CSR Spotlight on Innovation

July 25, 2022. Today, we had the privilege to chat with Christine Uri, Chief Sustainability Officer and Chief Legal Officer from ENGIE Impact. We discussed her innovative role in the company that combines the benefits of a legal background with the unique skillset required to manage sustainability initiatives. We also explored her perspectives on the increasing requirements of mandatory sustainability reporting, and asked what advice she has for business leaders that are just beginning to build a sustainability strategy in their organization.

Christine’s professional background is impressive. She began her career as a business attorney 15 years ago, providing legal counsel to businesses ranging from local start-ups to international Fortune 500s. In 2013, she joined ENGIE Impact as Corporate Counsel and then became Associate General Counsel and Director of Legal Operations. Later, as both Chief Legal Officer and Chief Legal and Human Resources Officer, she oversaw all legal and HR teams, including human resources, corporate social responsibility, employee engagement, facilities and safety. Today, in her role as Chief Sustainability Officer and Chief Legal Officer she creates and protects business value by establishing the legal framework for the company’s business relationships, ensures ethical and transparent operations, and drives the company’s corporate sustainability strategy.

DHR: It must be exciting to be the Chief Sustainability Officer for ENGIE Impact, an organization with over 200 sustainability focused consultants. What is it like working with such a large group of sustainability experts and thought leaders?

Christine: Working with so many amazing sustainability experts was a bit intimidating at first. There I was, the new CSO, side-by-side with consultants that had PhDs and decades of experience. Once I got over this, I realized I am very fortunate. Whatever the corporate sustainability team is working on, we can access some of the best experts in the world to help. And as a bonus, I have personally learned a ton from working with our teams.

DHR: In addition to your sustainability role at ENGIE Impact, you are also the Chief Legal Officer for the company. That is a powerful combination of skills and experience. What are some of the benefits that a legal background brings to a sustainability leadership role?

Christine: Corporations organize CSO roles in many different places. Some CSOs operate independent functions. Others are in strategy, finance, HR and in our case – legal. Any of these structures can be successful. At ENGIE Impact, the legal function has a broad reach. We touch almost every team in the company, are involved in every sale, and know how services are delivered. Combining the corporate sustainability team in with legal makes it easier for the sustainability team to know what’s happening in the business and leverage the legal team’s network to make connections. The sustainability team is small. Legal provides extra eyes and ears.

DHR: How are you organized at ENGIE to advance your sustainability strategies…do you have dedicated resources working on your sustainability initiatives or do you leverage resources from other departments to create virtual teams?

Christine: We leverage every resource we can. We have two roles dedicated to corporate sustainability. These roles are responsible for developing our strategy and goals and then rallying support from across the company. We have an internal budget to engage our own consultants and services. Each of our business lines and functions appoint a representative to be the connection point to corporate sustainability. And we also have a volunteer network of employees that work on sustainability projects. Any employee in the company can volunteer to participate. It is truly a team effort.

DHR: As there are many different sustainability reporting frameworks (GRI, SASB, SAM CSA, etc.), there has been a lot of recent debate about standardizing reporting and disclosure requirements, particularly in the US and Europe. Do you anticipate increased involvement from governments in defining mandatory reporting requirements or will it remain a largely self-regulated company endeavor in the near term?

Christine: Governmental disclosure requirements will continue to increase. Governments need this information to create their own roadmaps for progress. In addition, investors must be able to compare non-financial performance metrics on an apples-to-apples basis. I am crossing my fingers that we will agree on truly international standards. Multiple reporting schemes are a drag on productivity. We need to track and report on progress – but the bulk of our time should be dedicated to actions that make a difference.

DHR: Do you work with any key partners, such as non-profits, industry associations, or government groups that help to advance your sustainability strategies at ENGIE Impact?

Christine: Our partnerships are driven primarily by our consulting business. One of my favorites is the Sustainable Aviation Fuels Buyers Alliance (SABA). SABA’s mission is to accelerate the path to net-zero aviation by driving investment in high-integrity sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), catalyzing new SAF production, technological innovation, and supporting member engagement in policy-making efforts. Aviation is a very challenging area to decarbonize – and it is critical to supporting corporate net-zero targets. I am proud that ENGIE Impact is founding partner of this initiative.

DHR: Often, heads of sustainability must work with different business units, departments, and divisions to encourage participation and build consensus around a sustainability strategy. Do you have any words of advice for sustainability leaders who are trying to create a culture of sustainability across their organization?

Christine: Over the last decade, there has been a big transition from siloed Corporate Social Responsibility programs to much broader sustainability initiatives. A lot of this has been driven by climate change and carbon reduction targets. Making meaningful carbon reductions requires a commitment from top leadership and action from across the company.

For corporate sustainability leaders, this means that relationships are everything. You must build strong relationships with leaders in every area. I usually start with a 1:1 conversation where my goal is to listen and learn about the person’s role, their concerns, their ambition for the company. Then when it comes to strategy building, I involve a decision-maker from every area. It is much easier to get people behind a strategy if they have a hand in creating it.

DHR: What advice do you have for a business leader who is just beginning to build a new sustainability strategy for their organization?

Christine: I often talk with professionals who have been newly charged with building a corporate sustainability strategy. It can feel overwhelming. There are so many new terms to learn. Looking at the websites of other companies – you may feel like they have it all together.

Take a deep breath. The important thing is to start somewhere. Here are the core steps I would use to build an initial strategy:

• Bring key stakeholders together to identify your sustainability challenges. Choose one or two focus areas.

• Gather data on the current state. For example, on carbon, what’s your carbon footprint?

• Share the data with stakeholders and agree on opportunities for improvement. Set your strategy around these.

• Track progress and report.

If you repeat this process every year, you will build success over time.

DHR: Is ENGIE making progress on its goals to balance its global water footprint by 2023 and zero waste by 2023?

Christine: Yes, I am proud to say that we are on track. Both have been an interesting journey.

On water - it is common to track water usage, but the idea of water balancing is relatively new. The market for water reclamation is not as developed as the offset market. ENGIE Impact has achieved water balance in the US, and we are currently working to identify projects internationally. Our focus is on water reclamation in areas where water scarcity is significant threat.

On waste, our primary source of waste comes from our offices. Making a change is all about behaviors. We must work with employees on ways to generate less waste to start with and then ensure that we fully leverage reuse, recycling, and composting options. The change in how we use offices with the pandemic has made this a little longer process, but we are still making good progress.

DHR: What’s on your agenda for the second half of 2022?

Christine: ENGIE Impact is doing a deep dive into our carbon strategy. We initially set our target to be carbon negative in 2019 with a three-year horizon. We have met this target, and the question now is, what’s next? The landscape has changed a lot in the last three years. Our goal is to go beyond target setting and pilot new thinking that could potentially help ENGIE Impact’s clients.

DHR: Thank you for sharing your insights with us, Christine! It is very helpful to the entire ESG and CSR community to learn from industry leaders like you!

More information about ENGIE Impact can be found at: www.engieimpact.com.

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