Combating pollution and accelerating ecological transformation

"The world is facing a serious climate emergency. Climate change is happening, and it is happening to all of us. (...) We are engaged in a fight for our lives. But it is a fight we can win.” 
Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General, 01/07/2019.

No one can now ignore the absolute climate emergency our civilisations face. To limit warming to below 1.5°C by the end of the century and thus limit the damage caused by climate disasters, it is necessary to:
reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 55% by 2100,
adapt to the extreme conditions that await a large part of the world's population in the short and medium term.

Mitigation, emission reduction and adaptation solutions already exist and Veolia is implementing them. They are outlined in particular in the 2020-2023 Environmental Plan.

The Group is also working on the implementation of future solutions, such as CO₂ capture and sequestration, and even recycling.

Veolia is committed to the sustainable management of natural resources by encouraging the circular economy, i.e. an economy that no longer uses fossil fuels and that no longer produces waste thanks to the infinite re-circulation of material goods.

To implement it, a transition economy is needed. Veolia offers concrete solutions:

• Significantly reduce resource consumption by improving the energy performance of its customers or its own facilities.
• Reuse goods and materials to produce less waste, through the reuse of water or eco-design services for packaging.
• Produce electricity and heat from renewable resources, from non-recyclable waste or biomass.
• Produce renewable energy sources such as biogas, captured in waste recycling and recovery centres or produced by methanisation of organic waste and water treatment sludge.
• Sort and recycle waste to replace chemical fertilisers and fossil raw materials.

Veolia is working with local public authorities and its industrial customers to implement new contract models that are decoupled from the fossil fuel economy, as well as more energy-efficient processes.

The circular economy also brings many environmental benefits beyond resource conservation. Veolia also acts on:

• Reduction of pollution that degrades natural resources by reducing discharges into the environment;
• Restoration of biodiversity by returning organic matter to the soil;
• Reduction of CO₂ emissions through reuse and recycling.

Finally, the circular economy is by nature decentralised and inclusive, as it finds its raw materials wherever waste is produced. In this way, Veolia contributes to the development of a local, innovative and sustainable industry and jobs. In emerging economies, the Group is also helping to transform the precarious societal models of the informal waste management economy.

Under the impetus of demographic growth, economic development, industrialisation and increasing urbanisation, the challenges linked to the management of water resources have become multiple and more and more significant. They concern:

• access to safe drinking water;
• overuse of water resources;
• pollution of soil, groundwater and watercourses;
• destruction of wetlands and the degradation of aquatic environments;
• resilience of territories to climate hazards.

Water is at the centre of climatic processes and these issues are now exacerbated by global warming. This causes an acceleration of the water cycle, resulting in an intensification of extreme weather events. Sustainable water resource management is therefore a key line of defence against the consequences of global warming and is at the heart of the ecological transformation.

Veolia's proven expertise in the sustainable management of water resources enables it to make ambitious commitments to its customers and to meet the expectations of citizens.

The global erosion of environments and their biodiversity is unprecedented (IPBES report 2019) and concerns all regions of the world, at the most local scale. This degradation puts at risk our ability to meet our basic needs: healthy food, clean water, raw materials, etc.

Veolia's mobilisation is therefore essential in order to imagine, together with the players in the territories where the Group operates, the solutions of tomorrow that will best respond to their local environmental issues (water stress, water pollution, presence of endangered species, etc.).

The Group has been committed to nature conservation for many years:

• through its internal policy (2020-2023 environmental objectives plan), its partnerships (in particular with the International Union for Conservation of Nature since 2008) and its involvement in external initiatives (commitment to Act4Nature International since 2018);
• by actions carried out according to the specificities and maturity in this area of each country where the Group operates (regulatory, cultural, etc.).

Through this objective of multifaceted performance, Veolia is reaffirming its ambition to integrate the protection of the environment, its biodiversity and the services it provides into its business activities, by working together with its customers, its subcontractors and its other stakeholders (associations, scientists, etc.).