The EDF group is committed to respecting human rights in its activities. EDF supports and promotes the protection of internationally recognised human rights through its commitments rolled out and supported within the Group and in its business relationships.
Compliance with international standards
EDF strives to comply, at least, with the international standards protecting and defending human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the United Nations International Bill of Human Rights and the fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Guiding Principles. In addition, EDF is signatory of the UN Global Compact.
If the laws of a country where it operates conflict with these international standards, EDF endeavours to find a solution to render it compliant with both the spirit of the international standards and national laws.
Our human rights commitments
The EDF group guarantees equality of treatment for employees and refuses to accept any form of distinction, exclusion or preference on grounds of a person’s supposed race, skin colour, sex, age, religious views, political opinions, national background, social background, disability, family situation, sexual orientation or gender identity.
In the countries where it operates and within its own activities, the EDF group is actively involved in efforts to achieve equal access to employment and equal pay for equal work for women and men in the Group, and to building gender balance in its teams at all levels in the company.
Diversity is encouraged at all levels in work communities and employees must be protected against all forms of discrimination or reprisal.
The EDF group tolerates no harassment or violence of any kind at work, or outside work if harassment or violence is linked to relationships that may have been established in the workplace.
The EDF group is committed to fighting against all forms of workplace harassment, sexism and violence, and to protecting its employees from them.
The EDF group rejects all forms of forced labour, as defined in the ILO’s Fundamental Conventions. In particular, on the projects and activities it carries out, the EDF group ensures employees give their free and informed consent before carrying out their duties.
The EDF group in particular ensures that intermediaries and employment agencies do not resort to practices that may entail forced labour.
The EDF group is committed to never impeding the free movement of workers. In particular, the Group shall not confiscate workers’ travel documents, identity documents or any other personal item.
The EDF group rejects all forms of child labour, as defined in the ILO’s Fundamental Conventions.
The EDF group shall not employ anyone under age 15 (barring exceptions provided in ILO Convention 138) and shall not employ anyone under age 18 for work considered hazardous in said Convention.
The EDF group respects freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, as defined by the ILO.
The EDF group acknowledges that all employees are free to establish and/or join the worker organisation of their choice and does not interfere with this right.
The EDF group shall not in any way threaten, harass, punish or discriminate employees on account of their trade union activities, and does not discourage them from joining the organisations of their choice.
The EDF group respects the right to collective bargaining and the role of worker organisations in related talks.
The EDF group strives to comply with the ILO’s standards related to working hours based on the following principles, barring exceptions mentioned by the ILO:
- Regular working weeks do not exceed 48 hours.
- Working weeks do not exceed 60 hours including overtime.
- Workers have at least 1 day off every 7 working days, except in the event of emergencies or other uncommon circumstances.
- Workers have at least 3 weeks of paid leave each working year.
- Maternity leave lasts at least 14 weeks.
The EDF group strives to comply with the ILO’s standards related to compensation and fringe benefits.
The EDF group is committed to paying decent wages enabling employees and their family to meet their basic needs, and to providing all its employees with adequate welfare protection.
The EDF group ensures that all the employees it houses live in decent conditions meeting ILO standards.
The EDF group is committed to never impairing the rights of the communities living around its operations.
The EDF group is committed to organising transparent two-way dialogue and consultation about all new projects worldwide.
The EDF group acknowledges the role of human-rights and environmental advocates, and shall not prevent them from exercising their rights. The Group strives to identify the risks arising from its activities and affecting human-rights and environmental advocates, and to enable said advocates to freely carry out their duties.
The EDF group identifies the risks pertaining to local communities’ health, living conditions and environment on all its projects, in light of the International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group) Performance Standards, and offers to take suitable measures to address them.
The EDF group is committed to respecting the rights and distinctive features of indigenous populations as defined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and ILO Convention 169. The UNDRIP in particular stipulates that "Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories. No relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned and after agreement on just and fair compensation."
In cases where its activity threatens or affects a community’s livelihood, the EDF group is committed to providing compensation and/or restoring livelihoods, at least to the conditions preceding its work.
The EDF group is committed to protecting and safeguarding, with the affected populations’ agreement, the cultural, religious and other heritage on the land it uses for its activity.
The EDF group is committed to the security of its employees and facilities, in strict accordance with human rights including the rights of local communities.
Implementation of human rights commitments
The application and enforcement of human rights commitments are in line with the group’s CSR commitments and requirements, and is based on action principles that apply all group activities. They in particular include:
Management of E&S impacts
The initial and ongoing evaluation and the management of environmental and societal (E&S) impacts and risks, including those caused by the activities of its business acquaintances.
Dialogue and consultation
The organisation, worldwide, of a procedure of transparent, debated discussions and consultations for each new project relating to a facility drawing on a budget of more than €50 million, and having a significant impact on the territories or the environment.
Implementation and monitoring
The implementation and monitoring of these commitments and requirements is ensured under the Group’s existing internal policies or agreements, in particular the sustainable development policy, the ethics and compliance policy, the purchasing policy, the health and safety policy, the global CSR agreement, the Ethics Charter and the roll-out of the vigilance plan.
Collecting and processing reports
Systems for collecting and processing reports of wrongdoing, that are accessible and notified to anyone who could be impacted by the Company’s operations, guaranteeing the confidentiality of the reports and protecting internal whistleblowers (employees and external staff), have also been set up.
Out commitments in line with our actions
Find out more about our human rights commitments:
Commitment to the United Nations Global Compact
EDF signed the United Nations Global Compact Charter in 2001, thereby committing itself to respecting the ten United Nations Global Compact principles, derived from the fundamental texts of the United Nations, in the areas of human rights, labor law, the environment and anti-corruption. EDF issues a letter of commitment, signed by the Chairman and CEO, as well as a Communication on Progress in implementing the Compact's principles, accessible on the Global Compact website. Since 2012, EDF has achieved the "advanced" level every year, the highest level of practices respecting the Global compact principles.
Contribution to UN Sustainable Development Goals
As part of its work, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has identified priority Sustainable Development Objectives to which companies in the electricity sector must contribute in order to maximise their positive impacts or minimise their negative impacts. In the Universal Registration Document (p. 247), a table summarises the EDF group's contribution to this analysis grid, and assesses its contribution in relation to the commitments, policies and actions undertaken (with cross-references to the relevant sections of the Statement of non-financial performance).