Our commitments, partnerships and recognitions
Commitments
Among its local initiatives, Saint-Gobain made a commitment in 2018 to “Act4nature International”, a French initiative for voluntary commitments by companies for biodiversity. Short after that, the Group has unveiled its biodiversity policy, which reflects its commitment to protecting, restoring, encouraging and promoting biodiversity, by involving all stakeholders.
Check Biodiversity Policy.
Since 2019, Saint-Gobain supports the pledge of the Global Compact (UN) “Business ambition for 1.5°C”, committing itself to reach net-zero emissions by no later than 2050 in line with the goal to limit the rise of global temperature to 1.5°C. This ambition is part of the strategy that the Group has been deploying for several years to limit its environmental impact and contribute to decarbonize its markets.
Check CO2 Roadmap.
In 2017, Saint-Gobain reinforces its commitment for sustainable development by signing the French Business Climate Pledge. Created by 91 French companies of which Saint-Gobain, companies of this signatory engage in the fight against climate change by reducing GHG emissions of products, services, and solutions. Since then, Saint-Gobain has confirmed its commitment thanks to it objective of being carbon neutral by 2050.
Check 2030 Roadmap.
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards aim to guide companies through their reporting to foster transparency for stakeholders and have organizations take responsibility for their impact. Saint-Gobain's reporting applies the methodology and standards of the GRI.
Race to Zero (UN) is one example of how a coalition of various entities can come together with one common goal. At present, the coalition represents 452 cities, 22 regions, 1,101 businesses, 45 of the biggest investors, and 549 universities. Together with 120 countries, this comprises the largest ever alliance committed to realizing net zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest.
Check CO2 Roadmap.
The Task Force on Financial Disclosures (TCFD) was created to help investors make more informed decisions and various stakeholder to better understand companies’ exposure to climate related risk, by developing recommendations towards more transparency on climate issues. Since 2017, Saint-Gobain upholds and applies those recommendations.
Check TCFD Table.
Saint-Gobain is a member of the United Nation’s Global Compact since 2003. Saint-Gobain also encourages its partners, particularly its suppliers, to commit to the Global Compact’s ten principles. Likewise, the Group pays particular attention to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), so as to make progress in evaluating the real impacts that companies can have in working towards a fairer, more sustainable world.
Check ODD Section.
The We are still in initiative is born from a group of cities, states, companies, investors and universities to support the Paris Agreement after Donald Trump announced that the United States left the Paris Agreement.
The Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs) are a set of principles that aims to guide companies promote gender equality and women empowerment in the workplace. Saint-Gobain has joined the WEPs signatory in 2021, thereby confirming its commitment to gender equality.
Check ODD 5.
Partnerships
In France, Saint-Gobain is directly involved in the Afep and the Medef, professional associations representing companies. The Group applies the recommendations and takes into account the criteria of the Afep-Medef Code.
The French Association “Entreprises pour l’Environnement” (EpE) gathers around fifty companies from diverse industries, forming a think thank to better account environment in their decisions. It partners with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). Saint-Gobain is a member of the EpE, thereby confirming its commitment for environment.
The Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC) gathers governments, companies from diverse industries, universities and NGOs to share experience and ideas regarding carbon pricing. As part of its commitment to tackle climate issues, Saint-Gobain is one of the partner companies, as well as a member of the advisory group of the CPLC.
Saint-Gobain belongs to the ETC (Energy Transition Commission), a group of about fifty leaders from the energy and climate community. The aim of the ETC is to accelerate the move to a low-carbon energy system that enables strong economic growth, while limiting global warming to levels well below 2°C.
EuroACE, the European Alliance of Companies for Energy Efficiency in Buildings, is an association of industrials that provide materials and solutions for energy efficiency in buildings, notably through the Renovate Europe Campaign. Saint-Gobain is an active member and supporter of the work of EuroACE thanks to its role as a Board member and its chairmanship of the Energy Efficiency Policy workgroup of the Alliance.
Since 2017, Saint-Gobain is a member of the EU-ASE (European Alliance to Save Energy). Members of the alliance aim to help advance energy efficiency, share ideas and foster best practices. The main objective of the alliance is to create an energy efficient Europe.
The European Round Table for Industry (ERT) gathers CEOs and Chairs of major global companies from diverse sectors. It aims to promote Europe’s competitiveness and sustainable growth. Saint-Gobain is a member of the ERT.
Launched by France and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) during the COP21, the global Alliance for Building and Construction (GABC) aims to bring states, local authorities, construction businesses and relevant associations together by means of a roadmap to smooth the transition to energy efficient buildings with low greenhouse gas emissions, in accordance with the goals set under the Paris Agreement. Saint-Gobain is committed to creating a low-carbon trajectory for the global construction industry. The Group is a founding member of the GABC.
Saint-Gobain is a member company of the Transparency International France Forum. Thus, Saint-Gobain supports the association’s activities and has committed to rejecting and combatting corruption, in all its forms. The Group undertakes to make its best efforts to implement a solid prevention mechanism, inspired by the current best practices of the business world.
Check Anticorruption Policy.
We Mean Business, a non-profit organization, works to get businesses to set their ambitions and decide how they are going to deliver on them. According to Dean Cambridge, Deputy Director at the organization, “business leaders have to grasp their organization’s bold targets and take action to implement the right strategy. Importantly, they can't do this alone. They've got to collaborate with peers, supply chains, governments, and vested cities.”.
Saint-Gobain is active in the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). WBCSD is a worldwide grouping of 200 companies that deliberate on and develop solutions for a more sustainable world. Saint-Gobain has been a member of the WBCSD Board since 2017, with responsibility for “climate, energy, the circular economy, towns and cities, and mobility”.
The World Green Building Council (WGBC) works in favor of the integration and adoption of sustainable building everywhere and for everyone. Saint-Gobain is a member of 40 local GBCs worldwide, a partner of the European network of GBCs (ERN) and is vice-president of the Corporate Advisory Board of the WGBC. GBCs have a geographical organization that allows each of Saint-Gobain’s units, at the local, national, and international levels, to actively contribute to their work.
Created in September 2021 by the Corporate Leaders Groups (CLG), the Taskforce for climate neutral and circular materials and products aims to gather companies from various sectors that are pioneers in terms of carbon neutrality in order to influence the European public policy towards the decarbonization of products and materials. The Group is an active member of this taskforce.
A multi-stakeholder dialogue group, the Institut de développement durable et des relations internationales (IDDRI) is a think thank offering solutions and tools to facilitate the transition towards sustainable development in public and private policies. Saint-Gobain is part of the committee of this institute.
The CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) is a charity that elaborates questionnaires to guide companies on what information to disclose and to evaluate their environmental impacts. In 2023, Saint-Gobain answered the Climate and Water Dislosure questionnaires, achieving scores of A- and A- respectively.
ISS ESG is a non-financial rating agency that assesses companies’ performance based on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria. Identified as part of the construction materials industry, Saint-Gobain has achieved the prime status for the ISS ESG rating, thereby exceeding the sustainability performance requirements set by the rating industry for the industry.
The Science-Based Targets initiative defines and promotes best practices in science target setting and independently assesses and approves corporate targets to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy. SBTi is the result of a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, the World Resource Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and one of the commitments of the We Mean Business coalition. Saint-Gobain's 2030 CO2 objectives have been approved by the SBTi.
In 2024, Saint-Gobain was again awarded the “Top Employer Global” certification for the 9th consecutive year, additionally to having certified 40 countries. Only 17 companies in the world have received this distinction. The Top Employer label rewards the best global companies by examining aspects including the organization’s HR and career development processes in each of its countries. It is a label awarded locally by country, then by region and finally, by accumulation, at a global level. Maintaining this label is for Saint-Gobain a recognition of its human resources policy and the attention paid to the well-being and development of our employees. The implementation of the program Care by Saint-Gobain only reinforces the Group’s commitment by bringing to employees and their families social protection as well as measures of parental leave worldwide.