HASWhen July was the hottest month ever recorded on the planet and there are increasing signs of climate change faster than expected, the government must present, before the end of the year, an update of its sheet road, the national low carbon strategy (SNBC). This SNBC-3, which sets the trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions between now and 2050, must take into account new European commitments. This involves reducing emissions by 55%, between 1990 and 2030, and no longer by 40%, which means for France a reduction of 5% per year.
If we want to achieve this, all stakeholders must make a gigantic effort. The State, first: by defining a trajectory with precise objectives and above all the means to control their achievement, by investing massively, particularly in transport, which remains the sector whose emissions are increasing the most, and by adjusting its aid and its levies on the behavior of households and businesses.
Households, then, and in particular the wealthiest among them, by adopting practices of sobriety, since, as indicated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “conspicuous consumption by the rich is responsible for much of the emissions in all countries, linked to spending on things such as air travel, tourism, large private vehicles and large houses”.
But an essential part goes to companies, whose responsibility in climate change and in its mitigation must be recognized and measured. The thesis of the American economist Milton Friedman (1912-2006), defended in 1970 in the New York Timesaccording to which there would be “one and only one corporate social responsibility – to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits” is in fact increasingly called into question and less and less justifiable.
Dual materiality
The idea that the manager would be the “agent” of the shareholders, considered as the owners of the company, and would have the sole function of maximizing the value of the company for them without having to be accountable to the other stakeholders. has been the subject of much criticism. In France, the Pacte law (Action plan for the growth and transformation of businesses) of 2019 introduced into French law the recognition of the social and environmental impacts of businesses, and allowed some to declare themselves “mission-based company” by specifying the objectives they pursue.
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