Total is dedicated to setting the benchmark not only for business and financial performance, but also for compliance with the most demanding standards of corporate social responsibility. Accordingly, we are continuing to develop a proactive ethical process to support the ability of all internal and external stakeholders to express our values.
Total’s Values
Total is home to widely diverse identities and cultures that share our core values:
Professionalism.
Respect for employees.
Ongoing concern with safety and environmental protection.
Contributing to the development of host communities.
Our values and principles are set out in the Code of Conduct, which underpins our ethical process. The Code formally recognizes our commitment to uphold the principles of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organization, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the principles of the United Nations Global Compact.
Implementing A Proactive Ethical Process
Within the Group, the Ethics Committee is actively implementing a proactive ethical process built around employee awareness and assessment of our ethical performance.
Awareness: Publicizing and promoting the Code of Conduct’s values and principles inside and outside the Group and ensuring they are understood and applied.
The Ethics Seminar initiative was launched in early February 2003 to familiarize employees worldwide with our values and our ethical vision of business. Convened in France and abroad, the seminars gather several hundreds of Group employees every year. In addition, to highlight our values and principles outside the Group, we routinely require our business partners, subcontractors and suppliers to establish their own codes of conduct, if they have not already done so, and to respect ours.
Assessing ethical performance.
In close cooperation with UK-based GoodCorporation, we developed a grid of 84 evidence points to monitor and assess the application of our Code of Conduct in all our units, plants and subsidiaries. The resultant "ethical profile" of audited units is based on input from stakeholders, including employees, shareholders, customers, suppliers and subcontractors, industrial partners and host communities, who can also consult it. Profiling is performed by GoodCorporation consultants in partnership with leading audit firms, which is a guarantee of independence and efficiency.
The Ethics Committee also acts in an advisory capacity, assisting employees in resolving ethical problems encountered in the course of their work. All requests are confidential and can be made outside the normal chain of management.
Corporate Social Responsibility
As a global leader in the energy and chemicals industries, Total is fully aware of its corporate social responsibility, which is assumed through an assertive sustainable development process, based on constructive dialogue, discussion and direct application of our ethical values.
Proactive policies are in place in the areas of safety, environmental stewardship, preparing for the future of energy, human resources management, and open dialogue with civil society stakeholders.
Since a few years, the Group publishes annuallly a special report entitled Sharing our Energies, that details its corporate social responsiblity (CSR) performance and initiatives.
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Download the Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2005
Our Ethics Principles and Practices
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