Veolia is one of the global leaders in environmental services. They provide services on all seven continents and offer customized solutions that need the growing needs of industrial and municipal customers in four complementary categories – energy services, environmental services, water, and passenger transportation. Currently, Veolia is listed as a global leader in water services, European leader in energy services for business and local authority clients, the only operator able to manage all forms of waste, including hazardous and non on all continents, and the leading private operator of United States and European public transportation.
1 ) The Veolia Environment Foundation. Established in May of 2004, the Veolia Environment Foundation is one of the foremost private-sector foundations throughout all of France. It works to support community oriented, non-profit projects that contribute to sustainable development. This foundation maintains a special focus on workforce development, outreach, and environmental conservation not just in France but all over the world. Currently, the Veolia Environment Foundation has supported more than 250 projects aimed at environmental conservation, including increasing the use of natural resources as well as biodiversity protection.
2 ) Institut Veolia Environment. Established in 2001, the Institut Veolia Environment looks to “[Promote] foresight reflection on subjects related to the environment in partnership with universities or research organizations in order to shed light on the important issues for upcoming decades.” The objective of the Institut Veolia Environment is to highlight all the major changes that are currently going on between the environment and society. Some directions taken by the institution include society and environmental issues, urban growth imperatives, and climate change and lifestyles.
3 ) Veolia Transdev. Upon the need to create a trusted partner for government authorities to provide transportation solutions for different regions, Veolia established Veolia Transdev. Veolia Transdev looks to respond to the increasing need for simpler, better transportation options using innovative solutions around sustainable mobility. Veolia Transdev’s mission is “To make public transit the defining force in tomorrow’s mobility.” Veolia Transdev has become a global reference for sustainable public passenger transportation. They create new mobility solutions that will lead toward further sustainable growth and offer environmental benefits.
4 ) Veolia Water Solutions. As a global leader in water treatment, Veolia Water Solutions aims to create both municipal and industrial water solutions, including focuses in areas such as drinking water, waste water, process water, and produced water. Veolia Water Solutions’ technical resolutions provide a low carbon future while still meeting the needs of customers in both the industrial and municipal sectors. One of the technologies developed in AQUAMOVE, a large fleet of mobile water treatment united that can assist in process water, cooling water, wastewater treatment, high purity water production, and water re-use.
5 ) Veolia Environmental Services. As the only worldwide operator able to offer a comprehensive range of waste management services, Veolia Environmental Services provides services for the entire waste cycle, such as urban cleaning services, recycling/recovery, soil and site remediation, treatment, transfer, sorting and collecting. The objectives of the Veolia Environmental Services are twofold – reduce current pollutant waste to hinder rising waste production and increase the utilization of recycling and recovery efforts in order to mitigate overall environmental impact. Priorities include increasing international growth on the North American, European and Asian continents, increasing its lead in new waste treatment technologies, and offer additional resources to assist with recycling efforts.
6 ) Dalkia – The Energy Division of Veolia. As a subsidiary of Veolia, Dalkia is the main energy services provider to European local businesses and authorities. With more than 119,000 energy facilities, Dalkia has managed to avoid the creation of 7.1 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions and provide cooling and heating systems to 887 local and district areas. Dalkia looks to manage energy effectively and maintain their focus towards sustainable development. The aim of Dalkia is to “Leverage local resources and minimize each facility’s impact on the environment, while reducing both fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.”
7 ) 2EI. To maintain a focus on urban sustainable development, Veolia created 2EI. 2EI looks at all environmental issues and offers project management support to implement sustainable growth projects in urban areas. 2EI provides advice and support to local authorities to develop urban programs via feasibility studies, environmental diagnostic audits, impact assessments, ecological approach to town planning, and sustainable urban planning.
8 ) Veolia and AREVA Treat Contaminated Water. In July of 2011, a decontamination system that was developed by Veolia Water and AREVA for the Fukushimi Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan was able to treat 18,000 tons of highly radioactive water. The system was built within two month after the tsunami that hit Japan in March of 2011. The system is helping to stabilize the nuclear plant and provide workers with access to different parts of the plant as well as provide the ability to re-circulate water utilized in cooling reactors.
9 ) Veolia and Envac Partner for Vacuum Waste Collection in France. In October 2010, Veolia and Swedish company Envac created a partnership to create automated vacuum waste collection systems for household waste via an underground pipe system. The new collection method is in line with France’s current Grenelle Environment Forum as it promotes a decrease in environmental impacts and long term cost savings because there is no need to create buildings for trash collection.
10 ) Veolia Wins 2010 Contract to Built Sludge Treatment Plant in Hong Kong. In October 2010, Veolia received a contract to build a new sludge treatment plant in Hong Kong. The plant will treat 2,000 metric tons daily and produce more than 20 megawatts of electricity. Total construction will take 37 months. When running in full capacity, the generated energy coming from the plan will go over its needs and the surplus energy will be exported for external use to the power grid. This plant will be completely autonomous in regards to electricity and water needs.
Article by Shawn Lesser, Co-founder & Managing Partner of Atlanta-based Watershed Capital Group – an investment bank assisting sustainable fund and companies raise capital, perform acquisitions, and in other strategic financial decisions. He is also a Co-founder of the GCCA Global Cleantech Cluster Association ”The Global Voice of Cleantech”. He writes for various cleantech publications and is known as the David Letterman of Cleantech for his “Top 10″ series. He can be reached at shawn@watershedcapital.com
