“The New World”, a forum for environmental and societal transition, takes place from 30 September to 3 October in Montpellier (France). It is aimed at citizens, communities and businesses to promote an ecological and inclusive transition. Answering the question: “Is there financing for the transition that is compatible with these requirements” (round table of 30 September), Estelle Brachlianoff, Chief Operating Officer at Veolia, explained the Group’s vision.
Financing the ecological transition represents a challenge for public and private investors. New economic models, inspired by the notions of sobriety and solidarity, now take into account social and environmental capital. These new financing mechanisms apply in the territories by mobilising all the stakeholders: citizens, communities and businesses.
"Pollution must cost more than clean-up"
In the French region of Occitania, like elsewhere, the scarcity of water resources and problems of drought and flooding are central issues. Veolia has solutions in this sphere, such as reuse of wastewater from treatment plants for agricultural micro-irrigation.
Beyond environmental projects, we need a system change. Polluting must cost more than cleaning up; that is not always the case today. The “polluter pays” principle will be fundamental so that we can progress more quickly. For example, by integrating negative externalities into prices, thanks to taxation, such as a carbon tax at the borders of Europe. European industrialists advocate a green, clear and legible taxonomy, because they have the ambition to become world champions of the ecological transition. This is the case for the circular economy of electric vehicle batteries where Veolia is deploying an industrial metal recovery project with SMEs and other large groups. Because we know that in 30 years, the limiting factor of electric vehicles will be the scarcity of resources: we will no longer have enough nickel, lithium and cobalt to produce batteries. This project creates jobs and re-industrialises the territories in France. At Veolia, we propose an ecology of solutions. We are here to find these solutions and implement them in the territories, to make tangible progress with our partners, concluded Estelle Brachlianoff.
For more information
> Acting and committing to ecological transformation
> Veolia, Groupe Renault and Solvay join forces to recycle electric vehicle batteries in a closed loop
> Water: a resource too precious to be used only once
> Le monde nouveau (The New World) forum is organised by the Dépêche du Midi, an independent French regional press group
> Replay (facebook) of the round table “Financing the ecological transition” (in French only)