Renault participates in the creation of a regional club on the UN Global Compact

Renault, LVMH, Veolia Environnement and Direction Régionale de l’Industrie, de la Recherche et de l’Environnement (DRIRE) Ile-de-France have formed the Ile-de- France (Greater Paris) club to promote the principles of the UN Global Compact. Under the impetus of Renault and DRIRE Ile-de-France, the club aims to encourage dialogue centered on UN Global Compact principles regarding human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption, between small and medium-sized companies and three prominent figures of the business world. Renault, LVMH and Veolia Environnement are leading the club with technical assistance from Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers, an engineering school.

Launched by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in July 2000, the Global Compact is an initiative aimed at mobilizing businesses, United Nations agencies, NGOs and civil society around ten principles related to human rights, labor standards, the environment and the fight against corruption.

In line with this initiative, the DRIRE Ile-de-France along with Renault, LVMH and Veolia Environnement have founded a club whose members are small- and medium-sized companies from a variety of industrial sectors in the Greater Paris region, in order to promote the principles of the UN Global Compact, particularly those pertaining to the environment. The purpose of the club is to encourage “cross fertilization” among members by identifying good practices observed in one sector of activity and exploring ways of adapting them to other sectors. Participating companies can thus share their experience to permit collective progress on the issue of social responsibility in the context of globalization. Renault, LVMH and Veolia Environnement will also share their experience, particularly in the area of managing the environmental impact of their activities.

For nearly two years, fourteen small- and medium-sized “pilot” companies have been working on the environmental issues addressed by the Global Compact. These companies have now joined the Greater Paris club:

Ultimately, the objective is to broaden the circle of member companies by making other small- and medium-sized enterprises – especially those that are developing commercial relations with emerging countries – aware of the global Compact.

Renault committed to the Global Compact in 2001 and in 2003 joined the Forum des Amis du Pacte Mondial, the network of French businesses and partners whose objective is to endorse the application of the Compact and extend the network of member companies.