Companies are progressively becoming aware of environmental issues and beginning to take concrete action to contribute to the ecological transition. This movement is also driven by strong expectations from employees: to join an organisation that gives meaning to its mission and shares clear values on subjects that matter. Faced with this reality, one question structures the approach: to durably engage teams on environmental issues, should you mobilise or penalise? The answer is not binary, and that is precisely what makes it worth exploring for any HR function wishing to act with coherence.
Mobilise or penalise: why both are necessary
Raising awareness without paralysing: finding the right communication register
The question of tone is central to any environmental awareness initiative. Positive or alarmist communication? Both approaches have their value, precisely because each employee has a different sensitivity to the subject and will not be affected in the same way.
Overly alarmist communication can be paralysing. It risks plunging a portion of teams into inaction, or even into eco-anxiety: a form of suffering or distress linked to awareness of environmental challenges. This type of communication is nonetheless necessary: it is realistic and clear-eyed in the face of developments that hold little good news. An overly optimistic approach, conversely, minimises the urgency and keeps behaviours unchanged.
The challenge for HR and communications teams is to find the right balance: a message that engages without paralysing, that informs without discouraging, grounded in what each employee can actually do at their level. Communication that creates momentum without lapsing into exhortation.
Sanctions as a lever for transformation
Mobilisation alone is not enough. Sanctioning is also necessary and urgent, particularly in the face of behaviours that accelerate environmental degradation and intensify its direct consequences for the company itself. The two levers are complementary: mobilisation builds buy-in, while sanctions establish a clear framework and guarantee consistency between words and actions.
An organisation that mobilises without ever sanctioning sends an ambiguous signal to its teams: that environmental issues are a communication priority, not an action priority. By embracing both registers with clarity, it makes its approach credible and legible for all employees.
The HR function: a central actor in the ecological transition
Informing, raising awareness, supporting
Companies' ecological transition directly mobilises employment and skills. As an essential link in the transformation of organisations, the HR function is at the heart of this support role.
From the employees' perspective, information and awareness-raising on environmental issues are a priority. The subject is a sensitive one, and its scale can make each person feel too small to act meaningfully. Yet companies are now on the front line when it comes to changing the course of events. Their role is not limited to reducing their carbon footprint: it also consists of creating the conditions for each employee to understand their contribution and feel capable of taking concrete action.
Team engagement depends on this ground-level approach: going to employees, listening to their concerns, showing them that their responsibilities have meaning and contribute to building healthier working conditions for everyone. A company that is genuinely engaged on the environmental front sends a powerful signal about the values it truly stands by.
Integrating the ecological approach into HR strategy
Pursuing a concrete ecological agenda also means embedding it in the organisation's business approach. By making the environmental dimension a visible part of strategy, the company creates the conditions for collective awareness and long-term decisions that align with it.
In terms of skills development, personalised support can strengthen employees' employability whilst promoting a company culture oriented towards ecology. Because ecology and quality of life at work are inseparable: in organisations that engage seriously with both, the two dimensions reinforce each other and produce lasting effects.
From green gestures to deep transformation: scaling up
Every gesture counts, but none is sufficient on its own
Some figures are a reminder of the scale of the challenge. 27% of companies in the energy and environment sector consider that their activity has a "strong" or "very strong" impact on waste production. Even the organisations most directly concerned by environmental issues are still contributing to climate change.
Green gestures matter: responsible consumption of materials, sorting waste linked to professional activity, encouraging physical activity, sharing guidance on using low-carbon means of transport. These gestures may seem modest, but within a company they contribute to a collective evolution in behaviours and help create a quality working environment.
They are not sufficient, however. This ecological crisis has been ongoing for years, and a more profound transformation must take hold. Human resources have precisely the opportunity to act as a bridge between growing environmental challenges and teams.
Towards the integration of environmental competencies across all roles
The ecological transition is not primarily about creating new occupations. It is first and foremost about transforming existing ones. The work of the National Observatory for Jobs and Occupations in the Green Economy (Onemev) confirms this: "the challenges of the ecological transition are more about integrating new environmental, technical and behavioural competencies into existing roles than about creating new ones" (Claire Tutenuit, Managing Director of Entreprises pour l'Environnement).
This reality redefines the role of HR: not only to identify and recruit environmentally aware profiles, but to support all employees in acquiring environmental competencies adapted to their role. This is where training and skills development become decisive levers for embedding ecological transformation over the long term.
