3 - Introduction to Stakeholder engagement

Introduction to the conduct of step 3: definitions, governance, requirements and deliverables.

Source: Freepik

The vision of Bilan Carbone® is not solely focused on carbon accounting and the definition of a transition plan. It is an approach in which the stakeholder engagement phases are fundamental and ambitious. To facilitate the move to action, the Bilan Carbone® approach requires a Stakeholder engagement around the Bilan Carbone® project and the transition plan that will be deployed.

Stakeholder engagement continues continuously throughout the Bilan Carbone® approach. The timing of each of the stakeholder engagement phases is given here as indicative: the important thing is that the right messages are conveyed to the right targets.

To achieve engagement, the Bilan Carbone® approach involves several phases : outreach the issues to raise awareness, empower the stakeholders, co-construct the actions, then reported and communicate the results. These different stakeholder engagement phases must be adapted to the different maturity levels, stages, stakeholders and organisational profiles:

• Stage 3.1.1 : At the launch and framing of the Bilan Carbone®

• Stage 3.1.2 : At the launch of data collection

• Stage 3.1.3 : For the construction of the GHG profile

• Stage 3.1.4 : For the construction of the transition plan

• Stage 3.1.5 : In summary of the approach

Figure 3: Timeline of stakeholder engagement actions

🌐 English version of this image.

Glossary relating to the Stakeholder engagement stages

All terms relating to the stakeholder engagement stages are explained in the glossary. They are recalled below:

• Stakeholder engagement action : it is the association of a stakeholder engagement phase (awareness-raising, empowerment, coconstruction, or reporting), during a stage, with one or more targets, with a more or less specific adaptation of messages depending on the organisational profile.

Presentation of the different stakeholder engagement phases:

• Awareness and popularisation 🧠 : The main challenge of awareness-raising and popularisation of the issues is to understand in order to act : strengthen the understanding of essential information around energy and climate issues, and unite people around the approach to ensure better integration of the Transition Plan.

  Objective : Create the necessary groundwork for a good understanding of the issues, for acceptance of change and future actions to be undertaken, and enable the organisation to identify the risks and opportunities associated with the ecological transition.

  Indicator : Level of knowledge and understanding of the issues.

• Empowerment 🙋: The main issue of empowerment is to give everyone a role in the approach. For stakeholders to become aware that every degree counts, that every action matters and therefore that every employee matters in the implementation of these actions. For the organisation to realise that this concerns sustainability. New responsibilities will emerge from the approach and will allow existing positions to be enhanced by taking into account an essential component related to the durability of the activity.

  Objective : Involve and enable each stakeholder to get moving and take action.

  Indicator : Level of participation in the approach and level of moving to action.

• Coconstruction 💭: The main challenge of coconstruction is to highlight initiatives, sharing and consultation. Coconstruction is central, and is therefore closely linked to the other types of engagement: the consulted stakeholders must have a sufficient level of information about the approach, which requires upstream an 🧠effective awareness-raising and popularisation, as well as a 📢 transparent reporting and communication. Coconstruction gives people a voice and encourages participation, which makes it possible to 🙋empower. It enables the identification of the carbon reduction axes that the organisation and its stakeholders can consider, drawing on their knowledge (of the process, the product, the organisation).

  Objective : Confront the choice of actions with real possibilities and possible alternatives, in order to arrive at a transition plan perceived as a common project by the organisation and its stakeholders.

  Indicator : Level of participation in the coconstruction of the transition plan.

• Reporting and communication 📢 : The main issue of reporting and communications is to enable the appropriation of results and actions by the different concerned stakeholders. To link global issues, local issues, the organisation's impacts, the role of stakeholders in these impacts, the resulting actions, and the role of stakeholders in the success of these actions.

  Objective : Make this approach an initiative that goes beyond the project team to reach other concerned stakeholders (primarily internal employees) through the implementation of actions, in a logic of cross-functionality, togetherness, reputation and exemplarity.

  Indicator : Level of knowledge and understanding of the results (impacts and actions)

Presentation of the different adaptations:

• Stages of the approach 🗓️ : Stakeholder engagement continues continuously throughout the Bilan Carbone® approach and adapts to the different stages:

  • At the launch and framing (step 1) : Awareness and popularisation

  • For the identification of emission sources and data to be collected (stage 2) : Empowerment of the holders of information & data

  • For the accounting of emissions (stage 4) : results presentation intermediate

  • For reflections around the transition plan (stage 5) : coconstruction of the actions

  • For the finalisation of the approach (stage 6) : Empowerment, Reporting and communication

• Targets and stakeholders 👥: Stakeholders around the organisation can be distributed as follows. They will be solicited in distinct phases of Stakeholder engagement.

  • Project team, internal leads

  • Management

  • Other internal collaborators (employees, salaried staff, volunteers)

  • Upstream external stakeholders (suppliers)

  • Downstream external stakeholders (customers)

  • Other external stakeholders (financial and technical partners, local actors, professional federations, or other partners on topics strategic for the organisation such as education, innovation, development).

• Organisational profile 📊 : Different organisational profiles should be taken into account to adapt the messages conveyed. They can be divided by sector & activities, or at least between:

  • Profile or sector “less emitting or that decarbonises”

  • Profile or sector “very emitting”

  • Profile or sector “at risk”

  This classification remains subjective, but it can be based on the framework proposed in the annex. Belonging to a less emitting does not mean that the organisation is actually low-emitting. This classification must be analysed in light of the organisation's actual activity. For the beginner and intermediate maturity levels, the messages are rather universal. Message adaptation becomes increasingly specific and ambitious as the organisation's maturity increases. A specific zoom is necessary from the advanced level, as presented in the following sections and in annex.

Governance relating to the Stakeholder engagement stages

The governance of the Stakeholder engagement stage is part of the overall governance of the Bilan Carbone® approach presented previously. It is the coordinator who leads the different stakeholder engagement phases.

The facilitators or presenters can be external or internal depending on the skills sought. To scale up the stakeholder engagement phases, it is recommended to train a team of internal facilitators. The involvement of certain teams or departments will be essential for the successful conduct of the stakeholder engagement stages, in particular senior management and communication.

Exigences relatives aux étapes de Mobilisation

As a reminder, here is the summary of requirements and recommendations, for each of the maturity levels. The stakeholder engagement contents must take into account the organisation's maturity level. They are the subject of detailed explanations in the following subsections.

Beginner level

Stakeholder engagement:

• H: Targets of the engagement

  • H1: The engagement shall target at least the organisation's internal stakeholders, i.e. the project team, the employees and senior management.

• I: Messages of the engagement

  • I1: The following engagement phases: awareness-raising and popularisation, empowerment, reporting and communication, occur at least once in the approach.

• J: Stakeholder engagement stages

  • J1: At least one stakeholder engagement action shall take place during the approach's launch, during an intermediate reporting and during the overall synthesis of the approach.

Intermediate level

Advanced level

Deliverables relating to the Stakeholder engagement stages

The information and deliverables obtained at the end of stage 3, and associated with the above requirements, are to be reported at the end of the approach:

• A summary of the different stakeholder engagement phases that have been implemented: their targets, the messages conveyed, their format, the associated stage of the approach.

For example: one line per stakeholder engagement action. Additional information is useful (format, date, participation, etc.):

Stakeholder engagement action	Targets	Stages	Stakeholder engagement phase
Action No. 1. Date - Format - Participation	Project teamManagementOther internal employeesUpstream external stakeholders	In summary of the approach	Reporting and communication
Action No. 2 Date - Format - Participation	Management	For the construction of the transition plan	Awareness and popularisation
[…]	Other internal employees	At the launch of data collection	Empowerment

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All information on the operational boundary is documented and Do you have a comprehension question?Consult the FAQ . The method is living and therefore likely to evolve (clarifications, additions): find the.