Bachy Soletanche UK (VINCI Construction) won the 2023 Sustainability Impact award from the Chartered Quality Institute (CQI). This honour recognises the global sustainability policy and impactful initiatives Bachy Soletanche UK has taken to reduce its carbon footprint.
At VINCI Energies in the Netherlands, two divisions achieved Level 5 in the CO2 Performance Ladder for their supply chain analysis.
Outside of its direct emissions scope, VINCI is committed, through its environmental ambition, to helping reduce the Group’s indirect emissions by way of actions across its value chain. In 2021, the Group pledged to reduce its indirect emissions by 20% by 2030 compared to the 2019 baseline. This commitment has been validated by the SBTi and is based on the emissions categories defined in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol). It involves an absolute reduction and covers all emissions categories, upstream and downstream. It goes beyond the scope of the GHG Protocol recommendations, as it also includes emissions from motorway traffic.
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Measurement tools
The e-CO2NCERNED carbon assessment tool was developed and deployed Group-wide, but several other tools are available to the operational teams in order to better understand the impacts associated with their specific activities and to propose appropriate solutions for their customers. For VINCI Construction’s building activities in France, the E+C-(positive-energy and low-carbon) calculator can be used to assess compatibility against this label’s criteria. In 2023, VINCI Energies developed ECO2VE, which aims to measure a project’s carbon impact and guide the creation of low-carbon alternatives for its customers. During the year, VINCI Autoroutes introduced a tool for calculating the real time carbon footprint of its purchases, based on monetary ratios and carbon footprints for specific services.
Reducing upstream impacts
The Group is working to reduce emissions associated with its purchases, by setting up selection criteria and responsible purchasing processes. These actions are presented in detail in paragraph 2.2.1, “Group-wide approach to promote responsible purchasing”, in the “Social performance” section, page 215. The Building France and Civil Engineering France divisions of VINCI Construction are collaborating with their main suppliers on reporting the carbon impact of their concrete and steel purchases, while VINCI Energies is working with its key suppliers to define responsible purchasing criteria. For example, in 2023 a webinar on low carbon cables was organised with Nexans and a webinar on green solutions was organised with Schneider Electric. Moreover, various steps were taken in 2023 to reduce emissions relating to the materials used for carrying out the Group’s projects and encourage the use of eco-design.
In 2020, VINCI Construction, which accounts for around 90% of Group emissions relating to concrete purchases, adopted a target for 90% of the concrete used to comply with a low carbon standard by 2030, covering all the quantities for which this type of solution is technically and economically viable (see “Overview of the main commitments by business line”, page 223). More than 50% (30% in 2022) of the total concrete used by the Building France and Civil Engineering France divisions of VINCI Construction in 2023 was low carbon concrete, and the trend is growing stronger both in France and abroad, particularly in Poland, Latin America and Asia. This progress was reflected in several headline projects in 2023: low carbon segments were used for the first time on a project to build a tunnel for the future Line 18 of the Grand Paris Express; nearly 90% of the concrete used on the Nîmes university hospital redesign project was low-carbon or very low carbon concrete; seven of the 13 buildings in the project for the new hospital in Nantes were built with low carbon or very low carbon concrete with a clinker substitution rate ranging from 50% to 80%; the construction work on Les Subsistances, a residential building in Compiègne, which will include 64 housing units, used 98% low-carbon concrete, with a projected 10% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
The use of these solutions is made possible as more partnerships are formed with ready-mix concrete producers, providing all worksites with easy access to low carbon concrete. Also contributing to this is the increasing use of e-béton on projects. This tool for digitalising the concrete process and improving carbon traceability was designed as part of the intrapreneurship programme offered through Leonard, VINCI’s innovation and foresight platform.
The carbon footprint of steel is becoming another key criterion. Recycled steel accounted for 95% of that used by VINCI to build the Noisy-Champs station. The steel used to build the Cœur d’Aéroport building at Marseille Provence Airport (VINCI Construction’s Civil Engineering France Division) was made from 70% recycled steel. In France, Freyssinet (VINCI Construction) analysed its strand suppliers based on their environmental product declarations and also developed environmental fact sheets for products manufactured in-house. Teams from ETF (VINCI Construction’s Networks France Division) prioritise the use of electrical steel over the use of cast iron for their rail works, especially on projects for Line 15 of the Grand Paris Express. Outside France, the Specialty Networks Division (VINCI Construction) has contracted eight suppliers in Central America to promote the use of steel with a higher content of recycled materials and the use of low-emission energy in manufacturing processes.
