Environmental Performance
Our environmental performance is a direct reflection of the services we provide to partners, clients and customers every day.
Whilst we are proud of our reputation as a leader in environmental service delivery, we remain focused on ensuring our own environmental performance is of the highest standard and reflects genuine leadership.
In other words, we must practise what we preach. We must set the example and we must ensure that the issues we focus on are the issues of most importance to our current and prospective partners.
Through stakeholder dialogue, we identified our key issues in this area to be:
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Minimising both our clients' and our greenhouse gas emissions
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Preserving natural resources
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Implementing environmental management systems
Greenhouse gas emissions
Veolia Environnement's direct emissions are from vehicles, processes, landfills, facilities and equipment managed by the company. We also generate indirect emissions from electricity consumption, mainly for water production, wastewater treatment plants and electric-powered trains. An increase in the environmental services we provide for the public and private sectors therefore results in higher greenhouse gas emissions for our own operations.
In 2010, we emitted a total of 824,829 carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) tonnes, decreased from 1,306,370 in 2009.
Helping clients and customers track, understand and measure their own carbon footprint
In 2010 we helped our customers and clients manage their carbon footprints through the use of carbon calculators:
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Veolia Environmental Services continued to provide the 'Greenhouse Gas Estimator and Reporting Tool', an important instrument for businesses looking to reduce their operational costs and limit their waste-related greenhouse gas emissions.
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Veolia Transport provided an interactive web-based carbon calculator for passengers that measures carbon emission savings when public transport is used instead of a private vehicle.
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Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies proviced a worldwide carbon footprint initiative aimed at driving innovation and cost savings for its customers.
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Veolia Energy (Dalkia) installed 12 major building management systems that provide building owners with the data necessary to calculate the carbon footprint of their sites.
Preserving natural resources
In 2010, Veolia Environmental Services sorted 55,472 tonnes of waste at its transfer stations, including paper and cardboard, construction materials, metals, timber, glass and plastic. This is an increase from 48,425 tonnes in 2009.
We also help to preserve natural resources by providing non-rainfall dependent sources of water and wastewater treatment in Australia where water shortages have impacted fresh water ecosystems and potable water supplies.
Case Study
Securing water solutions for the future
In 2009, Veolia Water simultaneously established operations for some of Australia’s most significant water infrastructure projects:
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Sydney Desalination Plant – providing 250 megalitres per day or 15 per cent of Sydney’s drinking water supply and ensuring a non-rainfall dependent source.
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The South East Queensland Desalination Plant on the Gold Coast, providing 125 megalitres per day of drinking water to 650,000 people.
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The Western Corridor Recycled Water Project in south-east Queensland, the largest advanced recycled water scheme in the southern hemisphere, capable of providing 232 megalitres per day of recycled water for industrial use or for return to drinking water supplies (if required in the future).
Case Study
Enhancing local biodiversity
Veolia Water typically enters into long-term contracts for managing water or wastewater treatment plants and is also a custodian of the land on which the plants are located. It is in a unique position to implement biodiversity actions on the ground. Biodiversity actions to date include the following:
Woronora and Illawarra Water Treatment Plants, New South Wales
On the New South Wales’s south coast, Veolia Water operates two water treatment plants on behalf of Sydney Water. At these sites, Veolia Water has:
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Planted 1,250 native trees and shrubs at the Illawarra plant to encourage the reinstatement of local flora
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Implemented a fox baiting program in partnership with Wollongong City Council
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Changed to using non-toxic weed killers
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Developed plans to re-establish vegetative corridors
Bolivar Wastewater Treatment Plant, Adelaide, SA
In Adelaide, the Bolivar Plant is one of 12 plants which Veolia Water’s wholly owned subsidiary, United Water, maintains as part of a broader contract to run Adelaide’s water services. At this site, United Water:
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Worked in partnership with the State Government and SA Water to replant native vegetation – since 2005, a total of over 100,000 native plants have been planted
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Established a seed orchard for the production and collection of native seeds
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Allocated an area of the site to grow bamboo for the panda bears at Adelaide Zoo
During 2009, the Veolia Water team formalised its biodiversity management program. This involved identifying those water treatment plant sites where the Veolia Water team could make a positive difference to biodiversity. From this list, a smaller number of sites with the greatest opportunities to enhance biodiversity were selected and biodiversity plans developed. These plans will be implemented in 2010.
Environmental management systems
In 2010, 86 per cent of our revenue from activities was covered by an environmental management system (EMS).
We seek to ensure all our operations and activities are covered by an EMS. This helps to ensure compliance with all applicable environmental legislation, regulation and other requirements specific to our business and continuous improvement through setting targets and tracking performance.
The revenue generated by activities covered by an EMS decreased to $1.4 billion in 2010 from $2.1 billion in 2009. However, this was due to separation from one subsidiary and the percentage of revenue covered by an EMS or ISO 14001 only decreased slightly from 89% in 2009 to 86% in 2010 and was well above the target set by Veolia Environnement globally of 80%.
The percentage of environmental audits (internal and external) carried out at priority sites increased significantly to 100% in 2010, from 93% in 2009.
Recognition of environmental excellence and fostering innovation
In recognition of our approach to excellence in environmental management and fostering innovation, we were granted two key operational licences by Australian Government authorities in 2009:
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Veolia Water was the first company to be granted a Water Industry Competition Act network licence from the NSW Government. This Act was established to foster innovative water recycling projects. The licence enables Veolia Water to construct, maintain and operate a new recycled water treatment plant in western Sydney. Upon completion, this plant (part of the Rosehill Recycled Water Scheme) will transport more than four billion litres of recycled water to industrial and commercial clients - reducing their use of drinking water supplies.
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Veolia Environmental Services in Victoria became the first Australian waste management and resource recovery agency to be awarded a Corporate Environmental Protection Agency licence.
Key environmental performance data