Capgemini SE (CAP) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our Capgemini ESG Investor Webinar Live from La Fontaine in the outskirts from Paris. My name is Olivier Lepick, Group General Secretary and ESG lead, and I look forward to guiding you today through the presentation of our ESG policy, which was published last week. If you have not already done so, I invite you to download from the Capgemini Investor website. We will together for approximately 1 hour, including time we set aside for a Q&A session to answer the question you may have. But before we proceed, allow me mention that all the appropriate covered measures for this event, including procedures, distancing, testing are, of course, enforced. So without further ado, let's jump in. And to start, I would like to let our CEO, Aiman Ezzat to say a few words on our ESG ambition.

Hello, everyone. So I'm very happy to be with you today. My story today is a pretty simple one. It's a 3-letter story, in fact, ESG has been in Capgemini's DNA in the last 50 years. At Capgemini, we have always been deeply convinced that we have a key role to play in ensuring that the future fulfills all its promises. We know what responsibility truly means. Our history, our values, our culture inspire us. For over 50 years, we have been pursuing the goal of making a positive impact on the world. Together with our 300,000 employees in 50 countries, we are committed to contributing to the sustainable development goals defined by the UN. We stand for inclusion, diversity and equal opportunity, and we will act against climate change. And our purpose, which was published last year fully reaffirms our commitment unleashing human energy through technology for an inclusive and sustainable future. So why sharing with you today our ESG ambitions? Because we have one conviction, there have never been a better time. There has never been a better time to leverage technology and human energy to tackle environmental, social and governance challenges. We are perfectly aware of what's going on in the world. The challenges are huge and the urgency is obvious. We are convinced that we, as a business, can play a role and that we can accelerate the transition to a more sustainable world. And the next 10 years will be crucial starting today. We are driven by 3 clear ambitions. First, accelerating the transition to net zero. We are committed to becoming a net zero business. As early as 2025, we want to reach a first important milestone with our on carbon neutrality and neutral all across our supply chain, no later than 2030. Our objectives have not changed. We aim to be a net-zero business well ahead of 2050. And we can do much more by helping our clients achieve their own environmental commitments. We are working with most of the Fortune 500 companies. Every day, we are helping them transform their businesses and get prepared for the future. Technology can play an important role to help them reduce their own emissions. As such, Capgemini can have a huge impact. That is why we have committed to helping our clients save 10 million tons of CO2 equivalent by 2030. Now the second ambition is about human capital. We are a talent business. Talent is our greatest asset, and we are relentlessly investing in human capital because it is absolutely natural for us. We are recognized by our clients for our ability to always have the skills of tomorrow that they need today to drive that transformation. We are recognized by young graduates for the expertise and qualification that Capgemini is able to offer them. We are a training ground for technology. We develop talent, not only for us, but also for our clients, our partners and for society at large. The training we provide has increased the employability of more than 1 million Capgemini employees over the last 15 years. I'm also convinced that diversity and inclusion are critical to our performance, notably in areas like talent attraction, innovation or creativity. A diverse and inclusive company is now a must. Diversity might start with gender and gender identity, but it also relates to culture identity, ethnicity, social origin, sexual orientation, beliefs, working methods, skills, experiences, disabilities. Not only are we committed to promoting and enhancing a diverse and inclusive work environment for our people. We also aim to improve our collective performance by leveraging this inclusive environment. Third ambition is about leading with trust and transparency. For us, being a trusted partner is of utmost importance. All across our operation, we foster responsible behaviors in business for mutual growth. Sound ethics and responsible behaviors are an essential foundation for profitable and sustainable business. Capgemini's founder Serge Kampf, was deeply convinced of it, and it's something that Paul Hermelin perpetuated. Capgemini has grown under their mentorship and the uncompromising strength on this matter. And I intend to follow that path. Client trust might look intangible, but it must be built on very solid grounds. It includes maintaining a best-in-class and diverse and accountable governance, which serves the long-term interest of the group. Cybersecurity and data protection are also key to earning that trust. It is a duty for every company, all the more so when you are a service business. We want to be recognized as a front leader in cybersecurity and data protection. We will persistently continue to scale up our investment and train our people. Now behind these 3 ambitions, I am sure you have recognized us. I'm sure you have recognized Capgemini. This policy is really about setting a clear focus on what really matters to us. It's 8 priorities and a set of objectives to align all energies throughout the group in our day-to-day operation and investments. A lot has previously been done. We have always been empowering local initiatives in our geographies. Now we want to prioritize and organize our action for maximum impact. We aim at scaling up our collective impact with all our stakeholders. We team up with our clients, partners, suppliers and public institutions to make that happen. We work with large corporation to transform and reinvent their businesses by harnessing the power of technology. We intend to be role models, change influencers leaders. We are convinced that there is a business case for ESG. This policy is a powerful engine to engage all our stakeholders and notably our talent about the challenges that are dear to them and to ensure that digital and technological transformation is a source of long-term sustainable growth. This policy will be implemented across the group at all levels. We have put in place a clear and consistent organization to deliver our objectives. We will also disclose our progress on a regular basis to make sure we are on track. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Olivier Lepick. He will coordinate our efforts together with our leadership team and, of course, with the valuable support of our Board of Directors. I am really proud of our new ambitions. They are truly us. I am proud of our teams, the 300,000 women and men of Capgemini who work hard every day to bring these commitments to life. Together, we are determined to leverage technology for the benefit of all. Thank you very much for your attention.

Thank you very much, Aiman. As you pointed out, the ESG policy needs to be embedded in our day-to-day operations and investments. Allow me to introduce our leadership team and speaker agenda for today. On the E of ESG environment, James Robey, Global Head of Environmental Sustainability, will explain our environmental sustainability agenda. Ashwin Yardi, CEO of India, will share initiatives from India. And Cyril Garcia, CEO of Capgemini Invent and Global Head Sustainability will tell us about how new sustainability offerings that help our clients deliver on their environmental commitments. Regarding Social, the S of ESG and Anne Lebel, Group Chief Human Resources Officer, will tell you about our continuous investment in talent, followed by Shobha Meera, Group Chief CSR Officer, for an overview of our diversity and digital inclusion objectives and programs. And finally, on governance, after a short video introduction on our values and ethical standards, we will host a roundtable discussion with Marie-Cécile Collignon, Head of Compliance and Governance; Maria Pernas, Group General Counsel; and Cédric Thevenet, Group Chief Cybersecurity Officer. So let's jump in with James Robey, who will detail our environmental agenda. James? The floor is yours.

Thanks Olivier. Our commitment to environment sustainability is nothing at Capgemini. We started our journey nearly 15 years ago, now with the establishment of our first local initiatives. We remain committed to reducing our own environmental impacts through our use of energy and travel and the goods and services we buy. In fact, in 2016, we were one of the first companies in our sector to set 2 degree aligned science-based targets in line with the Paris agreement. We delivered our headline reduction target in January 2020, a full 10 years ahead of our plan and also ahead of the lockdowns associated with COVID. So last year, we raised our ambition, setting new targets aligned with 1.5-degree climate science, and committing to reach carbon neutrality for our operations by 2025 and across our supply chain by 2030. Ultimately, we are committed to being a net zero business well ahead of 2050. In addition, we have committed to switching to 100% renewable electricity by 2025 and to a 100% electric car fleet by 2030. To accelerate our delivery, we have established a new executive governance structure, creating a net zero board, including both our CEO and our CFO as well as other group Executive Board members. And I'm happy to say we're making strong progress. In 5 years, we've increased the share of renewable electricity from around 25% to over 55% of all the electricity we are using across the group. This year, we also launched One of our -- this year, we also launched one of the first green lease frameworks in our sector for which we won a Green Lease Leader Award. This framework ensures that we factor in a wide range of sustainability criteria when selecting new buildings, criteria such as energy efficiency, the availability of EV charging points as well as the proximity of offices to public transport. A transition to 100% electric car fleet is underway. And since June, all new company car orders are now either pure electric or hybrid. Alongside that, the installation of the necessary EV charging infrastructure in our offices is in progress, and we've more than doubled our EV charging capacity this year. Also in June, we launched our new global travel policy, enabling travelers to consider carbon when making travel choices. We recognize also that commuting is a significant component of our environmental impact. We recently conducted our largest ever employee commuting survey to understand our people's current and pre-COVID commuting behaviors. Responses from over 42,000 of our people have helped us to establish plans to reduce our commuting impacts. Focusing on our supply chain emissions. Our global procurement team have started the not insignificant task of baselining the carbon impact of all the goods and services we purchase. This is the first important step in delivering our science-based supply chain target to halve the absolute emissions from our supply chain by 2030. Finally, our people are critical to our net zero transition and to help bring over 300,000 colleagues onto our journey, we've launched a new learning pathway this year, together with an internal mobilization campaign, Capgemini climate circles to spark a new ways of thinking about sustainability within the organization. So to conclude, we remain more committed than ever to environmental sustainability, and we are delighted to have recently been included on the CDP Climate Change. A List that recognizes organizations leading on this critical agenda. Now I'd like to hand over first to Ashwin Yardi, CEO of Capgemini India, to introduce some of our sustainability initiatives in India. Following Ashwin, Cyril Garcia, CEO of Capgemini Invent and Global Head of Sustainability will explain how we are engaging with our clients on sustainability.

Thank you, James. Season's greetings. I hope you are all well and staying safe. India represents nearly 50% of Capgemini workforce, giving it a significant role in reaching our group objective of carbon neutrality by 2025 and becoming a net zero business. We believe that a sustainable future rests on 3 pillars: collective action, bolder leadership and smarter technologies. To reduce our operational greenhouse gas emissions, we are converting our facilities with energy-efficient equipment and low-carbon technologies. We've also installed 9.5 megawatts of captive solar plants and plan to double our on-site generation of solar power by 2025. We have also taken programs that focus on water conservation and recycling, a key issue for us in India. Consequently, all our campuses across the country are now Green Building Council, platinum certified. Further, Capgemini's Bangalore campus, which generates all the energy necessary for its operations from renewable resources is the first corporate campus in India to receive net zero energy Platinum certification, automated equipment monitoring to optimize consumption, the development of car pooling app to connect riders and reduce traffic and the conversion of 1,000-plus India vehicle fleet to electric and hybrid vehicles are the various initiatives, which contribute to enhance our green practices. And notably, last August, we reached our goal in just 1 year to plant 1 million trees across our offices and other locations. And we will continue to plant many more trees over the next several years. We strongly believe that the time to act is now. At Capgemini India, we are committed to working passionately to secure a better planet for all of us through our collective and bold efforts.

Thank you, Ashwin. These examples in India do demonstrate our commitment to sustainability. Our plan is also to bring our ambition to the next level by making sustainability a cornerstone of our value proposition and assist our clients on their path to carbon neutrality and long-term value creation. And the matter is more pressing than ever. At this stage, in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degree celsius, carbon emissions would need to decrease by 8% annually until 2030. But only 10% of companies use climate scenario planning to help limit global warming or are on track to become truly sustainable manufacturers. And only 15% of these companies have taken steps to reduce the carbon footprint of their IT hardware. We believe that we can help our clients transform their business. This is why we have set an ambition in this transformation, minus 10 millions of CO2 and a structured approach with a portfolio of offers to support them on their entire net-zero journey. We have launched 3 dedicated offerings so far, net-zero strategy, stakeholder management and sustainable IT. We are on track to push others in 2022. Capgemini is also unique in the creation of sustainable products with its green by design offer. It enhances product sustainability starting at the conception phase and also through circular economy incentives. Innovation is vital to shape solutions for our clients and help them progress on their trajectory from pledges to actions. Our unique capacity to innovate allow us to address the challenges our clients face from designing their strategy to implementing concrete actions. Now examples. First, we have been selected to steer a consortium for major cosmetics player over the next 18 months. And the goal is to build a common tool to ease the measurement of the environmental impact of product and set consistent communication means. It proves our we at Capgemini are able to combine access to the highest levels of management sponsorship with strong expertise and collaboration to raise an entire industry standards. In addition to the cosmetics consortium, we are also working with the automotive industry. we have supported Man M-A-N to get ahead in the global e-mobility race by building, testing and homologating 10 electrical EV trucks from initial requirements. Capgemini's expertise at Man create value in a booming electric vehicles market driven by very tough CO2 regulations and government incentives. Aside of those 2 examples, we also conduct industrial projects within the energy sector. We are currently working to accelerate the industrialization of a new concentrated solar power system for an energy company in the south of Europe. And we are organizing feasibility studies and road maps to assess the competitiveness of the solution within a 20-year horizon. We also industrialized an innovative academia R&D prototype leading to a 25% cost reduction and leveraging both virtual reality and 3D scanning. Capgemini is very proactive on R&D and matters that shape innovation and enhance decarbonization capabilities and circularity systems. As you can see, we have fully embarked on our sustainability business journey now, and we are ready and equipped to undertake the challenge of this next economy.

Thank you very much, Cyril. Teaming up with our clients and partners to help them reduce the environmental footprint, will no doubt reinforce our positive impact related to climate change. Let's now move to the second pillar of our ESG policy. And as Aiman said, we are definitely a talent business. This is why it matters to present our social priorities, beginning with Anne Lebel, Group Chief Human Resources Officer, to discuss how we manage and grow our human capital.

Thank you, Olivier. Get the future you want that is our people promise. As a talent-centric company, living up to our people promise, get the future you want is essential internally and externally. As Aiman said, we are recognized by our clients for our ability to always have the skills of tomorrow that they need to drive that transformation. That is why leaders and managers of Capgemini engage in and encourage the growth of the skills of their teams. By doing this, we create value for our clients and for the wider society, and we raise our own people's employability. Let me shed some light on what we do in terms of learning, carrier development, employee engagement and the initiatives we take for our people in today's hybrid work environment. We invest in the skills development of our teams and learning is a central element of our people agenda. Our learning approach are designed for our people to take ownership of their learning journey and to continuously improve their expertise. We believe in giving our talent the possibility to grow and above all, to own their professional development. We pledged to increase average learning hours per employee by 5% every year to reach on average 67 learning hours per employee by 2030 across the company. Since last year, most of the skills training programs, certifications are available to our global workforce on our digital learning platform called Next, be it for technical, digital, leadership and management and soft skills. And today, over 300,000 learners acquired training on the platform. In addition to Next, we created 16 professional communities, online communities that our talents can join to grow specific expertise and learn by exchanging with their peers, architects, engagement managers, business analysts, but also data managers, for example, share knowledge, grow their skills, innovate in these communities. Lifelong learning and skills progression are a key part of our working culture. They are embedded in the daily work of our employees, and they are linked to their performance and rewards. We believe talent mobility is a great lever for employee engagement. Beyond learning, many initiatives are taken to increase people's knowledge and awareness of the different businesses, areas of the company to provide visibility on carrier opportunities across the organization and accelerate job rotation. Let me point out that we attract a significant number of young graduates, more than 36,000 over the first 9 months of 2021. And we are just as committed to helping them grow their skills and build their future with us. All these learning and carrier development initiatives fit the new normal. The digitally enabled flexible hybrid model we work in. As we continue to adjust to our hybrid work model, we are keeping the emphasis on creating a safe, caring and inclusive environment, a trust-based managerial culture, ensuring high-quality interactions and emotional connection. That's why we have introduced team rituals and revisited our leadership model and key learning programs to adapt leadership and management practices to the new work environment. In addition, we developed the virtual global well-being hub for everyone to be inspired and learn new ways of self-care in an informative, safe and social space. At Capgemini, as talent magnets, we aim to grow our people's employability creating value for our clients, our employees and the wider society. Because of its size and diversity, Capgemini offers a wide horizon to current and future employees. By providing a highly engaging and flexible people experience, we encourage employees to share their views, take initiatives and engage in meaningful work. Now Shobha Meera, Chief CSR Officer, will tell you how diversity and inclusion are fully valued and embedded in every part of our people experience.

Thank you, Anne. As Aiman has said, it is our strong conviction that a diverse workforce and an inclusive and equitable culture are integral to being a high-performance company. Diversity and inclusion boost innovation and creativity and are essential to our group identity and our value proposition. We have a richly multicultural workforce, and our definition of diversity goes beyond being compliant to local laws and regulations. It encompasses all differences, including those of cultural identity, race ethnicity, social origins, sexual orientation, ideologies, working methods, skills and experiences, gender identity and disability. Gender diversity underlies and intersects with other dimensions of diversity and is particularly challenging in the technology and consulting industry. It is, therefore, a key focus for us to have more gender balanced teams, shaping our culture and developing the right solutions for our clients. Therefore, one of our key objectives is to have more than 40% of women in our teams by 2025. We have been making steady progress on this front. In 2020, the most recent full year, the percentage of women in our workforce improved by almost 2 percentage points. We have deployed several practices and initiatives that represent the strength behind the numbers. On the recruitment front, our teams are trained and equipped with the practices and tools to bring diverse slates of candidates for all roles and to enlist well-balanced and diverse panels for the selection process. Our talent and leadership development approach includes specific thoughtfully designed mentoring and sponsorship programs for high potential women colleagues and certain other underrepresented groups. These programs are designed to ensure that our women employees fully take part in both corporate life and decision-making processes at all levels as equals. We strongly believe that promoting equitable access to opportunities and to leadership positions alongside equal pay for equal work and promotion equity is key. Our goal is to have 30% of women in executive leadership positions in 2025. And finally, we continue to strengthen our culture of inclusion through education and training, employee resource groups, allyship and leadership-led conversations. I'm happy to say that more than 80% of our Vice Presidents have either completed or are scheduled to complete training on unconscious bias during the course of this year. This is a training that helps each one of us recognize our biases and our presuppositions and allows us to put this awareness to work in moments that matter. I hope this gives you a view of some of the actions and efforts fueling and supporting our diversity and inclusion objectives. Our commitment to diversity and inclusion doesn't end at the boundaries of our organization. This commitment extends to the communities we live and work in and the broader society through our digital inclusion initiatives. As a leader in the digital and technology industry, we benefit from the digital revolution. We also have a deep understanding of both the positive impacts of digital technology and the associated risks of further widening the digital divide in an increasingly connected world. Therefore, we have a strong conviction that it is our duty to ensure that digital and technology transformation benefits all the society. Here is a short video that will present how our digital inclusion program comes to life in our communities. [Presentation]

I think we all felt the sense of positive energy running through all these digital inclusion initiatives. So thank you very much, Shobha, for that. So let's move now to -- on our third topic, Governance. In our line of business, trust and transparency are key. They are essential to our sustainable growth and the safeguard of our assets. Being a responsible global leader in consulting, digital transformation, technology and engineering services entails maintaining ethical behaviors at all times with our partners and our communities and protecting data infrastructure and identity. Marie-Cécile Collignon, Head of Compliance and Governance; Maria Pernas, Group General Counsel; and Cédric Thevenet, Group Chief Cybersecurity Officer, have joined me on stage to present our governance priorities. Before that, let's watch this short video on our value-based ethical framework. Our values and our ethical behaviors are what guide and give meaning to our collective overlying entrepreneurs. [Presentation]

It's always an immense honor to be recognized for the high ethical practices that are at the heart of our corporate culture. Receiving this accolade for the 9th time highlights our long-standing achievement of putting our values into action. Guided by these 7 core values, we will continue to forge sustainable business relationships and maintain governance best practices that serve the long-term interest of Capgemini and of our shareholders. We strive for a diverse and accountable governance, one that promotes constant constructive dialogue with shareholders and stakeholders as was the case in 2020 during the discussion on the group purpose. With a diverse and accountable governance comes the responsibility of monitoring and safeguarding our assets by managing all group risk, including those related to ESG. So now let's talk about how we protect our assets by embracing responsible behaviors in business and protecting data, infrastructure and identity. So Marie-Cécile, my first question is for you. So when we claim to foster responsible behaviors in business with our suppliers, what do we really mean?

Well, Olivier, responsible behaviors in business means maintaining high ethical standards at all times in our daily business practices. Our Code of Business Ethics was created in 2009 at the initiative of our Board of Directors, specifically for that purpose. Since 1967, Capgemini's success is founded on its core values, including honesty and trust. These values are at the heart of how we operate our ethical culture and our approach to compliance. The group has zero tolerance for bribery and corruption. We are also committed to fair and open competition and to protecting and preserving human rights. To answer specifically your question on what it means for Capgemini to foster responsible behaviors in business with our suppliers. It is fundamental for us to make a positive environmental and social impact when partnering with local and global suppliers to deliver value to our clients. Since 2015, Capgemini has implemented a supplier standard of conduct, which our suppliers must adhere to. So to say it clearly, it is critical to us that our suppliers are committed to preserving the environment, maintaining the highest ethical standards and adhering to all applicable laws, including human rights and anti-corruption laws.

Thank you very much, Marie-Cécile. You said the group is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations, including those on data protection and data privacy. But Maria, as General Council for Capgemini strengthening digital trust is, of course, key. But what it is we concretely do to protect data and data privacy.

Capgemini has indeed a deep commitment to protecting all personal data entrusted to it as part of its activities, both for our collaborators as a data controller and on behalf of our clients as a data processor. Capgemini's core business is not about hosting massive amounts of data. But Capgemini is still accountable to its clients and other stakeholders for how it processes any personal data. In order to have a global and officially recognized approach to data management, Capgemini chose to implement binding corporate rules, which were approved by the European authorities in 2016 and updated in accordance with the European General Data Protection Regulation. It is our global data protection policy, the rules and procedures to ensure Capgemini's compliance with all the applicable legislations. Particularly relevant within our global data protection policy, I would like to mention, privacy-by-design and our end-to-end maturity assessment. Privacy design seeks to ensure the protection of individuals by integrating privacy from the very beginning of the development of products, services, business practices and physical infrastructures. And our digital end-to-end maturity assessment monitors privacy throughout the entire contract life cycle. But we all know that continuous employee training on data protection is key to strengthening digital trust. That is why we provide mandatory e-learning models to our global staff and targeted training for specific functions. To say it very simply, data is a key pillar of Capgemini strategy, and we intend to remain a leader in data protection.

Thank you, Maria, for this ambition. Cedric, Capgemini Group cybersecurity organization by, of course, securing internal activity and preventing external threat strongly contributes to building an ecosystem of trust with our employee clients but also partners. How is that done?

That's correct, Olivier. Cyber security is key to our operations and ESG policy. Group Cybersecurity addresses a search in cybersecurity risks with a comprehensive bot sponsored, strategy and governance. Capgemini's own growth and the pandemic have also intensified the centrality of our IT infrastructure and cybersecurity program. Today, I would like to mention 3 key concrete illustrations of our action plan. First, recent cyber attacks have shown the risks within the digital supply chain, given today's global development of work from home models and transition to the cloud. At Capgemini, we are conducting a comprehensive plan to enhance overall security with our clients, our suppliers and partners. Second, we are enhancing our protection and defense mechanism with best-in-class solutions. Our program is built on the concept of zero trust, never trust, always verify whether inside or outside the company to protect what is the most critical identities, applications and data and always verify accesses. Finally, employees' awareness to cybersecurity is essential to mitigating cyber risks. That's why we are leading multiple initiatives such as mandatory awareness courses with specific focus on new joiners, fishing simulations, targeting hundreds of thousands of people and conducting annual Capgemini's cybersecurity cultural challenge. As you can see, group cybersecurity is a strong contributor to building a trusted ecosystem with our employees, clients and partners by securing internal activities and delivering trusted digital services. Also, when considering acquisition, specific attention is consistently paid to security assessment in the due diligence phase. In addition to implementing our action plan, our ambition is to be recognized at the front leader on data protection and cybersecurity. -- for example, by sustaining the top 3% performer on CyberVadis.

Thank you very much, Cedric. This brings us to the end of the roundtable on trust and transparency. I would like to thank all the speakers that shared this telling overview of all the activities and initiatives we have already put in place in Capgemini. As General Secretary and Secretary of the Board, it's an honor to be coordinating this ESG strategy and policy. And I will take this opportunity to add a few words focusing on 2 key principles: our organization and the quality of the stakeholder communication. First, our organization. We set up a clear ESG governance and organization to structure and implement both group and local programs. The Board of Directors has the duty to monitor and steer the group ESG strategy and ensure ESG is fully embedded in the group's main strategic orientation. More specifically, the Strategy and CSR committee is ensuring consistency in the consideration of social environmental aspect. Because a global strategy would be nothing without local implementation and initiatives, all functions, all functions and all local teams are responsible for their own local actions. A centralized ESG team coordinates all key stakeholders to align on our ESG priorities, monitor our performance, guide local teams and accelerate both clients and corporate innovative solution. Secondly, with respect to stakeholders, communication. It is very, very important. We have a clear communication on ESG. Let me explain this in 3 points. First, we will communicate in a regular and transparent manner on our extra financial performance in our universal registration document, which is in line with GRI, SASB standards as well as TCFD recommendation. We are also working on the adoption of the EU Green taxonomy. Second, we are deploying an ESG IT system to ease the disclosure process and centralized reporting. The ESG IT system will provide internal and external stakeholders with detailed information on our ESG policy initiatives but also performance. Lastly, we maintained a consistent dialogue with our stakeholders as trust is key for strong performance and success. This dialogue enables Capgemini to offer solution constantly improve and fulfill its vision. This is what I wanted to share with you today. I'm grateful to handle this important topic and play a role in making ESG a foundational pillar of Capgemini. And to conclude this session, I will leave the floor to our CEO, Aiman Ezzat.

Well, thank you very much for your attention today. After these sessions, you know -- you now better realize what makes our commitments so unique. This policy is truly asked powered by the collective energy of our people and a high level of ambition. I am proud of where we stand, and I'm really excited about where we're going. There has never been a better time to leverage technology and human energy to tackle environmental, social and governance challenges. As I said, the next 10 years will be crucial and our responsibility is huge. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Aiman. This marks the end of our presentation, and it's now time for the last part of our event, the Q&A session. First, I'd like to thank all the analysts and investors who share their question ahead of the event. If you have not already, you can submit your question using the Q&A feature on the bottom left of your screen. Please note that we may not be able, of course, to answer today all questions received. And if so, we will do our best to get back to you after the event.

Okay. I think we received quite a lot of questions. Of course, the first one will be for you, Aiman. And the first question is, why did we decide to put together this ESG policy now?

Well, we have already been doing a lot of things around ESG in the group, so there's nothing new about it. But we felt that it was important to be able to formalize in a policy, what are our priorities and objective because it enables us to be able to maximize really the impact like everybody in the group and to provide the framework as well to be able to work with our external stakeholders, our clients, our partners, our investors or society at large and know exactly what are we aiming for. And it also provides something measurable that we can display across the organization to be able to see how we are progressing.

Thank you, Aiman. James environment is, of course, one of the main pillars of our ESG policy. So not surprising, there are questions on this topic. And we would like to know how the revised SBTI standards is changing our net zero strategy.

Thanks, Olivier. A great question and a really important question as well. Let me start by saying that Capgemini has been part of the pilot group of companies working with SBTI over the last 12 months to really road test and establish this new net zero framework. And we think it's really important. We fully support it, and we really feel it's important that we now have this clarity and transparency in terms of what the net zero concept means. So from a Capgemini perspective, so we know the new -- within the new framework, net zero has a requirement for near-term targets to 2030, long-term targets of 90% absolute reductions by no later than 2050 and the need to compensate the final 10% using carbon offsets. So for us, our announcement last year, we announced a net zero 2030 strategy. That announcement, that ambition from last year is broadly in line with what SBTI have defined as the near-term targets. Our Scope 1, our Scope 2 and our Scope 3 supply chain targets are all in line or actually in some cases, slightly more ambitious than the requirements of the new framework. The Scope 3 targets we have on business travel and commuting. We are just adjusting slightly to bring them fully in line. And we're currently going through the process of finalizing the final date at which we will claim to ambition to be net zero. So that's the process we're going through. We are looking to submit our final targets to the SBTI in January when they open the validation process. And just to conclude, essentially, we just reiterate our commitment to carbon neutrality as a business. As Aiman mentioned earlier, we will be net -- we will be carbon neutral across our operations. That's travel, energy, commuting, waste and water from 2025. And then we will be carbon neutral across our supply chain as well from 2030.

Thank you, James. Aiman, you often tell me that execution is everything. So we have now a solid, an ambitious ESG policy, but how do we make sure that ESG is embedded at every level of the organization?

I think the first thing that we have clear targets. So of course, these clear targets are going to be coming down as objective for our operation at every level in our organization at every country with the country board. They have clear objective in terms of what they need to deliver. And in addition to that, we have in our VP compensation plan, objective as well for people to meet. And finally, we're setting up, as Olivier mentioned earlier, a new IT system to be able to measure our progress. And we'll be able to use that platform to see basically how we are progress in every country around each one of these objectives.

Thank you, Aiman. And Aiman said earlier that we are a people company, a service company. One of the main assets of Capgemini are the employees of Capgemini, their knowledge, their know-how. So how do we ensure regular training of our talent base?

Well, I mean, first, learning is at the heart of our people agenda. And for that, we promote a wide range, I said, I mean, first of all, all our employees have access to a digital learning platform. That's Next, and that's accessible from -- to anybody from anywhere and any time. So that gives our employees limited -- unlimited access to world-class updated content from the best universities but also content that is being built with our alliance partners. And just this year, we have more than 200,000 of our employees who have used this opportunity to learn and 90% of them have returned to learn more. We also design and launch programs that are clearly focused on our strategy and our business strategy. So for example, last year, we launched the AI Academy. This year, we completed it with the cloud campus. And just in 2 months, we had more than 22,000 people joining the program. We are also completing this digital offer by a virtual learning event offer that any employee can attend each year. And then finally, we are also promoting and enabling peer-to-peer learning through the professional communities that are expert communities but also by using a specific platform for that and more than 150,000 of our people have attended a peer-to-peer session this year.

Thank you, Anne. Cyril, sustainability is, of course, a must for the planet, for the community as a whole, but it's also a business for Capgemini. So there are a few questions on this aspect. So what is today the size of our business in sustainability? And what is the growth potential? And how big can become your sustainability business because you are driving it within Capgemini?

Yes. That's a key question, indeed, Olivier. So we have sold around 30 projects and currently delivering them in 2021. What we see in our sales funnel is a couple of hundred opportunities. And I would say, more importantly, we see the number of conversations growing because as we speak, our clients are appointing new leaders to cover this topic or they are empowering the existing function, namely, the supply chain one. So we see a huge number of conversations. And frankly, it's a very promising business for Capgemini and in all dimensions for the next years.

Thank you, Cyril. Maybe I will ask Cedric to join on stage because there is a question on cybersecurity, not surprising, by the way. So Cedric, would you be kind enough to explain us what is really the zero trust approach we have in cybersecurity?

Yes. Thank you, Olivier. Clearly, today, we have to answer to a change in the parade. And also we have to face a fast evolving cyber freight landscape. That requires a more evolved security architecture. Particularly, given the new ways of working that we experience today with the work from home. End users also demand freedom of choice in their devices and location. So this -- with no degradation in the performance due to cybersecurity measures. So in response to that, Capgemini Group has designed a security architecture based on the zero trust principle. First one, protect what is most important the second one is to only allow access when necessary and always check before providing access. So implementing a zero trust architecture is key for us to build a trusted environment.

Thank you. Maybe coming back to Aiman. Focus is also very important. There are 2 similar questions that I will group. And the questions are, what is the most important ESG challenge for Capgemini? And what is the #1 priority for the group?

Well, listen, as a group, we are a talent business. So I have to say that basically, talent is our business, and this has to be one of our most important priorities. Definitely, we have to develop and preserve our human capital because this is our greatest asset. That means developing a lot of things around our people. I mean a lot of the pillars we talked about ESG are very important of our people, if you want to preserve our human capital, whether we talk about environment, diversity and inclusion or even how we support overall, the communities around us. Beyond human capital, I have to mention, especially in today's environment, the -- what Cedric talked about, which is basically the cybersecurity issues or what Maria is really protecting for us is the data part. Data protection are very, very important subject which are growing in importance. And we are basically continuing to invest and improve around how we are able to ensure ourselves protected both around cyber and basically be able to protect the data of our people and our clients, of course.

Thank you, Aiman. I think Shobha Meera is connected to this conference because -- and I hope because there is a question for her. The question is, Shobha, our gender diversity targets ambitious enough? 40% for workforce and 30% per leadership. Is it ambitious enough?

Thank you, Olivier. I hope you can hear me, and hello, everybody. I think the answer is certainly yes. And to be clear, the targets that we've set for ourselves are targets and ambitions, they are not ceilings. On gender diversity, we've been making good progress over the last few years, and we are absolutely committed to continuing with this progress. In 2018, less than 30% of our workforce was comprised of women. And at the end of 2020, that number was 34.9%. It was 34.9% at the end of the year, and that is not including our -- that is 33%. As you're aware, the talent for the women in technology, the talent pool is quite challenging in many countries. And so in the context of that, challenge, we certainly think the ambitions we've set for ourselves are good ambitions to have. In countries where there's better talent pool availability, we already have a much better representation of women. When it comes to leadership, in 2018, we had about 14% of our leadership represented by women. And at the end of 2020, that number stands at 20.3%. So you can clearly see that we are committed to this topic, and we are making good progress. Again, not a ceiling by any means, it is a targeted ambition. And with all the initiatives we have in place and the investments we make, we are looking to make this progress and continue to get to that number and get to that milestone and go beyond in the coming years.

Thank you, Shobha. A question that somebody that probably follow closely the group because the question is the following: How does this policy fit you with your architect of positive future program? This is a good question. I will take it, by the way. Capgemini approach to ESG is really ancient and deeply rooted in our DNA. We didn't -- as Aiman said before, we started a long journey, a long time ago on these issues. And indeed, in 2016, we launched a CSR program called Architects of Positive Futures, which was focused on 3 pillars: environmental sustainability, diversity and inclusion and digital inclusion, things you find in our current ESG policy. So indeed, our ESG policy is just an extension of our past program on ongoing CSR initiatives, but of course, now with a much larger scope. Another question for you, Cyril, about the business. Can you give us a concrete example of how we help our clients to face their challenge in terms of ESG?

Yes. The -- a lot of projects around definition of the net zero road map, not only in terms of trajectory but in terms of governance and -- which are the components we involved in this trajectory within each client. On the brownfield part assessment of the IT footprint, so a lot of clients became aware of this impact. On the supply chain, how to reduce waste all along the supply chain. So this is really on the -- how can I make my brownfield, if I may say, cleaner. And on the other side, new businesses, implementation -- definition and implementation of solar plants, for instance, distribution setting up a new solar plant on the retailer roofs. So those are examples on the so-called greenfields. It's important just to finish because we start to see one element that you didn't mention, which is important, is that our clients start to consider and assess the impact of those operations in terms of CO2, of course.

Of course, of course. Aiman, 2 last questions for you before we close this Q&A session. Maybe a tricky one because there is a question on how we will balance ESG and economical results. And the question is, by increasing our average training per employee by 5% per year to 2030, we will add 24 hours of training to each employee. And it will, of course, probably -- the question is how will we manage that without impacting profitability and utilization?

Listen, it's a very good question. As you know, we're working very efficiently to see how we can improve the deployment of our resources. We are really working on the virtualization of our labor pool globally and deploying a new platform to be able to enhance deployment of people. As we do that, we're going to improve utilization, and we're going to reinvest part of that improvement in utilization in terms of basically building our human capital, which we think will basically provide more value and more growth for the future.

Thank you. And last question, as Secretary of the Board, of course, I know how the Board is involved in these issues. But to what extent the Board of Directors and the top management of Capgemini is involved in the group ESG strategy and performance, Aiman?

Well, the first thing, when you look at this framework that we have shown you with our priorities and objectives. This has been reviewed and validated by the Board of Directors, both the priorities and the objective. In addition to that, we have 2 areas. We have the Strategy and CSR Committee of the Board, which basically has the responsibility to oversee and follow the strategy of CSR strategy of the group and its implementation and report, of course, to the Board of Directors in advancement and recommendation they might have. And we have the [indiscernible], the group Ethics and Governance Committee, which is basically addressing and ensuring that we have proper governance across the group and, again, being able to report and provide additional recommendation to the Board of Directors. So very heavily involved, dedicated session at the Board in both cases to be able to review and ensure that the ESG policy is progressing and on track.

Thank you, Aiman. We are now at the end of our webinar. I would like to thank the speakers, of course, but all the people that made this event possible. We are very happy and proud to have this conversation with you today on ESG, and we are looking really forward to maintaining it in the future. So thank you very much. Take care and see you soon.