Working proactively to adapt buildings and infrastructure to extreme weather events and developing technical skills and knowledge to reinforce building structures are a core part of solutions to climate change challenges. VINCI has conducted research on issues including flood prevention, adapting neighbourhoods to heatwaves and managing the urban heat island effect. The Resalliance startup is an in-house design office providing consulting, modelling and project management services to help projects and geographies adapt to climate change.
To support the circular economy, VINCI companies strive to reduce their consumption of raw materials and to limit, sort, recycle and reuse an increasing share of the waste produced by their activities (see the actions described in paragraph 3.3, “Optimising resources thanks to the circular economy”, page 221.
The rollout of recycling platforms for materials, especially inert materials, supports the circular economy by allowing for their reuse on worksites of the Group’s companies in a more systematic manner. For example, about 10 years ago, Eurovia launched its Granulat+ programme, which uses innovative treatments and recovery-sorting-recycling facilities to recover the resources needed to produce aggregates.
15%of recycled material in VINCI Construction’s total aggregate production for 2021
Given their extensive international operations, VINCI’s Concessions businesses must find alternatives to landfills for treating waste. To meet its goal of sending zero waste to landfills, VINCI Airports has built on-site sorting centres for its airports in Brazil and the Dominican Republic. VINCI Construction and VINCI Energies are also taking measures to promote the reuse of materials and equipment on worksites, in addition to waste sorting and recycling.
Preserving natural environments is a key concern for VINCI companies. From a project’s earliest design stage, they strive to avoid, reduce and offset the impacts of their activities on species and natural environments. VINCI companies comply with a range of local regulations and requirements of varying complexity. Above and beyond their legal obligations, they undertake risk analyses of their projects and implement measures to manage the identified risks (see the actions described in paragraph 3.4, “Preserving natural environments”, page 226).
A mapping of risks has shown that the Group’s activities can cause pollution of various sorts and deteriorate natural environments.
Accordingly, the Group has taken steps to reduce these impacts, both during the construction phase and during operations.
Entities use various types of equipment to prevent surface water pollution, choosing the best solution for each context. For example, VINCI Autoroutes creates retention ponds on the sites of its infrastructure to allow the settling of suspended solids in run-off and pumped water, but also to contain any accidental pollution and avoid contaminating neighbouring watercourses or sensitive environments. As another example, 90% of VINCI motorways in service in France are equipped with either natural water protection systems or engineering structures that address potential problems to prevent accidental pollution in the surrounding natural environment. In addition, whenever water is discharged into a natural environment, this is done only after its quality has been verified through sampling. In all its airports, VINCI Airports systematically installs oil-water separators wherever there is a risk of water contamination. Some of Eurovia’s quarry sites have implemented innovative systems to filter pumped water and minimise the discharge of any suspended matter. At worksites, temporary retention ponds or settlement tanks are set up as needed to prevent suspended solids from contaminating the natural environment. Worksites are also supplied with spill kits, watertight areas for machine refuelling, and other equipment to prevent accidental pollution.
To reduce the light and sound pollution generated by the operation of infrastructure, acoustic barriers are regularly placed along motorways, and lighting systems may be adapted to direct light only towards areas requiring illumination for the safety of users. During a project’s construction phase, Group entities use acoustic enclosures or ventilation strategies to diminish the noise produced by their machines. Depending on the context, noise levels may be measured, and sometimes vibrations as well.
At sites under construction and sites in operation, air quality monitoring systems may be implemented. Some airports measure the air quality of surrounding areas on a continuous basis. At worksites, operators first make sure that weather conditions are suitable (low wind speeds) before beginning soil stabilisation work.
Efforts are also made to limit the use of phytosanitary products for road maintenance to the strict minimum. Currently, these products are only used for hard-to-access areas or for fighting invasive plant species. A reduction of just over 80% in the use of phytosanitary products (in litres) occurred between 2018 and 2021 for the Concessions business as a whole. As part of its commitments under the act4nature international initiative, VINCI has made a pledge to cease all use of phytosanitary products by 2030 (unless prevented by contractual or regulatory provisions).
37airports used no phytosanitary products in 2021
The Group mobilises internal and external sources of environmental engineering expertise to offset its residual impacts on species. Specific ecological restoration measures are taken only after all possible adaptation strategies have been applied.
