On the road to COP26

Ecological Transformation at the heart of the fight against climate change

COP26, the UN's annual climate change conference, is more highly anticipated than ever as the world focuses on building back better from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Six years after COP21 and the birth of the Paris Agreement, signed by 195 delegations, the twenty-sixth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) will take place in Glasgow, Scotland from November 1 to 12, 2021. It will be a time to review and carry forward actions to fight climate change and achieve carbon neutrality.

 

What progress has been made so far?

Australia is at the edge of an opportunity to prevent climate change, take up the economic benefits of going green and build sustainable jobs for the future. If we don’t act now, devastating floods, bushfires and loss of biodiversity will only get worse. As part of Australia’s commitment to the global environment crisis, the government has set ambitious low-carbon targets to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28% by 2030. Following the recent announcement of its purpose to achieve Ecological Transformation, Veolia has declared it will use its water, waste and energy solutions to deliver on Australia’s decarbonisation goals, prevent climate change and restore a sustainable future.  By doing this people can continue to thrive, while protecting natural resources and preventing detrimental impacts on the environment at the same time.

 

How is Veolia playing its part?

Decarbonising the global economy and fighting climate change is possible and we’re helping our customers to take action, in line with the COP26 agenda. Veolia is committed to becoming the benchmark for ecological transformation. This means mitigating the effects of climate change; protecting natural resources; preventing biodiversity collapse; and minimising the pollution of our atmosphere. Our global presence, and our leading position in the waste, energy and water industries, enables us to take actions to deliver real change. Some of the ways we have done this so far are as follows:

  • We have committed to optimising energy efficiency in buildings, and to promoting the use of renewable energy. 

  • We have increased the amount of biomass used in our energy generation plants globally from 9% to 23%, between 2016 and 2020.

  • We recycled 391,000 metric tons of plastic in 2020, as part of our commitment to the sustainable treatment and recovery of waste.

  • We delivered safe drinking water to more than 50,000 people in 2020, with an efficiency rate of 73.4%.

Discover our commitments, actions, and solutions for tackling climate change and building more resilient cities and industries around the world, in our three webinars on Energy, Waste and Water.

 

Veolia's participation at COP26

  • 9 November: Veolia CEO Antoine Frérot will take part in the business sequence organised by the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action.
  • Three webinars will present Veolia's mitigation and adaptation solutions - Watch the replays below. 
  • During the 12-day COP26 conference, the Group will present a solution for the climate every day: energy efficiency in industry; RDF and biomass cogeneration; biogas capture, production and recovery; supply of low-carbon plastics; organic fertilisers and bioconversion for producing energy from biowaste; water reuse; energy efficiency of buildings; desalination; low-carbon water and wastewater treatment networks (positive-energy treatment plants); microgrids (local waste-to-energy strategies, energy storage and electrical flexibility); carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS); and hydrogen.
  • The directors of the Group's major geographic zones will also offer insights into their climate challenges and their proposed solutions.

 

SIGN UP FOR OUR COP26 WEBINARS

Click the link below to find out more about our webinars, and also about our commitment to ecological transformation.

 

Missed our recent webinars series? Watch the reply below. 

The climate clock is ticking, but the battle is not lost... Solutions do exist, watch our latest webinar series to learn more. 

 

1. "Energy: decarbonisation and the future of energy", with Veolia UK, Europe (Northern, Central and Eastern) and North America. 

2. "Water: desalination, reuse of wastewater, digitisation", with Veolia Africa-Middle East and France.

 

3. "Waste: plastic recycling, refuse-derived fuels, biogas and others", with Veolia Australia-New Zealand, Latin America and Asia.

 

-Further Reading-

Veolia says NSW Government’s emissions reduction targets are progressive and achievable
Our modelling shows there is no time to waste and immediate action from all industries is required.