Study of the problematic of the indicators of sustainable development for the French company RATP

• Main Author: Hennino, Bénédicte
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: KTH, Industriell ekologi 2007
• Subjects: Social Sciences Interdisciplinary; Tvärvetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-32754

The aim of the study is to understand the problematic of indicators of sustainable development for the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) that runs the public transport in Paris. The RATP, which was born in 1948, has a limited autonomy since the Syndicat des Transports en Île-de-France (STIF) lays down the prices and specifies the frequency and the amplitude of bus, train and metro services. The RATP has a particular mission as it provides a public service. The company is divided in 18 departments and 8 general delegations among which is the General Delegation to Sustainable Development (DGDD) which supports the actions and the policy in terms of sustainable development. Sustainable development is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs” (The world commission on environment and development, Our common future, 1987, p.43). RATP commitments to sustainable development are numerous: Business Charter for Sustainable Development, Global Compact, partnership with ADEME, etc. Lots of indicators coexist at RATP but a panel of indicators of sustainable development that encompasses the environmental and social/societal aspects is published annually in the corporate report. These indicators are not always relevant and do not correspond neither to the needs of employees nor to the requirements of international standards and stakeholders. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which has developed a reporting framework for sustainable development under the form of guidelines and indicators, is the basis for the suggestion of new indicators for RATP. Public transport competitors in France (Veolia Transport, SNCF, Keolis, Transdev) and Europe (UK and Sweden) as well as on other companies have been benchmarked to observe how they deal with the issues of sustainable development. The breaches of RATP have been enlightened by comparing it to GRI and then to the concurrent companies within the GRI framework. Whereas GRI can deeply help improving the quality and relevance of RATP indicators of sustainable development, the competitors bring little information for RATP that is rather in advance compared to its direct concurrence in its way to report sustainable development. Thanks to the analysis realised, the qualities of good indicators of sustainable development have been defined. A new panel of indicators of sustainable development for the corporate report has been suggested, based on the existing panel and on GRI requirements. As ways of thinking and working cannot be changed drastically in a short time, the provided suggestion might not be perfect, but can be adopted and improved in the next years. Suggested indicators could be still improved by introducing 3 different related levels from top management to workers and by clearly defining and harmonizing the perimeters of reporting. Extra recommendations are to improve cartographies of water and electricity at RATP, so that everyone knows which quantities it consumes. Moreover, the whole GRI guidelines (not only the indicators) should be studied in order to realise the global reporting in sustainable development. === www.ima.kth.se