The VINCI network celebrates World Environment Day

10 June 2020 - Sustainability - France

On World Environment Day, VINCI teams went on line to share the action and initiatives they have taken in support of the Group's environmental strategy.

The strategy, focused on three areas (greenhouse gas emissions, resource preservation through development of the circular economy, and conservation of natural environments), is notably aimed at achieving a 40% reduction in VINCI's CO2 emissions by 2030 compared to 2018. The following gives a brief overview of the action taken.

After reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 18% between 2010 and 2018, VINCI Autoroutes set a further target of reducing its direct CO2 emissions by 50% in the 2030 timeframe, with a special focus on transforming its vehicle fleet. Its teams also made a commitment to recycle 100% of its ordinary operating and worksite waste and to ban the use of plant protection products on the motorway network.

VINCI Concessions is working to systematically roll out the recycling and reuse policy designed to expand the circular economy, in accordance with one of VINCI's objectives. For example, 95% of the Chambéry airport's waste has been recycled or used to produce energy since a waste management contract was introduced in early 2019.
Meanwhile, the Salvador de Bahia airport (VINCI Airports) reduced its carbon footprint by 134 tonnes within a few months and will soon start operating a solar farm comprising 11,000 photovoltaic panels.
In Slovakia, Granvia (VINCI Highways), which operates the R1 expressway concession, has installed 42 hives with 2.5 million bees and continues its drive to raise awareness of the need to protect bees.

On its worksites, VINCI Construction is working to put the Group's commitment to combat climate change into practice, notably through the widespread use of low carbon materials.
VINCI Construction teams are also promoting the circular economy. The digital Waste Marketplace solution, which has already been rolled out on some 100 worksites, provides a simpler, more cost-effective and more ecological way to manage worksite waste. It was developed by a Group intrapreneur within Leonard, VINCI's forward-looking innovation platform.
As part of their work to conserve biodiversity, the teams at Equo Vivo, the VINCI Construction brand dedicated to ecological engineering, recently restored aquatic ecosystems and wetlands along the Yvette River within the Haute Vallée de Chevreuse Regional Nature Park.

As part of VINCI's "Avoid, Reduce, Offset" approach aimed at achieving zero net loss of biodiversity, Eurovia plans to plant a tree in Brittany for every 700 tonnes of asphalt mix placed.
The world's first fully recycled road, designed by Eurovia's research teams, was unveiled in 2018 and continues to be implemented on French roads, as in the Charente department.

After equipping thousands of families with photovoltaic panels, IZEN (VINCI Energies) is taking solar energy a step further by launching an online smart energy platform in Belgium. The platform will put energy producers and consumers, both individuals and companies, in touch with each other.
VINCI Energies teams are also working to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings, for example by expanding the use of calculation tools. The idea is to enter product or energy emission factors in a dedicated application using standard criteria in order to assess the carbon footprint of available solutions.

All these initiatives are spelled out in more detail in the VINCI Autoroutes, VINCI Concessions, VINCI Construction, Eurovia and VINCI Energies websites!