The use of low-carbon concrete, to which VINCI Construction has made a strong commitment (see “Greenhouse gas emissions reduction levers” in paragraph 2.2.2.1, “Climate change mitigation and energy”, page 212) is also a way to economise on virgin materials, since the binders used in the place of cement can be sourced from the circular economy. For example, blast furnace slag, a co-product of the steel industry, offers an alternative to cement.
The use of bio-sourced materials is growing thanks to timber construction and plant-based binders as well as building processes. VINCI Construction is developing the use of bio-sourced materials in its projects through its Arbonis subsidiary, which is industrialising timber construction, utilising the advantages of this renewable, recyclable material facilitating carbon storage. Opting for sourcing through a short supply chain, the teams mostly favour local tree species and work with the French National Forest Office (ONF) to support the country’s certified timber suppliers.
The Building France Division has committed to purchase only certified structural timber by 2030. A formal wood procurement policy will be finalised by the first quarter of 2026, and a monitoring process will guarantee its implementation (see paragraph 2.6, “Preserving natural environments”, page 238).
The Group has an excellent track record in timber construction and formulating low-carbon concrete. Building on this expertise, it has launched new building processes, such as the “Mixed structures and own production” transformation strategy by the Building France and Civil Engineering France divisions of VINCI Construction. It was designed to help companies learn about wood buildings and constructions that combine wood with other materials, especially low-carbon concrete. The aim is to incorporate more wood or mixed structures into their own operations. More than 800 employees have been trained, from a full range of company areas: engineering, methods, prevention, pricing, works management and site teams. The Edenn business complex in Nanterre, built by VINCI Construction’s Greater Paris New-Build Functional Structures delegation, supports this goal. The mixed wood-concrete structure spanning more than 30,000 sq. metres will house the offices of Schneider Electric, among others.
Freyssinet, a company in VINCI Construction’s Specialty Networks, has tested several replacement solutions, such as cardboard instead of polystyrene in formwork for road joints, and aims to gradually replace this material across all worksites of this type. In 2025, trials were also conducted for bio-sourced bitumen, as described under “Decarbonising materials” in paragraph 2.2.2.1, “Climate change mitigation and energy”, page 215).
Reuse is a circular economy approach that aims to recover products, equipment or materials from a structure, generally at the end of its life, before it is demolished or rehabilitated, to be reused at another worksite. The entire building and civil engineering sector is concerned by this approach, but reuse is growing faster in the building business because its products, equipment and materials are easier to reuse. Furthermore, the regulatory landscape in France encourages reuse, such as through the French environmental regulation RE2020 and extended producer responsibility (EPR) for construction products and materials in the building sector.
VINCI has made a strong commitment to material reuse with the launch of Backin, a 2024 Environment Award winner for the Greater Paris area, supported by the Scale up! programme in 2025. It aims to promote large-scale reuse across the Group by encouraging the development of internal reuse streams, by sharing tools and offers, and by building an internal network to circulate knowledge and opportunities among business lines. VINCI Construction subsidiaries specialised in demolition or cleaning are essential links in the reuse value chain, because they can identify reusable equipment and materials at their worksites and direct them toward the internal reuse streams, using storage facilities provided by a VINCI Energies logistics company. Some reuse streams at VINCI Energies and VINCI Construction entities in France were fully operational and mature in 2025, facilitating the reuse of electric cables, cable trays, circular and rectangular ventilation ducts, sanitary equipment, false flooring tiles, industrial valves and paving stones from deconstruction. In 2025, a new reuse stream for retrofitting fan coil units was created. Studies and tests to assess the technical or economic feasibility of additional reuse streams are under way in various Group business lines. As an example of reuse made possible through this initiative, about 17,000 sq. metres of false flooring, 10 km of cables and over 1 km of cable trays were reused for the One Monceau renovation project in Paris.
At VINCI Construction in the United Kingdom, a reuse strategy targeting inert materials from road maintenance worksites led to the 2025 launch of Emat, an internal reuse solution. The digital tool enables operational teams to inventory and exchange excess worksite materials such as rubble, kerbs, paving stones, aggregates and poles. Instead of going to a landfill, they are then reused for other projects, reducing the need for new supplies.
Across a broader scope than reuse, VINCI also promotes circular economy principles. VINCI Construction is a contributor to the environmental organisation Écominéro and a founding member of CircoLab, an organisation that develops the circular economy in the property development and construction industries, of which VINCI Energies is also a member.
VINCI is implementing a policy to reduce the waste generated by the Construction and Energy businesses (mainly worksite waste) and by users of concessions (at airports, on roads, at motorway service areas, etc.) and to implement waste recovery more widely. Group subsidiaries are taking action in several ways to reduce waste at the source:
Definitions of waste indicators are provided in paragraph 5.4.5, “Resources, waste and materials”, of the methodology note, page 292, and the monitoring of waste produced is indicated in paragraph 2.3.3.2, “Materials and waste”, page 233.
