Translations

Plant'action inclusive of trees with companies of the protected and adapted sector with ENEDIS

4. Environment

Sector Energy / Water

Year 2021

Country France

Transmitter

Context

Enedis is a public service company in charge of managing and developing 95% of the electricity distribution network in France. Independent of energy suppliers, it develops, operates and modernizes 1.4 million kilometers of low and medium voltage electricity network and manages the associated data.

In 2020, Enedis Nord-Pas de Calais has mobilized around various CSR actions, including participating in the reforestation of the territory. From the regional horticulturist for the choice of species to the planting of local plants with ESAT staff, Enedis has chosen an inclusive Plant'action (STPA companies, an association with an ecological vocation) integrating the 3 pillars of CSR, the environment, the social and the economy, and the icing on the cake by getting its employees to participate massively through a federative challenge to preserve and promote Nature and Biodiversity accessible to all. These inclusive Plant'actions are a way to ecologically renaturalize company sites or green spaces.

Objectives

The challenge is to associate all along the environmental cooperation chain the actors of sustainable development. Thus:

The producer is part of an ecological transition including biodiversity (biology, genetics)
The green spaces company sources its responsible purchases and involves people with disabilities in the management of change, i.e. in the transformation of green spaces, by improving its business practices and deploying new skills to move away from the grass-only model, which is not nourishing for the species
The client (the company) establishes in the city a model of nature with an educational purpose that emphasizes the acceptance of differences in the management of green spaces
The employees associated with the management of nature in the company rely on strong eco-environmental values and new rituals and rhythms related to the respect of living things (bee day, plant agenda, seasonal celebrations), etc.

APPROACH

Enedis selects the fruit trees (or not) from biodiversity channels (vegetal-local.fr cnbl.org, plantonsledecor.fr, enrx.org) which ensure local traceability of plants and follow the recommendations of the French Office for Biodiversity. For the implementation, it is called upon companies of the protected and adapted work sector (STPA).

To implement its approach, Enedis has :

Identified a need related to the renaturation of green spaces and/or climate resilience, reasoned management of resources, protection of biodiversity (see BipiZ sheet "Green spaces of the future")
Identified the stakeholders interested in defining a new framework for life at work and new modes of cooperation, value creation and environmental progress
Selected service providers that met the specifications for the supply of fruit trees, local plants and green space or landscape companies with a strong CSR appetite for integration and/or disability
Established a framework for shared learning that allows for the appropriation of new environmental practices (planting, development of the work environment, management of spaces and species) and the development of new jobs (participation in the ecological transition, in an ecolabel, etc.)

For example, on the tree planting project implemented in 2020 on the Nord-Pas de Calais, Enedis had to:

Identify sites on their operational bases to plant 40 fruit trees that will nourish the local ecosystem and biodiversity
Engage Enedis employees in a sports challenge and earn points that are transformed into trees
Establish a partnership with the municipality of Violaines to plant 200 regional trees that are resistant to the local climate. In 2021, this operation is in progress because, due to sanitary measures, it could not be carried out within the initial timeframe
To call upon a regional horticulturist for the choice of reasoned, nourishing and local species. It should be remembered that the NPDC has very little woodland (13%)
To solicit the ESAT and EA for the plantation by associating them with the transition of ecological skills envisaged (green spaces of the future)
Joining forces with Canopée Reforestation to plant the 200 trees on Violaines in an inclusive manner (operation in progress)
Promote this inclusive Plant Action approach shared with external partners (10 green space companies) and their eco-citizen employees.

CONTRIBUTION TO COMPANY PERFORMANCE

Enshrinement of environmental values at the heart of Enedis' DNA for the benefit and true embodiment by all employees on the sites and in the rituals and rhythms of the work organization, in particular through the European Week for Sustainable Development (EWSSD) and the Week for the Employment of Disabled People (WEDP)
Stimulation of local employment (40 fruit trees) and voluntary planters' associations
Increasing the scope of responsible purchasing with a balanced set of specifications between the built and the green, which benefits the QWL (nature in the office, green islands)
Improved cooperation with internal (eco-ambassadors) and external stakeholders (companies in the plant and vegetable industry)

Benefits

Raising employees' awareness of environmental issues such as biodiversity and climate change, while emphasizing the human ecology dimension of the project
Participation of all in the management of environmental change (transition of skills in the professions)
Better matching between the energy transition (industrial model) and the ecological transition (territorial model)
Participation of all the actors of the chain in the creation of values: horticulturist, employees, partners, ESAT, plantation association