Group companies have taken a variety of measures to reduce water consumption depending on their business activity and the entity’s environment. VINCI Concessions has set a target to cut water consumption per unit of traffic in half by 2030 (see “Overview of the main commitments by business line”, page 204). To save water, VINCI Airports for example called on its entities to discontinue water salutes, a practice in which an arch is formed by plumes of water over the aircraft shot from fire truck water cannons. VINCI Airports is the world’s first airport operator to discontinue this practice. Predictive irrigation systems are also implemented when necessary, reducing water consumption by up to 30%. Finally, Island Roads Services, a motorway concession on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom, reuses grey water to reduce consumption.
VINCI Autoroutes has pledged to reduce its water consumption by 10% by 2030, which it aims to achieve by closely monitoring equipment and through optimisation strategies, while setting a water consumption cap at its major worksites. Leak detection programmes have gone into operation with the installation of remote reading water meters, representing 23% of all meters on the network, making it possible to monitor water consumption in real time.
In 2021, VINCI Construction created a water management working group. This group compiles and reviews best practices to manage and reduce water consumption, drawing in particular on water-saving projects developed to compete in the VINCI Environment Awards (rainwater harvesting and use at worksites, closed water loops on recycling platforms and quarries, use of weather stations to adapt hosing practices at quarries, etc.).
Several VINCI companies develop solutions to conserve fresh water resources. Water Management International has created a connected flowmeter to monitor, check and reduce water consumption at a worksite, plant, infrastructure or building. VINCI Energies has developed a smart irrigation system for the city of Florence in central Italy, which can reduce water consumption for watering green spaces by 30%. The VINCI-ParisTech lab recherche environnement is carrying out research on urban rainwater management, which has already identified several solutions that could be applied to urban agriculture and the creation of green roofs, showing that 65% of rainwater runoff can be collected in planters installed on roofs.
Initiatives adapted to local environmental issues and the duration of the project are taken on long-term sites operated and managed by Group companies as well as worksites. VINCI has entered into specific commitments in this area as part of the act4nature international initiative.
| Actions taken | Performance indicators | |
|---|---|---|
| « Zero use of phytosanitary products » | « Zero use of phytosanitary products » Actions taken
2030 Ambition: zero phytosanitary products used at all VINCI sites by 2030 (except where required under contracts or regulations) |
« Zero use of phytosanitary products » Performance indicators
|
| Action plans, tools and approaches | Action plans, tools and approaches Actions taken
|
Action plans, tools and approaches Performance indicators
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| Offsets and green works | Offsets and green works Actions taken
|
Offsets and green works Performance indicators
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The Group implements a wide range of measures to reduce environmental impacts at both its fixed sites and its worksites. A significant number of these actions were shared via the VINCI Environment Awards in 2021, and a massive deployment of certain initiatives is planned beginning in 2022.
Operators of linear infrastructure concessions are primarily concerned with limiting the fragmentation of natural habitats during operations as well as construction work and with reducing land use. Their efforts focus on the ecological transparency of their infrastructure, the reversibility of barriers, and the restoration of sensitive environments and ecological connectivity. This includes building and restoring wildlife crossings, making improvements to hydraulic structures, restoring and enhancing sites of ecological interest, seeding and replanting slopes, sustainable roadside grass mowing, and so on. In 2021, VINCI Autoroutes began construction of three wildlife crossings, on the A71, A10 and A11 motorways. On the western Strasbourg bypass (A355), which was put into service in December 2021, the route of the infrastructure was optimised to minimise impacts on natural environments. In addition, 130 ecological transparency structures were built along 24 km, a ratio that is 20 times higher than on other French motorways.
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crossings for small and large wildlife (in number) | Crossings for small and large wildlife (in number)2021966 |
Crossings for small and large wildlife (in number)2020 957 |
Crossings for small and large wildlife (in number)2019 957 |
| Fenced sections (in km) | Fenced sections (in km)20218,922 |
Fenced sections (in km)2020 8,765 |
Fenced sections (in km)2019 8,765 |
In 2021, the number of wildlife crossings and the length of fenced sections increased compared with 2020. VINCI Autoroutes teams developed a smart fence, which it tested on the A64 motorway to detect any damage instantly.
