• To support continuing moves to step up its commitments to environmental, social and societal responsibility, Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is making a number of changes to its CSR organisation and governance.
• Patrice Caine has entrusted Isabelle Simon, Group Secretary & General Counsel, with overall responsibility on the Executive Committee for matters relating to environmental, social and societal responsibility.
• A new corporate department has been created to bring together the expertise and competencies required for the Group to meet its commitments to environmental, social and societal responsibility.
• The new department is led by Anne Bolot-Gittler, who has been appointed Chief Sustainability Officer and reports to Isabelle Simon.
• Governance changes are also being made to ensure that these matters are more fully addressed at the highest level of the organisation, with the creation of a new committee dedicated to environmental, social and societal responsibility on the Executive Committee and the expansion of the Strategy and CSR committee on the Board of Directors.

 

As Thales steps up its commitments, the Group is strengthening its CSR organisation.

Thales is continuing to step up its commitments to environmental, social and societal responsibility.

The Group recently raised its CO₂ emissions reduction targets and reaffirmed its commitments on diversity and inclusion, ethics and compliance, and workplace health and safety.

To ensure that these matters are more fully addressed, the Group is making a number of organisational changes.

 

The Group is combining all its CSR expertise and competencies within a new integrated department.

In addition to her role in coordinating the Governance, Ethics & Compliance, Legal, Audit, Risks & Internal Control, and Security functions, Isabelle Simon, Group Secretary & General Counsel, has assumed overall responsibility for matters relating to CSR.

A new Environmental and Societal Responsibility department has been created to bring together the expertise and competencies required for the Group to meet its commitments to environmental, social and societal responsibility (Environment, Diversity & Inclusion, Workplace Health and Safety, the Thales Solidarity community engagement programme and charitable fund).

Anne Bolot-Gittler has been appointed to lead this new Environmental and Societal Responsibility department. She reports to Isabelle Simon.

 

Governance changes to address CSR issues at the highest levels of the organisation

The Group is making two governance changes in order to place corporate responsibility at the centre of its strategic decision-making process:

• Creation of a new committee on the Executive Committee dedicated to environmental, social and societal responsibility, which will include the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, the Group Secretary & General Counsel, and several other members of the Executive Committee.
• Expansion of the Strategy and CSR committee on the Board of Directors to include two additional directors for environmental, social and societal responsibility issues: Mrs Anne Rigail and Marie-Françoise Walbaum.

 

"Thales intends to leverage its talents and technologies to help build a world that is safer, more environmentally responsible and more inclusive. The moves to strengthen our CSR organisation and governance reflect our determination to place these issues at the centre of our strategic priorities and to ensure that corporate responsibility and sustainable growth are even more closely aligned." Patrice Caine, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Thales

 

Biographies

Isabelle Simon

A graduate of Sciences-Po, HEC and Harvard Law School, Isabelle Simon has been Group Secretary & General Counsel since 2015.
​Before joining Thales, Isabelle Simon served as Senior Vice President of Publicis Group with responsibility for M&A operations, strategy and legal affairs, Executive Director of the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs, and a lawyer at the bar of Paris and the bar of New York.

Anne Bolot-Gittler

Anne Bolot-Gittler is a graduate of ENA and Ecole Polytechnique, and has held several senior positions at Thales since joining the Group in 2004.
​From 2002-2004, before joining Thales, Anne Bolot-Gittler was deputy chief of staff at the French Ministry of Health, Family Welfare and Persons with Disabilities

 

Thales's ESG objectives

1/ Fight global warming by aiming for "net zero" emissions by 2040: in 2019, the Group set itself ambitious targets for the reduction of its operational CO₂ emissions, and is now raising those targets and aiming to achieve a 35% reduction by 2023, a 50% reduction by 2030, and "net zero" by 2040. These targets are consistent with the Paris Agreement's objective of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. The Group will begin the SBTi (Science-Based Target initiative) certification process to substantiate its progress.
​In addition, the Group intends to adopt eco-design principles for 100% of its new products and services by 2023.
​Thales will also engage further with suppliers and provide more support for their own efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Its objective is to approve and operationalise action plans with 100% of its 150 most polluting suppliers by 2023, and to engage systematically with partners in the supply chain to align them with its goal of cutting emissions by 50% by 2030.

2/ Increase diversity and inclusion: The Group has confirmed its undertaking to have at least three women on at least 75% of its management committees by 2023. Also by 2023, Thales's objective is for 20% of the Group's top-level managers to be women.

3/ Continue to meet the highest standards of ethical conduct and compliance, with systematic training and certification and the adoption of a digital ethics charter as a framework for the responsible use and development of digital technologies.

4/ Increase the health and safety of all employees, with a targeted 30% reduction¹ in workplace lost-time accidents by 2023.

More information about the Group's actions, including all the content presented during the ESG Investors Day event on 5 October 2021, can be found in the Investor and Corporate Responsibility sections of the Thales website. ​

​¹ Compared with 2018