Our commitment to being the benchmark company for ecological transformation drives everything we do.
At Veolia we believe our usefulness drives our success and that through our environmental, social and financial actions we can have a positive impact on all our stakeholders.
Our latest Sustainability Report shows the impact Veolia has on all our stakeholders in Northern Ireland and Ireland which demonstrates our usefulness and underpins our success.
Download the full report
By resourcing the world through our businesses in water, waste and energy services, Veolia delivers solutions that facilitate access to essential services and natural resources.
We know how precious and finite the planet’s natural resources are and we’re continually looking for ways to conserve, use and recycle them more effectively.
Our purpose
Veolia's purpose guides us on our journey and is at the heart of our Impact 2023 strategic programme.
Our Multifaceted Approach
Veolia developed the concept of multifaceted performance to ensure we give equal care, attention and resources to economic and financial, commercial, environmental, human resources and social performance.
Supporting our employees to be the best they can be
We cannot achieve our ambitions without having great people in our company. We are committed to supporting all of our employees to be the best they can be. This means ensuring their workplace maintains high standards of safety, and that we protect and enhance everybody’s health and wellbeing.
Committed to team safety
The Veolia Minimum Requirements (‘VMR’) programme was rolled out during 2021.
Developed in conjunction with our site teams, it saw the creation of minimum standards for all operational sites to both ensure a safer working environment and enable the sharing of best practice. The standards were piloted, reviewed and refined before being implemented across all operations.
An annual event, Safety Week 2021 built on the Team Safety campaign of 2020 and the safety commitment boards from 2019.
Videos, case studies and practical tools were made available to managers to help run team exercises throughout the week. A specific programme was delivered for those working in offices or from home to encourage maximum participation in the event.
Relaunching our wellbeing strategy
In line with our commitment to supporting our employees’ wellbeing, we reviewed and relaunched our Wellbeing Strategy, ensuring we had a proactive focus across the five pillars of wellbeing; Mental Health, Physical Health, Nutrition, Financial Fitness and Social.
We also launched an interactive Wellbeing Calendar to give employees access to a range of wellbeing resources.
Our Employee Assistance Programme gives employees and their families access to a broad range of resources including free confidential counselling and specialist information and advice across a range of topics.
We continued to support employees through our dedicated team of Mental Health First Aiders in Northern Ireland.
Inclusion Strategy 2021-2023
Led by our newly appointed Inclusion Lead for the UK and Ireland, we launched our Inclusion Strategy 2021-2023.
Part of the Future of Work pillar of our four year HR Strategy, it will help guide us on our journey to become a more inclusive place to work.
It focuses on five priority areas:
- Attraction & Selection
- Awareness & Upskilling
- Development
- Communication
- Customers
2021 Highlights
Recognising talent from all backgrounds and selecting and recruiting people in an inclusive way.
Roll out of unconscious bias training to senior leadership team and people managers.
Gender-specific language removed from job descriptions to encourage a wider range of applications.
New Diversity & Inclusion hub launched across the UK and Ireland.
More than 800 employees across the UK and Ireland signed our Inclusion Pledge.
Our annual “Voice of Resourcers” employee survey is a key tool for measuring employee engagement.
All employees are invited to participate and share their views on working at Veolia. We use the feedback to constantly improve our employee experience.
Supporting the communities in which we operate
Operating as a responsible business
CORE – the Standard for Responsible Business – is Northern Ireland’s only corporate responsibility accreditation.
In April 2021 Veolia was awarded the Business in the Community Northern Ireland Silver Level CORE accreditation for a further two years.
Supporting local suppliers
Across the island of Ireland, Veolia works with approximately 1,000 local suppliers that support both our operations and our customers.
In addition to our important commercial arrangements with them, we partner with them to enhance their approach to both health and safety and sustainability.
Helping the next generation
Our schools engagement programme with Young Enterprise Northern Ireland was adapted in 2021 to allow it to continue despite the COVID-19 restrictions.
Helping the communities we live in
The Veolia Connect Community Fund allows Veolia employees to apply for funding to support community organisations they are directly involved with. In 2021 we received 39 applications and allocated €15,000 to fund 15 projects across the island of Ireland.
Accelerating ecological transformation.
In providing water, waste and energy management services in local communities across the island of Ireland, we are well placed to combat pollution and accelerate ecological transformation.
Our commitment to achieving Net Zero
We are committed to achieving Net Zero by 2050 at the latest, a target that is underpinned by our global vision of Ecological Transformation across the Veolia Group.
Our Journey to Net Zero published in 2021 details a wide-ranging programme of measures to decarbonise services essential to everyday life – including waste, water and energy – and will guide us to meeting our target.
Helping our customers increase resource efficiency
We are committed to listening to, understanding and acting on the needs of our customers. This is what drives us to be creative, passionate and innovative in finding solutions to help our customers increase resource efficiency and financial surety in water, waste and energy, and to meet their net-zero goals.
Converting from Heavy Fuel Oil to Natural Gas
We are working with a major food processing company in Northern Ireland on their journey to a low carbon future. As a first step, we are managing the conversion of their boilers from Heavy Fuel Oil to natural gas.
This will make their production process more efficient and reduce their carbon footprint.
Improve Reliability and Resilience
Over the course of a long term contract, assets and utilities will, naturally, need to be upgraded.
In conjunction with a major utilities customer in Northern Ireland, we planned and began the implementation of a £12m investment across six sites. When complete, this project will ensure reliable, efficient equipment which will reduce our customer’s operational costs and carbon footprint. It will also facilitate energy generation from surplus steam for consumption on-site.
services. Our Net Promoter Score (NPS), combined with our contract renewal successes, shows that we are trusted by our customers to deliver for them.
Creating real social value
We know that today’s long-term investors are no longer satisfied with financial return alone. They want us to create real social value, factoring in climate risk and finding ways to develop and grow sustainably.
The Veolia Group was ranked second in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) for the Multi and Water Utilities industry
More than 22.5% of our employees are now shareholders
Our Ethics Guide is in place to explain to employees and other stakeholders what ethics and compliance mean to Veolia