Our CSR commitments
Territories are evolving rapidly: climate change, resource pressures, new mobility patterns, and rising expectations from citizens and stakeholders. As a major player in France’s infrastructure sector, we have a responsibility to support these transformations by developing solutions that are useful, sustainable, and grounded in the realities of local communities.
To structure this ambition, Colas has launched the CSR project ACT – Act & Commit Together, built around eight key commitments.
ACT: our CSR project serving local communities
For over twenty years, our teams have been driving on-the-ground initiatives to reduce our impacts, protect people, and enhance the quality of our infrastructure.
ACT gives this momentum a global coherence: a shared vision, clear objectives, and structured monitoring.
In France, our CSR project ACT allows us to unify practices, standardize approaches, and work hand in hand with municipalities and private partners.
Our key CSR indicators
Our key CSR indicators
Our 8 commitments
- 1. Offer our clients and users solutions that address the sustainable development challenges of local communities
- 2. Implement a low-carbon and biodiversity strategy
- 3. Promote solutions supporting the circular economy
- 4. Reduce the impacts of our activities to ensure their social acceptability
- 5. Attract, develop, and retain employees through managerial excellence
- 6. Strengthen a health and safety culture to protect everyone
- 7. Build a more responsible supply chain focused on sustainable performance
- 8. Foster an exemplary culture of ethics and compliance
Offering our clients and users solutions that address the sustainable development challenges of local communities
We develop infrastructure solutions that tackle local challenges: reducing carbon emissions, sustainable water management, permeable surfaces, active mobility, greening, and climate adaptation.
In practice, this includes creating spaces for shared mobility, such as bike lanes, greenways, and safe pathways, as well as restoring public spaces through low-carbon pavements and ecological engineering techniques.
Implementing a low-carbon and biodiversity strategy
We align our climate trajectories with the Paris Agreement. This involves modernizing our facilities, optimizing resource consumption, increasing the use of recycled or bio-based materials, and reducing emissions from our operations.
We also advance biodiversity integration in our projects. This includes ecological assessments, restoration of natural habitats, monitoring sensitive species, and developing ecological engineering solutions that leverage our expertise to protect, restore, or reconnect ecosystems.
In both urban and natural environments, every project becomes an opportunity to preserve and restore life, working closely with the unique characteristics of each territory.
Reducing the impacts of our activities to ensure their acceptability
Our sites and projects are part of the daily life of local communities. We take action to sustainably reduce our impacts: noise, dust, odors, water management, logistics flows, and indirect environmental effects.
We also strengthen local dialogue through regular meetings, listening initiatives, and digital information tools such as the interactive Hello Travaux platform.
Acceptability is built on transparency, attentiveness, and responsiveness to local expectations.
Attracting, developing, and retaining employees through managerial excellence
The women and men who make up our teams are our greatest asset. We invest in their growth through:
- Continuous training,
- Management programs,
- Internal mobility,
- Onboarding programs,
- Initiatives supporting diversity and inclusion.
We aim to create an environment where everyone can learn, grow, and thrive within a strong and supportive team.
Strengthening a health and safety culture to protect
We pursue a clear objective: zero accidents
This is achieved through:
We continuously monitor risks related to noise, heat, and repetitive movements.
We also focus on security and crisis management to protect our teams in an ever-changing environment.
Safety is part of our daily routine and guides every one of our operations.
Building a more responsible supply chain
We integrate social, environmental, and safety criteria into our procurement to collaborate with partners who share our commitments. To achieve this, we analyze risks by purchasing category, assess suppliers through dedicated questionnaires, and rely on recognized tools such as EcoVadis.
In practice, this approach includes several key actions:
- Considering carbon criteria in our tenders to encourage the selection of lower-emission products and processes.
- Regularly evaluating our strategic suppliers and co-developing action plans when improvements are needed.
- Listening to feedback from operational teams to enhance working conditions and adjust specifications.
Our goal is clear: to build a reliable, responsible, and committed supply chain capable of progressing with us on sustainability challenges.
Strengthening an exemplary culture of ethics and compliance
Ethics are central to how we work. We want everyone—employees, partners, suppliers, and local communities—to operate in an environment where rules are clear, respect is natural, and voices can be freely heard.
To reinforce this culture, we identify and prevent risks related to corruption, human rights, and discrimination. We rely on a multi-level control system combining operational analyses, legal reviews, and internal audits. Over 10,000 third-party companies have been assessed using the Compliance Catalyst tool.
Ethics are continuously promoted through dedicated training (“Applied Ethics and Compliance,” “Fair Play”), internal campaigns, dissemination of the Code of Ethics, and an annual Compliance Day to strengthen shared culture.
To ensure everyone can speak up safely, we provide BeSignal, a simple and confidential alert platform. It allows the secure reporting of any situation or behavior that does not comply with our values or ethical rules.
Frequently questions
Through annually monitored indicators covering carbon, recycling, biodiversity, safety, gender diversity, and responsible procurement.
Yes. Our commitments guide our solutions, materials, methods, and decisions from the design phase and throughout the entire project.
Par l’écoute, l’anticipation, la transparence et des solutions concrètes visant à réduire les nuisances selon les contextes locaux.
Through analysis tools, dedicated questionnaires, and evaluation platforms that assess their CSR performance and compliance.
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