Biodiversity is everything that constitutes life: animal and plant species, microorganisms, as well as ecosystems and the links that connect them all to one another and to our societies. Biodiversity plays an essential role in our day to day, for instance by contributing to water quality, soil fertility and climate regulation.
Through our water and waste activities, we are making a tangible contribution to preserving biodiversity. How? Let us tell you!
At SUEZ, our relationship to nature is central. By treating wastewater and waste, we are contributing to fighting against pollution and limiting the degradation of natural environments, which is a vital role for protecting life and ensuring the resilience of regions.
At the same time, our activities are heavily dependent on the services provided by nature: quality and availability of water resources, functioning of microorganisms, and climate regulation.
Aquatic environments are major reservoirs of biodiversity and provide essential services to our societies. In the global context of pollution and rising water stress, at SUEZ we are taking action to preserve water resources.
Our actions are based particularly on :
Preserving biodiversity also requires better resource management. By promoting the circular economy, at SUEZ we contribute to reducing the extraction of virgin raw materials, which helps alleviate pressure on ecosystems.
By transforming waste into recycled resources, we are contributing to preserving natural resources and reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
To take concrete action on the ground, we have developed Nature Standards, which apply to the priority sites we manage and our major construction projects. These standards establish common rules to preserve local biodiversity, protect water resources, and promote the circular economy.
In practical terms, this translates into targeted actions that can be adapted to each local context: conducting biodiversity assessments, combating invasive alien species, restoring natural habitats, and implementing ecological site management. By 2030, our objective is for 100% of biodiversity-priority sites that we operate, as well as all our major construction sites, to apply these Nature Standards, in order to scale up best practices in support of living ecosystems. These standards provide a clear and consistent framework wherever we operate, in service to our customers.
In France, we have established a partnership with the LPO, the League for the Protection of Birds, to leverage the organisation’s expertise, regional network, and knowledge of local biodiversity to support our teams in implementing their biodiversity action plans, one of the measures outlined in our Nature Standards.
Our commitments to biodiversity have been validated by Act4Nature International, ensuring their scientific rigor and long-term monitoring.
Human health is closely linked to the health of ecosystems. Healthy natural environments provide essential services for human health: better water quality, less polluted soil, the ability to better absorb shocks and regulate certain imbalances...
By helping to preserve and restore biodiversity, at SUEZ, we address key factors in environmental health. Wastewater management, pollution control, the conservation of natural resources, and the restoration of degraded environments help reduce risks to communities and improve quality of life.
Biodiversity is not a separate issue, it is closely linked to climate change. On the one hand, climate change is accelerating the decline in biodiversity. On the other hand, the decline in biodiversity is exacerbating climate change, for example by limiting the ability of ecosystems to act as carbon sinks.
Diverse and functional ecosystems also help regions build resilience to adapt to the impacts of climate change. For instance, restoring riverbanks helps reduce the risk of flooding caused by high water levels.
At SUEZ, these issues are at the heart of our activities and the solutions we implement every day. Drawing on our technical expertise in ecological engineering, eco-design of infrastructure, biomonitoring and habitat restoration, as well as our local presence, we work with local authorities and industries to strengthen the resilience of regions, improve people’s quality of life and support more sustainable resource management.
Protecting biodiversity means taking concrete action to build more resilient and sustainable regions, both today and in the future.
1 A site is considered biodiversity-priority if it is located along, crosses, or is situated within an IUCN area; a Natura 2000 site; a UNESCO World Heritage site; a Key Biodiversity Area; or if it is larger than 10 hectares; or if it is a waste storage facility.
