Pollution—plant protection products factor
Number of sites with zero plant protection products in use, except where required by regulations
VINCI aims to reduce the use of plant protection products in its activities, mainly through commitments made in its Concessions business, which had set the goal to no longer use plant protection products by the end of 2025, except where required by regulations or for employee safety. By the end of the year, nearly all airport and motorway sites had developed vegetation management practices contributing to this goal, by using biological control or mechanical methods. Some airports in the United Kingdom are still subject to regulatory obligations, mainly for airplane safety reasons. In 2025, virtually all of the airports (55 out of 56) in the consolidated scope of VINCI Airports met the zero plant protection products target set for 2025. VINCI Airports is helping airports to use alternative biological control treatments when mechanical methods are too complex to implement.
In 2025, six out of the eight regional divisions reached the target set for infrastructure operated by VINCI Autoroutes. This achievement resulted in particular from a focus on safety issues, the targeting of certain high-risk areas to reduce the frequency of work on roads, and especially on central reservations, thereby limiting employee exposure.
For information on light and noise pollution, see paragraph 2.4, “Preserving natural environments—Pollution (ESRS E2)”, page 234.
Invasive alien species (IAS) factor
VINCI Construction has introduced IAS management plans at all relevant worksites, in collaboration with its customers, and at the majority of the quarries in France that are concerned. The business line plans to train all workers on fixed sites in France about IAS by 2030. VINCI Concessions occasionally introduces control measures when locations are identified on certain assets. VINCI Autoroutes has created a map of IAS locations across its network and is working with ecology laboratories to find better solutions for managing them.
Actions to develop the Group’s capacity to restore natural environments and support its customers
In addition to Group actions taken to reduce pressure on biodiversity, VINCI may be required to carry out ecological compensation operations, which take different forms depending on the role of VINCI entities in the projects. These compensation projects do not involve the purchase of biodiversity credits.
| Actions to restore natural environments |
|---|
Actions to restore natural environments Regulatory ecological offsetting |
Actions to restore natural environments Voluntary ecological offsets (restoration of natural environments, reforestation, etc.) |
Actions to restore natural environments Restoring green spaces and creating ecological corridors |
Actions to restore natural environments Implementing ecological engineering solutions to preserve and restore biodiversity |
Actions to restore natural environments Developing nature-based solutions in urban environments |
Regulatory ecological offsetting
When a project’s impacts can be neither avoided nor minimised, concessions can act in their capacity as program manager to take suitable offsetting measures, according to the local situation, and monitor the ecological outcomes.
To compensate for the residual impacts of the A355 motorway construction project in Strasbourg, European hamsters, a protected species, were released into the wild in 2025. The operation was carried out with the Sauvegarde Faune Sauvage non-profit, a partner of VINCI Autoroutes since 2017. At its quarries, VINCI Construction implements regulatory ecological offsets, using in situ or ex situ measures, in collaboration with government agencies and nature conservation partners. It also implements offsets at worksites when mandated to do so by its customers.
Voluntary offsets (restoration of natural environments, reforestation)
Several VINCI companies engage in voluntary offsetting projects to restore degraded lands and benefit local populations, with the support of experts to ensure that these initiatives meet high environmental and social standards. In 2025, VINCI Airports continued to participate in reforestation programs that have received the Bas Carbone label (see “Carbon offsetting projects” in paragraph 2.2.2.1, “Climate change mitigation and energy,” page 219). VINCI Airports also launched the Restore Seagrass project in 2025 to rehabilitate degraded seagrass habitats along the Faro coastline and manage invasive species.
Restoring green spaces and creating ecological corridors
To improve and reinforce these ecological corridors, VINCI Autoroutes may place fencing closer to motorways to enlarge the area serving as a refuge. In the 30,000 hectares of land along its motorways, more than 200 sites have been identified with potential for rehabilitation. As part of a partnership with the National Forest Office (ONF), 120 of these 200 sites were studied. The remaining sites were found to be less suitable for ecological improvements. To date, 16 sites have been rehabilitated.
In 2013, at VINCI Construction, HS2 became the first major infrastructure project in the world to commit to no net loss of biodiversity, partly by creating a green corridor of new wildlife habitats and green spaces for local communities. The No Net Loss biodiversity metric is used to compare the habitats present before and after construction, taking into account both destruction and compensation.
VINCI Concessions’ business lines are rehabilitating land through other initiatives, such as the Wild Meadows project, which involves sowing a diverse mix of native species along motorways in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Benefits of the project include creating vital habitats for invertebrates and pollinators, reducing the need for grass mowing or repairs, and preventing ground movement and the resulting potential damage to infrastructure.