In recognition of the current threats to ecosystems and the increasing scarcity of natural resources, some of which are essential to its activities, VINCI aims to limit the environmental footprint of its business lines by moving them toward a circular economy approach. Implementing circular economy principles means rethinking the way resources and waste are consumed, produced and managed, by improving design and production processes, reducing the extraction of virgin raw materials, and promoting reuse and recycling as well as more efficient techniques and practices.
Over the next few years, VINCI’s environmental ambition will involve stepping up these actions that form the basis of a circular model, across all activities, with a response at three levels of engagement:
This ambition is deployed while integrating realities experienced on the ground, with initiatives built around meeting the specific requirements of VINCI’s businesses (see the summary of the main commitments by business line and by area, page 204). To support this, a circular economy community of experts from VINCI divisions was formed to share best practices, keep abreast of regulatory changes and foster the adoption of common, cross-business practices.
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| Eco-design | Eco-design Actions taken
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Eco-design Performance indicators
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| Sourcing | Sourcing Actions taken
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Sourcing Performance indicators
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For VINCI, raw materials sourcing is a central issue in implementing a circular economy approach. As the Group’s businesses are users of raw materials, its companies implement a range of solutions to reduce the impacts of their consumption, including eco-design of projects, environmental clauses in subcontractor agreements, supplier assessments in calls for tender, and research into sourcing reused, reconditioned or recycled materials.
Based on eco-design research conducted by VINCI-ParisTech lab recherche environnement, tools were created to take into account the entire life cycle of projects, primarily in the construction sector. A doctoral research project is being carried out by a student from the École des Ponts based on data from VINCI company worksites (Cardem and VINCI Construction France) to study the reuse of construction materials.
In the Group’s construction activities, efforts to minimise the use of virgin materials are implemented directly by divisions and focus on reducing consumption, sourcing locally to create closed recycling loops, and using recycled, reused and reconditioned materials. On the High Speed 2 railway construction project in the United Kingdom, the Balfour Beatty–VINCI Construction joint venture managed to reduce the projected amounts of lime to be used from 500,000 to 350,000 tonnes. The use of bio-sourced materials is also on the rise. In 2021, VINCI Construction France continued to develop its expertise in this area. For example, on the Jardins de Vilvent project in Nazelles-Négron in central France, delivered at the end of 2021, 108 tonnes of bio-sourced materials were used (wood fibre insulation, timber-frame construction, sunshade structure in Douglas fir, etc.), enabling it to achieve a threshold of 18 kg/sq. metre of floor area, in line with Level 1 of the NF Habitat Bâtiment Biosourcé certification label. Finally, many projects carried out in 2021 have employed reused materials as part of the Group’s responsible sourcing approach. As an example, more than 7,000 sq. metres of false flooring slabs were reused on the Paris public hospitals headquarters project.
VINCI Immobilier is also experimenting with the reuse of materials. A case in point is the reuse of 6,000 tonnes of crushed concrete as backfill on the Ovelia senior residence programme and on housing under home ownership incentive programmes in Amiens.
In the Concessions business, most raw materials consumption is monitored, in particular the consumption of asphalt mix to maintain motorways in France. VINCI Autoroutes has set a target to recycle 90% of asphalt and aggregates from removed pavement materials and reuse half at its own worksites. This goal is routinely included in any bids it submits for motorway maintenance contracts. As a result, out of a total of 1.1 million tonnes of reclaimed asphalt pavement from road repair projects, 42% was recycled directly at VINCI Autoroutes’ worksites. Some pavement renovation projects led in 2021 met high recycling targets: on the A8 motorway, nearly 15 km of the road surface between Nice and the Italian border was entirely renovated using recycled asphalt materials. For the renovation of the A10 and A11 motorways, more than 40% of aggregates from milled pavement material have been recycled directly into the new pavement mix, and the remainder has been used on other operations.
Efforts to promote responsible purchasing were stepped up in 2021 at both business line and Group level, to obtain materials and equipment with a lower environmental impact (see paragraphs 4.4.2 and 4.4.3 of section 4, “Duty of vigilance plan”, pages 252 and 254). In 2021, VINCI Airports completely reviewed its environmental clauses in agreements with third parties operating at its airports so that these clauses could be applied at all the airports in its network. At Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport, the Zefiro project was launched in late 2021 to eventually replace single-use plastic cups with reusable cups. At VINCI Autoroutes, in 2020 the concession company Escota had signed an agreement with the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in south-east France and other partners, such as the local permanent centres for environmental initiatives (CPIEs), to aim for a “zero plastic” Mediterranean region. The initiative continued in 2021 with, for example, the retail partner E.Leclerc, by trialling solutions to avoid producing waste at the source in all activities concerned (shops, catering, cafés, delivery, etc.).
