CAPEB
Sustainable development commitment path for craft businesses

CONTEXT

Close to their customers and able to understand their changing needs, rooted in their local communities and working more specifically on existing buildings, building craftsmen have a key role to play in the evolution of the built environment. To reinforce the capacity of the 500,000 SMEs it represents to play a key role in the transition, the CAPEB (Confédération de l’Artisanat et des Petites Entreprises du Bâtiment) has designed a responsible business path adapted to its members. The aim: to enable each artisan to voluntarily develop their own CSR approach, and to promote their actions to their customers and stakeholders.

UTOPIES has been supporting the CAPEB since 2016 in defining the “Committed Craftsmen, Responsible Business” approach, creating the tools made available to craftsmen and rolling out the approach to departmental and regional CAPEBs.

MISSION

The mission consisted in :

• Structuring and conducting the pre-study phase to define the format and development methods for the “Committed Craftsmen, Responsible Business” approach.
• Formalizing the positioning of the approach, the stages in the process and the priority issues.
• Preparing and running workshops and seminars with the project committee, stakeholders and CAPEB members.
• Co-constructing the “Committed Craftsmen, Responsible Business” pathway tools with representatives of the trades, external stakeholders and CAPEB members: website, online self-diagnosis questionnaire, animation and communication support, etc.
• Co-designing the internal and external communication plan and deployment of the “Committed Craftsmen, Responsible Business” approach.
  Organizing training sessions for local CAPEB CSR relays.

RESULTS

The “Artisans engagés. Entreprise responsable.” was launched in early 2019, and craftsmen can now join the network via the CAPEB website and the dedicated website. The network is distributed and run by the departmental and regional CAPEBs.
Craftsmen have access to numerous online tools and resources enabling them to obtain information, diagnose their practices to date, set up an associated action plan and – once they have posted a set of responsible practices online – access communication tools. Practical information sheets are also available on some twenty themes, proposing concrete actions to implement and resources to consult. Last but not least, craftsmen also have a “local” CSR referent, in charge of coordinating the approach on a local level.