Paris, November 16, 2020 – Oodrive, the European leader in sensitive data management, is leveraging its corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy in a concerted effort to offset and reduce its CO2 emissions. In the context of the COVID-19 health crisis, which has played a large role in the acceleration of corporations’ ecological transitions, oodrive has measured its carbon footprint and developed a concrete action plan in order to considerably reduce its environmental impact. The Group is offsetting its residual emissions through the rollout of initiatives aimed at combatting climate change and promoting sustainable growth.
Recently, the French government and digital companies have shown increased awareness of the challenges posed by environmental responsibility. This has encouraged oodrive to fully commit to this cause, as illustrated in the organization of its CSR policy. Work began several years ago on the strategy, which has three main pillars: environmental, social and corporate governance.
Cédric Mermilliod, oodrive Cofounder & Senior VP, commented: “To date, we have adopted common-sense measures such as paper recycling and a company-wide plastic ban. We have now created a structured policy focused on environmental responsibility. Our ambition is to sustainably decrease our carbon footprint and play our part in achieving national targets.”
Offsetting, then reducing, CO2 emissions
To support its efforts, oodrive called on the expertise of the specialist firm ERM to measure all of its greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). The result? In 2019, the Group reported a carbon footprint totaling 928 tons in all scopes.
With this figure in mind, oodrive decided to offset its residual emissions. “We have offset all of our company emissions since 2019. We commissioned the low-carbon expert Judo Cares to select a certified project in Mauritius. This not only lowered our energy consumption, but also created local jobs.” Cédric Mermilliod explained.
Lastly, as a Group, we are working on a medium and long-term action plan to reduce our CO2 emissions and structure ongoing initiatives. Cédric Mermilliod added: “It’s not just a question of measuring and offsetting emissions. Quite the opposite, it necessitates the complex application of a lasting and structured policy to cut emissions. This is why we strive to raise awareness among all our stakeholders, but especially oodrivians, who are the main players in and ambassadors of our strategy.”
Raising employee awareness to lessen the impact of business travel
In addition to its other initiatives, oodrive has also established a cross-functional CSR working group of employee volunteers. The group works towards achieving three goals: planning and rolling out CSR initiatives, promoting internal and external awareness of environmental and societal concerns, and assessing and monitoring initial project results and sharing them with the oodrive executive committee.
Oodrive has gone a step further by rolling out two strong employee-focused plans to minimize travel-related emissions. First, the Group has adopted remote working practices designed to be implemented long-term. It also encourages employees to commute on low carbon means of transportation. Moreover, oodrive employees using eco-friendly transport on their commute will also soon benefit from a sustainable mobility package paid by their employer. And second, in the medium term, the Group’s vehicle fleet will consist entirely of hybrid and electric cars.
Digital players shoulder huge responsibility when it comes to environmental issues. The digital industry accounts for 4% of global GHGs. Going forward, our industry must accelerate the digital transformation, technological sovereignty and the ecological transformation, which are all interdependent. In this regard, oodrive will seek to step up its commitment, mobilizing both its employees and ecosystem to ensure that environmental, societal and governance interests are taken fully into account across the entire company value chain.
