Séché Environnement

Séché environnement tells us

The challenge of reporting

“Séché Environnement has been implementing extra-financial reporting in France for several years. The company wanted to extend the field of collection to its 15 entities in 15 countries.”

Silvia BONILLA
International Sustainable Development Manager

What was the biggest challenge in scaling up?

It was indeed a big challenge and a strong evolution to integrate the international entities. The first challenge was to make sure that even though we didn’t all speak the same language, we all spoke the same language. We had to make sure that we all understood the same thing with the indicators we had selected.

Data collection is also a challenge. There is new data that appears when society evolves, the demands are different, you have to be mature to know where to collect the data.

How did you proceed?

We did not select all the French reporting indicators at once. We chose a few and evolved as we went along. We created definitions that everyone could identify with. Then we went through a whole exercise of awareness, explanation and accountability of the data.

We spoke to the site managers and to the people who collect the data to explain to them why the data is important and what its impacts are. And as Séché is a listed company, some information has real implications. So we had to set up tools to make the data reliable, and it is in this context that we work with Tennaxia®. This allows us to give clarity and transparency to the methodology we use. There is a traceability of the data and all our extra-financial data are audited by an auditor.

Has this change created opportunities?

Yes, we saw this change as a huge opportunity. It has allowed us to meet our reporting obligations, but it has also allowed us to create a link with the new facilities through the environmental requirement. Now, when we talk about climate issues, the circular economy, water discharges, air discharges, protection and preservation of biodiversity… We have numbers behind all these great values that can sometimes seem abstract.

This also allows us to create ambitious action plans and to be in continuous improvement because when a new indicator arrives, either through a regulatory change or a societal expectation, we are able to change our reporting. This requires maturity and flexibility to adapt.

What did having reliable and robust non-financial data allow you to do?

I would say three things mainly:

Structuring

Practices are evolving and having reliable data allows us to be more structured, and therefore also to give more confidence to the bank.

Lever

This helped to mobilize management and teams.

Adaptation

We must constantly adapt to new demands to attract new talent, new funding, new technologies or practices.