Investing in natural capital

Biodiversity is being lost at an alarming rate around the world and in the UK. Pressures range from global warming to urbanisation, and soil erosion to air and water pollution.
The mission

To promote and enhance biodiversity

We have a responsibility not only to manage the environmental impact of our operations, but also to support and enhance biodiversity where possible at local as well as corporate level.

 

We must take action at all levels of the organisation to protect and promote biodiversity.

Our solution

We have committed to developing a biodiversity action plan for each of our sites as part of our sustainability strategy and are progressively implementing local measures.

 

Educating our employees on the importance of biodiversity, and our role in its enhancement, forms an important element of our approach – as does collaboration with other stakeholders. Our in-house training team developed a suite of learning materials around biodiversity. This is available to employees through our online learning platform.

As a global group serving communities with varying levels of awareness of the threat to oceans and marine life, mounting an international campaign on this theme was also seen as a priority. The SUEZ4Ocean campaign encourages employees, customers and local communities to take part in litter collections and other events. The aim is to protect waterways and oceans from plastics and other pollution through action days, such as litter picking on beaches and riverbanks.
The results

Our biodiversity e-learning course is helping to raise awareness amongst employees, giving them the information and tools to help effect more positive change.

 

During 2019, SUEZ employees in the UK participated in SUEZ4Ocean actions days around the country. This is in addition to a large number of locally-organised volunteering and collaborative efforts with environmental aims.

We are carrying out improvements on our sites that enhance biodiversity. Examples from 2019 include:
  • Restoration of 25.8 hectares of land at three closed landfills.
  • Planting 258 trees at an energy-from-waste facility and landfill.
  • Pledging to plant 100 trees each year in Greater Manchester in partnership with the City of Trees.
  • Installing beehives at two energy-from-waste facilities and a waste transfer station.
  • Creating nesting sites and habitat for sandmartins at a landfill.
  • Reducing the mowing frequency and promoting re-wilding of green areas at a waste transfer station.

Supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

Our efforts to promote biodiversity support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals SDG 14 (Life below Water) and SDG 15 (Life on Land).
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