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 targets by business line and by area, page 220). 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.
| Actions taken | Performance indicators | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 Amount of reused or recycled materials for a selection of relevant supply chains by entity |
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 building sector. A student from the École des Ponts is using data from VINCI company worksites (Cardem and VINCI Construction’s Building France and Civil Engineering France divisions) for a doctoral research project looking at the reuse of construction materials. Several examples of reuse at worksites are detailed in paragraph 3.3.2.2, “Reuse solutions”, page 244.
In the Group’s construction activities, efforts to minimise the use of virgin materials are implemented by divisions and focus on reducing consumption, sourcing locally to create closed-loop systems for waste recovery, and using recycled, reused and reconditioned materials. VINCI Construction’s Major Projects Division has successfully implemented in-situ recycling processes for materials from the demolition of pavements at the Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine tunnel renovation site in Canada. The division has also reused excavation material in situ at various worksites, including the construction of the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link between Denmark and Germany and the City Rail Link project in New Zealand.
In the Concessions business, consumption of the main raw materials is monitored, in particular the consumption of asphalt mix to maintain motorways in France. VINCI Autoroutes has set a target for 2030 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 1,159,968 tonnes of reclaimed asphalt pavement from VINCI Autoroutes’ road renovation projects, 529,069 tonnes, or 46%, were recycled directly at VINCI Autoroutes worksites. Some pavement renovation projects led in 2022 met high recycling targets: on the A57 widening project in Toulon, 50% of the soil from the earthworks was reused on site and 100 % of the asphalt mix was reused, including 40% on site; for the A61 widening project, a consortium of several VINCI Construction entities (Road France and Civil Engineering France divisions) applied some 120,000 tonnes of asphalt containing up to 50 % recycled aggregates.
Responsible purchasing efforts have continued 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 the Group’s duty of vigilance plan, pages 276 and 278). VINCI Construction Terrassement (Networks France Division) now includes environmental performance criteria in all its framework agreements. As a result, suppliers and subcontractors are now evaluated each year on specific criteria, and the evaluations are kept in a database that can be accessed by all employees. The business unit also took measures in 2022 to eliminate plastic packaging in the delivery of geotextile, enclosed fencing and anti-graffiti fencing. VINCI Energies has also initiated discussions with some of its suppliers to present environmental issues and encourage them to produce product environment profiles (PEP) and environmental and health product declarations (FDES).
In terms of external recognition, VINCI was reviewed by CDP Forests for the third year and earned a score of C, “Awareness” level. Wood is one of the most important resources used by Group’s businesses, in terms of procurement risk management and in combating deforestation. Some VINCI Construction businesses, such as Arbonis, CMA Agencement & Menuiserie, Tarare Bois (Building France Division) and CBCI (Europe Africa Division), are highly exposed to this risk and take special precautions in sourcing wood materials. For example, more than 80% of the wood used by Arbonis is PEFC certified and sourced through a short supply chain. Its teams use local tree species and work with the French National Forest Office (ONF) to support the country’s certified timber suppliers. Seventy percent of the wood used by Tarare Bois is PEFC certified and all of its solid wood supplies come from French sawmills.
