London, February 10th, 2022 - Amundi, a responsible investment leader, and Accor, a world-leading hospitality group, today announce an increased commitment to ocean preservation through the adoption of the Ocean Framework, designed by Fondation de la Mer to help companies and investors assess the impact of business activities on ocean wildlife. Accor is the first large corporate to adopt the framework, which Amundi helped design, as part of its dedicated ocean strategy and reporting policy.
As a part of their environmental commitments, Amundi and Accor began a close collaboration with the Fondation de la Mer (Sea Foundation), which has developed a framework to help companies measure impacts and make positive changes in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goal #14 ‘Life below water’. This goal seeks to conserve the oceans and seas, and use marine resources sustainably.
As one of the early contributors who helped define the Ocean Framework, and in line with Crédit Agricole Group’s Societal Project, Amundi started using it as a tool for engagement last year with an initial pool of companies including Accor. Amundi’s engagement focused on four critical sectors (seafood & aquaculture, energy, hotels, and shipping/cruise lines), calling on companies to:
- Assess their impacts on oceans using the Ocean Framework as a guideline;
- Report on ocean specific impacts using the KPIs identified in the Ocean Framework;
- Develop dedicated ocean strategies and policies to include ocean preservation within biodiversity strategies.
Moving forward, Amundi will double the number of companies it engages with, to encourage them to assess and reduce their adverse impacts on the ocean with dedicated performance indicators. Amundi will also seek to allocate more capital towards ocean protection.
Deeply committed to sustainable value creation, Accor announced the development of a dedicated ocean strategy and reporting policy based on the Ocean Framework, under the international label “Ocean approved”. The Group banned six endangered fish species as well as locally threatened fish from its restaurants and menus and ensures that wild and farmed fish products are sourced from sustainable fisheries where possible.
Accor, which has a long-standing commitment towards sustainability, has also set ambitious global commitments to preserve biodiversity at large. It has already pledged to eliminate single-use plastics from the guest experience at its hotels by the end of 2022, as part of a drive to reduce its carbon footprint and end its contribution to the 14 million tons of plastic which enters into the oceans annually.
Brune Poirson, Chief Sustainability Officer Accor, declared: “As a global hospitality company we must put the ocean at the core of our biodiversity strategy and take concrete actions to protect them. This requires not only a clear dedicated strategy but also a robust reporting system. Working hand in hand with our investors and our partners throughout our value chain helps us build robust and impactful ocean and biodiversity strategies.”
Jean-Jacques Barbéris, Head of Institutional & Corporate Client Coverage and ESG at Amundi commented: “The Ocean Framework supports Amundi’s commitment to natural capital preservation by providing a concrete tool with dedicated performance indicators that enables Amundi to engage with companies on oceans in a more effective way. We are fully committed to increasing our support to companies in their positive contribution to the environment, and are proud to have with worked Accor who are leading the way as an early adopter of the Framework to ensure that oceans are not forgotten in our environmental pledges.”
