Three key aspects of the strategy, aimed at meeting growing challenges in water and waste management

Climate change, population growth, energy transition, etc. These megatrends are increasing the pressure on resources in terms of water and many other raw materials.

By relying on our long-standing strengths – proven technological solutions, a culture of partnership and deep local roots – along with our innovation capabilities and the commitment of our 40,000 staff members, our strategy charts a clear course in terms of meeting those challenges: becoming the trusted partner for circular solutions in water and waste by 2027.
Our strategy has three key aspects: focusing on our core businesses and main markets, differentiating ourselves in the market, and creating value. By capitalising on our Group’s long-standing strengths and with the support of our shareholders, the strategy will enable us to become our customers’ trusted partner for circular solutions in water and waste.
Sabrina Soussan , Chairman and CEO of SUEZ

Our strategy has three key aspects

Focus

An integrated player covering the whole water and waste value chains

Differentiation

Expertise in construction, leadership in digital solutions and innovation

Value creation

For all our stakeholders

Focus: an integrated player covering the whole water and waste value chains.

The first key aspect of our strategic plan is to focus our activities on water and waste, and to increase our international presence.

We are focusing on our core businesses, i.e., the water and waste value chains, along with related services. These business areas give us a dynamic, diversified and balanced portfolio.

The water value chain

SUEZ water value chain
Image Generic - Chaine de valeur eau
Image Generic - Chaine de valeur eau

The waste value chain

SUEZ waste value chain
Image Generic - Chaine de valeur dechets
Image Generic - Chaine de valeur dechets
In geographical terms, we are concentrating on our main markets. They are a combination of mature, resilient and innovation-focused markets, and high-growth emerging markets. This strategy will enable us to increase the proportion of our revenue coming from international markets to 40% by 2027.

Differentiation: expertise in construction, leadership in digital solutions and innovation.

Our Group stands apart through its unique expertise in building infrastructure and its recognised leadership in innovation, digital technologies and the customer experience.

Challenges include cutting carbon, improving the energy performance and resilience of infrastructure, and using digital technologies in networks. To help our customers meet those challenges, we are increasing our investment capacity: over the course of our strategic plan, we will invest €860 million more than in the previous period.


We are also strengthening our innovation and R&D capabilities in order to design circular solutions in water and waste. Our research and development budget will increase by 50% between 2023 and 2027 as we seek to explore cutting-edge technologies in areas such as treating micropollutants (such as PFAS), producing sustainable energy from waste, recycling, and preserving water resources.


Building on our leadership in connected solutions, we are continuing to invest in digital and other technologies that play a key role in preserving resources, with the aim of doubling revenue from those activities within five years.

Budget X 

2

Doubling the budget for innovation in waste reduction and recovery

Budget X 

4

Quadrupling the budget for carbon reduction

Revenue X 

2

Doubling revenue from digital services

+ 50 %

budget

50% increase in the budget dedicated to R&D and innovation by 2027

+ €860

million

of additional investment by 2027
La Morée wastewater treatment plant

Our expertise in terms of treatment infrastructure

Find out more about our expertise in terms of designing and building water and waste processing infrastructure 

Value creation

Through our strategy, we are creating value for all our stakeholders.

For our shareholders, our strategy aims to increase profits at a faster pace than revenue.


For our employees, our actions are part of a clear policy of participation. In accordance with our shareholders’ commitment to increasing the proportion of SUEZ’s capital held by our workforce to 10% by 2027-2029, we launched an employee share ownership plan in late 2022. This allowed us to hit our target of having 3% of our shares held by employees in 2022. Our Board of Directors includes three directors representing employees, including one representing employee-shareholders.


Our broader contribution to society is enshrined in our ambitious ESG policy, which is an integral part of our strategy. It includes 24 operational commitments as part of our 2023-2027 sustainable development roadmap, in three categories: climate, nature and social. These commitments will enable us to maintain our leadership in terms of sustainability. We report on our progress in these areas every year.


We also take action through the Fondation SUEZ, which supports projects to give access to essential services (water, wastewater and waste) in emerging and developing countries, along with social inclusion projects in France. We also pursue our commitment to inclusion through our dedicated subsidiary Rebond Insertion. Since 2003, more than 12,000 people have received support from Rebond Insertion, which plays a major role in integrating people into the workforce in the environmental services sector.

10 %

of our capital owned by employees by 2027-2029

24

sustainability commitments

12,000

people supported by our Rebond Insertion subsidiary since 2003

A strategic plan guided by our purpose

Our strategic plan is inspired by our vision of how we contribute to society, as embodied in our purpose.

We firmly believe that through our water and waste activities we can play an important role in improving the quality of life wherever we operate. Our purpose, developed through consultation with our stakeholders, employees, customers and partners, is our North Star. In pursuing that purpose, we have concrete, quantitative targets in all of our business areas.

Presentation of our strategy

3MB PDF