quantify its impacts, to assess their importance in relation to other environmental issues, and to compare itself with other organisations in or outside its sector.

The establishment of good indicators (litres of water needed to produce a kilogramme of coffee, kilogrammes of CO2 produced to supply a client, percentage of fruit suppliers certified as "organic", etc.) often takes time and requires resources.) often takes time and requires resources, but this is what allows it to track the evolution of its environmental impact over time.

It is only once it has understood in detail its environmental impact throughout its value-added production chain that it will be able to make the right decisions and provide information on issues as complex as the climate, biodiversity and plastic packaging.

Un outil pour le management
At the financial level, no one can set up a business without having a budget and a regular, sometimes very detailed, monitoring system. It is even required by law that a company be public, private or even an association. Without this basic information, it would be impossible to manage a company and make the right decisions.

The same applies to the environment. It is only by having solid and quantified information on its environmental impact that a company can improve its environmental performance over time. It can then make the right choices in terms of processes and technology, invest at the right time and in the right place, and ensure that its decisions bring about a real improvement.

To this end, it combines general indicators for monitoring its environmental performance over several years and more specific indicators linked to the projects that have been put in place. Elle veillera à ce que les indicateurs généraux soient affectés à ses impacts environnementaux les plus significatifs.

Without adapted indicators, environmental issues cannot be integrated into management, or else they will be limited to annexed or cosmetic measures.

Une base pour la communication
In terms of external as well as internal communication, the indicators make it possible to show what the environmental challenges of the company are, and to what extent it is working on them. The indicators for communication must be well chosen in such a way that they are comprehensible, credible and have a meaning in relation to the company's activities.

It is also important to link them to the product in such a way that the client can make the link with his own impact and compare it with the other alternatives that are on offer. It can be interesting in this context to collaborate with external organisations, while offering an overall view and a comparison between competitors. It can be done through NGOs or industry associations.

Un outil transversal dans l'entreprise
As we can see, indicators and environmental reporting must be implemented and used in a transversal manner within the company. While their implementation and measurement is often the responsibility of the environmental manager or of specialist professionals, their use must be carried out by the management, and there must be strong cooperation, both with production and communication, in order to have a coherent and integrated approach, and not to fall into greenwashing.

De manière pragmatique, on veillera également à rester aussi simple que möglich, trop d'information tue l'information, et dans le domaine, la simplicité est signe de maîtrise.