Introduced by Law n°2013-504 of 14 June 2013 on securing employment, the BDES (Economic and Social Data Base) - whose objective is to provide a "clear overall view of the formation and distribution of the value created by the company's activity" - was given an additional E for the "Environmental" aspect on 25 August 2021, when the Climate and Resilience Law was adopted, On 25 August 2021, the date of adoption of the Climate and Resilience Act, an additional "E" was added for the "Environmental" aspect and became the BDESE ("mise en place des données économiques et sociales et environnementales (BDESE))

Decree no. 2022-678 of 26 April 2022, which was published in the Journal Officiel the following day and came into force on 28 April 2022, specifies the content of the BDESE on environmental indicators.

How does the transition from the BDES to the BDESE reflect the strengthening of environmental protection, which has become a strategic and mandatory issue for companies?

"Environmental data, a mandatory theme in its own right"

Companies with more than fifty employees, for which the establishment of a BDESE is mandatory, must from now on include environmental indicators.
These will be made available directly to the CSE (Social and Economic Committee) (> see obligation Establishment of a Social and Economic Committee) or, set up by a collective company agreement, which will indicate the company's environmental data as well as the commitments made by the company.

The compulsory themes of the BDESE are defined according to the size of the company's workforce but, in general terms, they include economic and social data and, from now on, environmental data, which specifically covers the general environmental policy, the circular economy and climate change. It should be noted that specificities may vary according to the size of the company.

"The general mission of the CSE strengthened by an environmental dimension"

If until now the BDES was already at the disposal of the CSE and served as a support for the preparation of its annual consultation on various points - such as the strategic orientations of the company, its social policy, its economic and financial situation and evolution, etc. - the transition to the BDESE has given it an environmental mission.

Indeed, the CSE must now be informed and consulted on the environmental consequences of the company's activity during the three main recurrent consultations (> see obligations « Consultation des représentants du personnel ou du CSE - 1 seul salarié licencié » « Consultation des représentants du personnel ou du CSE - 2 à 9 salariés licenciés »  « Consultation des représentants du personnel ou du CSE - à partir de 10 salariés licenciés ») - strategic orientations, economic and financial situation and social policy - and, during its information-consultation on questions concerning the smooth running of the company, such as measures likely to affect the volume of staff, employment conditions or the introduction of new technologies.

"GPEC also affected by the challenges of the ecological transition"

Employers with more than 300 employees, who are already in charge of negotiating on GPEC (Gestion Prévisionnelle de l'Emploi et des Compétences), must now continue this mission, by responding to the challenges of the ecological transition.

"The employer faces an increased risk of sanctions"

If the employer refuses to set up a BDESE, he is still liable to a fine of €7,500 for the offence of obstruction, but if the BDESE is incomplete (if the environmental indicators are missing, for example) or not updated, the CSE can refer the matter to the president of the judicial court, so that he can order the employer to provide the missing elements.