Sustainable Development

For VINCI, which takes pride in adopting a responsible approach to its role in urban and regional development and in improving the quality of life, the answers provided by our divisions to the challenges of climate change present very real business opportunities. Pressure is mounting on all sides – from public opinion, the media, NGOs, national, European and international regulations, and from customers as well – and our companies have stepped up their investment in production methods that emit less CO₂ and in the design of eco-comparison systems allowing customers to assess the environmental performance of the various solutions put to them. Similarly, during preparatory work for the Grenelle Environment Forum in France, we suggested that the Public Procurement Code be amended to include the possibility for companies to present environmental alternatives in their proposals.

All our business lines are affected by the development of new products and services with environmental value added.  The key solutions found are:

-    Empowering all the players, given that our goal is to position ourselves as far upstream as possible in the value chain. The rapidly growing number of public/private partnerships is pushing us in this direction, since they call for factoring in the environmental performance of buildings and infrastructure in operation right from the design phase

-    An in-depth re-engineering of working practices and a new management attitude. This approach calls for a strong commitment in-house from our operations managers and a strong focus outside the company on educating consumers, to support the emergence of clear, differentiating and measurable productions and services in response to new demands.