Mise en page 1 - Suez Environnement

SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT
Magazine
Number 02_March 2009
| P02 DESALINATION PLANT FOR BARCELONA | P10 INTERVIEW WITH ALEXANDRE BRAILOWSKY | P15 SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT
AND ASIA | P28 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN TIMES OF CRISIS | P38 ALLAIN BOUGRAIN-DUBOURG |
INVOLVING
LOCAL
DIMENSIONS
IN WATER
AND WASTE
MANAGEMENT
02
_PORTFOLIO
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
No. 02 - MARCH 2009
PORTFOLIO_
03
Barcelona seen from Güell Parc. Behind this picture postcard lies a city facing
a water supply emergency.
GOING OUT
TO SEA
© MARCO CRISTOFORI/CORBIS
SHARING WATER
IS A HOTLY DEBATED
ISSUE IN SPAIN!
LESS THAN 15%
OF THE COUNTRY
HARBORS 40% OF ITS
WATER RESOURCES.
th
4
Spain is the world’s fourth largest producer
of desalinated water
A RECENT PLAN TO BUILD PIPELINES TO DIVERT
WATER FROM THE EBRO RIVER IN THE SOUTHEAST WAS
CANCELED IN 2004, BECAUSE WATER-RICH REGIONS
CLAIMED CHANGES IN THEIR RESERVES DUE TO IRRATIONAL
USE BY WATER-LACKING REGIONS.
SEAWATER DESALINATION SEEMS TO BE A JUDICIOUS
ALTERNATIVE. HERE ARE SOME EXPLANATIONS.
04
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
_PORTFOLIO
No. 02 - MARCH 2009
PORTFOLIO_
97%
© FERRAN MARTÍ ET DESDEDALT
Oceans represent 97%
of the planet’s water reserves
16,800 membranes filter 2,310 liters a second.
The Degrémont team that participated in the project (left to right): G.Sentiso, J. A. Rodríguez, N. Baena, R. Corcuera,
T. Rodríguez, J. L. Voces, L. Escauriaza, A. Rodríguez, F. Bertrán, S. Sánchez, G. Icaza, D. Zamanillo, and R. Sacristán.
© FERRAN MARTÍ
© FERRAN MARTÍ
Construction of this plant will end
this year. It will provide potable
water for 600,000 people
and will have a surface area
equivalent to that of 6 football fields.
05
06
_PORTFOLIO
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
© FERRAN MARTÍ ET DESDEDALT
© FERRAN MARTÍ
These energy exchangers
will enable the plant to save 50%
of the energy linked to osmosis.
No. 02 - MARCH 2009
PORTFOLIO_
This year,
07
Europe’s largest seawater desalination plant
will see the day in Barcelona. It was designed,
built and will be operated for the first two
years by Degrémont and Aguas de Barcelona,
two SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT subsidiaries,
and it will provide 20% of the city's population, or 600,000 inhabitants, with drinking water.
Spain is the world’s fourth largest producer of desalinated
water, after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the
United States. Why? Because the country’s water resources are
inequitably distributed, and entire regions face water stress resulting from a combination of demographic pressure, low rainfall, and
falling ground water tables. During the summer of 2008, Barcelona
had planned to bring water by boat from Tarragona and Marseille
to meet needs. Then, at the end of spring, sudden, strong rains fell
on the region, filling up the dams enough to supply the city, so there
was no need to ship in water during the summer.
Now, the Catalan capital will get its water from the source of
97% of the planet’s water reserves: from the sea! The water is
drawn from 2.2 km (1.24 mi) off the coast and is first subject to a
series of treatments to eliminate the largest impurities (plankton,
colloids, bacteria and viruses). The actual desalination process is
done by reverse osmosis. This is a filtration system using
microporeus polyamide membranes that eliminate 99.9% of the
salt. Water filters through miniscule pores in these membranes—
they are less than a nanometer in diameter—under 60-70 bars of
pressure (or the force by a 600- to 700-m or 2,000-ft column of
water) so that only the water molecules get through.
The brine, or water with a high concentration of salt,
generated by desalination is not directly returned to the sea, but is
diluted with treated water from a nearby water treatment plant,
then returned to the sea with a salinity close to that of the receiving environment.
Of the 70 cities worldwide that have over a million inhabitants
and need additional fresh water sources, 42 are found on the seaside. SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT estimates that by 2015, world desalinated water capacities will have doubled to reach 2% of potable
water consumption. It seems that seawater desalination has a
promising future!
The plant is located on the Llobregat River near the sea and is coupled
with a water treatment plant to dilute the brine.
08
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
_CONTENTS
No. 02 - MARCH 2009
“There is not one overall
sustainable development
champion, but as many
champions as there are
specific aspects”
“The time has come
to pay our debts, both
economically
and ecologically.”
10
© GOVIN SOREL
“Our dialogue process will
increase in 2009”
PORTFOLIO
ICONS
ICONS
02
23
36
CHALLENGES
10
DIALOGUING WITH STAKEHOLDERS
Alexandre Brailowsky explains
how to lead a project successfully
by consulting all the stakeholders.
DIAGRAP® : NETWORK
INNOVATION
A new tool to plan sewer
system renewal.
EYEWITNESS
24
PIERRE GIACOMETTI :
CHALLENGES AND PERCEPTIONS
OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Society’s increased interest and
perceptions of environmental issues.
TALENTS
14
PORTRAIT OF ÉRIC HARLÉ,
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT HEALTH
AND SAFETY DIRECTOR
A man’s passion, between
perfectionism and emotion.
CONTINENTS
Review of a continent
and SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT news
15 IN ASIA
20 AROUND THE WORLD
27
HIGH PERFORMANCE
COGENERATION:
IN SEARCH OF LOST HEAT
An innovative concept for saving
money and energy.
MILESTONES
37
The latest in green books, films, events.
PERSPECTIVES
38
TALENTS
ALLAIN BOUGRAIN-DUBOURG :
The beauty is more useful as the useful
PORTRAIT OF ANDREW SIMPSON,
LANDFILL SUPERVISOR SITA UK
Demanding commitment to serve
the environment.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
IN TIMES OF CRISIS
Observations, debates and real cases:
How can we deal with the issue of
ecology in a tense economic climate?
a publication of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, 1 Rue d'Astorg, 75008 Paris. DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATION: Jean-Louis Chaussade.
Magazine isEDITORIAL
DIRECTORS: Frédérique Raoult & Nathalie Parinaud-Gouédard. EDITORS-IN-CHIEF: Anne-Christine Béon & Gérald Bonnard
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT
55, rue d’Amsterdam, 75008 Paris.
(telephone: +33 (0)1 58 18 51 57/fax: +33 (0)1 58 18 51 68). PHOTO CREDITS: MedioImages/Corbis (cover). DESIGN:
(telephone: +33 (0)1 53 32 55 88). CONTRIBUTORS: Nelly Buffon, Alain Chauveau, Gaëlle Courcoux, Bruno Leprat, Marie Leroy, Tristan Olphe-Galliard, Cécile Perrin,
Olivier Sauvy, Fabiola Sustendal. ASSIGNED EDITOR: Marie Leroy. ASSIGNED EDITOR: Ophélie Fautrel. PRODUCTION MANAGER: Sabrina Ouari. TRANSLATION:
Pro-fusion PRINT RUN: 30,000. PARTICIPATED IN THIS ISSUE: Aurélien Acquier ; Laurent Ballesta ; Laure de Beauregard ; Allain Bougrain-Dubourg ; Alexandre
Braïlowsky ; Julie Carcaud ; Isabelle Censi ; Constance Covillard ; Frédéric Duong ; Philippe Folliasson ; Marco Fontana Giusti ; Vincent Gaudebout ; Pierre
Giacometti ; Éric Harlé ; Éleonore Ho Thi ; Mathilde Le Roux ; Anne-Laure Paté ; Karine Patin ; Delphine Ricros ; Albert Roura i Planas ; Henry Saint Bris ; Andrew
Simpson ; Huot Srun.
JEAN-LOUIS CHAUSSADE /
CEO SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT
“I WANT SUEZ
ENVIRONNEMENT
TO BE ONE OF THE
KEY
PLAYERS
IN THIS
NEW GROWTH !”
SPECIAL REPORT
28
09
28
24
GOING OUT TO SEA
Spain: solutions for a country lacking
water resources.?
EDITO_
Printed on Imprim’vertcertified paper from sustainably
managed forests.
Desbouis Grésil Imprimeur
91230 Montgeron - 01 69 83 44 66
Printed on PEFC-certified paper.
10-31-1444
— After the decisive step we took last July going public, I wanted
this second issue of our magazine to focus on business
responsibility and sustainable development. We are facing new
challenges with rising urbanization, climate change, and stricter
environmental regulations. Transparency and participation
are now omnipresent. These are vital issues for the sustainable
development of our civilization, and I want SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT
to be a key player in this new growth.
In March, there will be a major event with the 5th World Water
Forum, which will be held in Istanbul this year. Everyone involved
in water, including SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT of course,
await this event to take the pulse of the sector and measure
the progress made by all over the last three years.
At the forum, we will be pleased to be able to present, humbly,
the progress we have undertaken. We began this concerted action
with our stakeholders in 2000, and today it is beginning to bear fruit,
with an approach that is constantly foreseeing and innovating to
serve people and nature.
This magazine puts words and images to our ideas,
accomplishments and progress, leaving a lot of room for the
perspectives of men and women, staff or outside experts,
who embody our motto: making the planet sustainable
is the best job on earth.
Enjoy the magazine.
10
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
_CHALLENGES
No. 02 - MARCH 2009
“DIALOGUE
WITH
STAKEHOLDERS
IS A PILLAR OF OUR
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT POLICY”
DIALOGUE IS A KEY ELEMENT
IN SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT’S STRATEGY.
IT IS A MEANS TO BUILD A SHARED VISION OF THE GROUP’S ROLE IN PROVIDING UNIVERSAL
ACCESS TO WATER AND SANITATION. HERE ARE SOME EXPLANATIONS.
/ SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT DIRECTOR
How did SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT begin thinking about social
and environmental responsibility?
We have been committed to universal access to water and
sanitation since as early as the 1990s. What do we believe?
Companies like SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT can contribute to
supplying solutions to less-advanced countries to enable universal
access to water and sanitation services, as well as to waste management services. Some of our experiences, in Latin America for
example, ended prematurely and even stormily, despite undeniable results. We analysed the underlying reasons why the projects
were rejected with the goal of improving, broadening and
enriching our commercial offer in these various types of markets.
This is how we began.
What have you learned from your international experiences
in the area of water and waste treatment?
Water is, above all, a social asset, with a strong symbolic value.
It became obvious to us that local dimensions (political, cultural
and social) necessarily have to be involved in managing public
and delegated services. The goal is to arrive at a diagnosis that is
shared by all the stakeholders: development agencies, universities,
non-governmental organisations, policy makers, elected officials,
etc. To do so, it is essential to establish a close and constant dialogue
with local communities, stakeholders in the field and users.
We have to increase discussions among partners in a same project
so that each one participates in defining the solutions and making
them their own.
“IT IS ESSENTIAL
TO ESTABLISH
What role does SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT play in providing
universal access to essential services?
The challenge lies in working with stakeholders to create a management model that is adapted and sustainable without subsidies
and external intervention. As a result, we came up with a new
segmentation of our market offer. Now, we distinguish between
three types of situations. The first is a traditional sales model: the
“business as usual” segment primarily covers developed countries
and some emerging countries such as China and Morocco.
The second is a system based on corporate sponsorship and
humanitarian aid, which we know well thanks to Aquassistance, our
international volunteer association. This segment applies in very poor
zones and those where habitat is scattered. For want of another
approach, we defined a third framework, which applies to a full
w
range of situations found between these two known
© JÉRÔME GALAND
ALEXANDRE BRAILOWSKY
A CLOSE
DIALOGUE
WITH LOCAL
STAKEHOLDERS.”
CHALLENGES_
11
12
_CHALLENGES
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
No. 02 - MARCH 2009
w
CHALLENGES_
models. These “intermediary zones” correspond to secondary cities
in developing countries, notably in Africa, the core target of the
United Nations Millennium Development goals for access to
essential services. This segment is characterized by financing
difficulties and often by weak institutions, and requires close and
transparent cooperation between the operator, public authorities,
sponsors and NGOs. In these situations, it is possible to build
lasting solutions, and it is not justified to have recourse to handouts.
On the other hand, the social and economic reality of this market
makes it impossible to assume the real cost of the service, so we have
to build an accessible offer.
What model do you now advocate for emerging countries?
To respond to the needs of these intermediary zones, SUEZ
ENVIRONNEMENT has taken the traditional public-private
partnership model and integrated the notion of participation.
We have developed a new framework for involvement called the
4P model (Participative Public Private Partnership). As a result, right
from the preparation of the bid and throughout the entire duration
of the contract, we have institutionalized dialogue with local
authorities and civil society. This “formalized and professionalized dialogue” is essential to the success of any project.
How have you redefined the social and environmental
responsibility strategy?
In 2004, SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT invited scientists, industrials, politicians and representatives of non-governmental and
cooperation organizations around the table. We asked them two
pragmatic questions: “What is SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT’s
responsibility, as a private operator, in universal access to water?”
and “How can we strengthen the balance of powers in water
service management?” We listened to their points of view and
their demands, which were considered along with their needs
and their expectations. This allowed us to refocus our social and
environmental responsibility policy on our core business
and, consequently, to set up action plans.
“THE CHALLENGE
LIES IN CREATING A MODEL
ADAPTED TO
ZOOM
WATER FOR BURKINA FASO
© JÉRÔME GALAND
EACH
SITUATION”
13
Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa
facing serious water access problems. SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT joined
with the Secours Catholique Caritas France and the local partner Ocades
to build a project focusing on access to drinking water in the regions of
Ouagadougou, Kaya and Manga. This project targets 22,000 people found in
38 villages. The goal is to set up 55 water points, to build 30 latrines, to form
55 management committees, to develop 16 garden-farming irrigation zones,
and to train 21 leaders. The project will last two years.
What concrete actions did you implement following
this sharing process?
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT created the Department of Societal
Engineering, which I coordinate, and which is responsible for
deploying and professionalizing local dialogue in our subsidiaries.
We train field teams in local dialogue. Furthermore, when the
company became independent last July, dialogue with stakeholders
became a pillar of our sustainable development policy.
We founded the SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT Water for
Everyone Foundation, housed by the Institute of France, which
supports humanitarian projects aimed at helping disadvantaged
populations access drinking water, water treatment, sanitation and
waste management. Its vocation is to find technical, economic
and social solutions that are adapted to developing countries. It provides financial support but also patronage of skills, which means
technical support and know-how transfer to local players.
What will be set up with stakeholders in 2009-2010?
The dialogue process will increase in 2009, as we extend the
societal approach to waste management, and the year will also see
the launch of our innovative models with two or three attempts to
build 4P models in Sub-Saharan Africa. We want to form a partnership with an African public service and to demonstrate that these
models are lasting, primarily because we work with a public
service from the beginning and, as a result, with public authorities, who are the ones who are really responsible for sector policy.
The World Water Forum is helding from 16 to 22 March, in
Istanbul. This event will be an opportunity to review our actions and
to multiply discussions. It will be a key moment for optimizing the
contribution each player makes to dialogue and to implementing
projects. World Water Forums, held every three years, set the pace
in the sector. They allow everyone to assess their actions, see the
progress they have made in three years, and the progress made by
the entire international water community.
14
_TALENTS
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
No. 02 - MARCH 2009
ASIA
CONTINENTS_
15
Asia
3x
fewer industrial accidents and 2.5 times fewer deaths linked
to our activities in 2008, compared with 2001
© DR
“SAFETY IS A NEVER-ENDING
TASK”
“IF YOU ARE SCARED, REACT !*” This is the caption to the
only photo found on the walls of a spartan office. In the picture,
there are two workers standing on a plank set over an abyss:
a waste treatment basin under construction. “I took this picture
several years ago on a construction site where a subcontractor
was working,” says Eric Harlé, health and safety director
for SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT. The bottom of the basin bristled
with concrete reinforcing bars.” This kind of disrespect for the
rules is still responsible for 50% of industrial accidents. The rest
happen in scenarios that legislators never imagined and that
Harlé, at the age of 52, relentlessly tracks down with his three
colleagues and some 300 “preventers” spread throughout the
group’s subsidiaries. Eric Harlé began as a consultant,
successfully doing safety diagnoses for SITA. In September
2001, he became safety director for SITA, and then for SUEZ
ENVIRONNEMENT. He attacks the job with stubbornness and
emotion, which reflects in his blue eyes. He has a faith that will
move mountains. “Yet, sometimes I just feel despair,” he admits.
“Some days, you feel like all this work is for nothing.”
When he started, about 40 people died every year in accidents
related to the group’s activities. Now, that number is two and a
half times lower. “You have to observe working situations and get
scared in order to invent solutions every time you can,” he insists.
Never let down the guard, analyze the causes of accidents and
set up safety processes that go beyond the basic regulations: this
is the goal set by this alumni of France’s elite Ecole Centrale, who
completed his studies with an MBA in international finance.
“I never worked in finance,” he said. “When I graduated, I became
head of the safety department at a Rhône-Poulenc plant. For the
engineer and administrator that I was, it was obvious that there
were immense needs in the field.”
Can the health and safety director say he has completed
his task? “Safety is a never-ending task. Today, I am bringing a
fascinating step to a close, because safety is part of the SUEZ
ENVIRONNEMENT ‘style’, but there is still much progress to be
made. I contributed to a change of culture: we created a network
of experts and the number of accidents declined. We have to all
keep working so that these changes continue irreversibly.”
© RAFAËL TRAPET
ERIC HARLÉ / HEALTH AND SAFETY DIRECTOR, SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT
— The Asian continent, with its demographic boom
and exemplary economic growth, is facing unprecedented
sustainable development challenges.
Economic growth leads to ever-increasing demands on resources
and generates more and more waste.
The rural exodus is also changing the shape of things.
In China, for example, 400 million people should be moving
into cities; that number corresponds to nearly the entire current
population of the United States and Mexico combined!
This will necessarily lead to an explosion in energy demand
and needs in drinking water and waste management.
Here is an overview of where
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT stands in Asia.
16
_CONTINENTS
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
ASIA
No. 02 - MARCH 2009
ASIA
CONTINENTS_
17
€700 M
That is how much revenue China
brought SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT
in 2007 in water and waste management
Million Chinese people are supplied
with drinking water via
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT services
in 16 municipalities, including Chongqing,
Shanghai and Macao
30 years
is how long
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT has been
in China, through is subsidiaries Sino
French Water Development, Swire SITA
Waste Services and Degrément
01 02
— China is having to face the challenges
of a new century: helping industries
manage their environmental footprint
and reuse waste, which are constantly
on the rise. In its 11th five-year plan
(2006–2010), the Chinese government
clearly defines goals for controlling
greenhouse gas emissions and reducing
energy consumption per GDP point
by 20% by 2010, compared with 2005.
The challenges for new China are not
lacking: protecting resources, turning
to renewable energy sources, effectively
fighting pollution emissions and improving
the quality of the environment.
03
03_SCIP-Swire SITA Waste Services
laboratory.
01_Installation of a geomembrane
for waste burial, in Hong Kong.
02_Tank inspection at the Chongqing
drinking water treatment plant.
© L.SCHIFRES/ABACAPRESS
CHINA /
© X.GE
© VIRGILE SIMON BERTRAND
14
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UP
HONG KONG
CHONGQING
SHANGHAI
ACEF
BEIJING
WASTE BECOMES
BIOFUEL
TWO BIRDS
WITH ONE STONE IN
THIS MAJOR CITY
ONE OF ASIA’S LARGEST
CHEMICAL AND INDUSTRIAL
SITES CHOOSES
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT
FOR ITS DANGEROUS WASTE
SUEZ
ENVIRONNEMENT
IS ACEF’S
ONLY PRIVATE
SPONSOR
ACADEMIC PARTNERSHIPS
BUILDING THE FUTURE
Le Shanghai Chemical Industry Park, Shanghai’s
petrochemical site, equipped itself the largest incinerator of
dangerous waste in China. The incineration plant respects
emission and treatment standards equivalent to those
imposed by European legislation. It is managed by
Swire SITA Waste Services and Chinese partners, and it
can treat up to 60,000 tons of waste a year. But SUEZ
ENVIRONNEMENT also manages the park’s wastewater
treatment and its drinking and industrial water production.
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT is responsible for respecting
the environment on the site and, among other things, is
behind the water research center set up here to stay ahead
of the game in terms of sustainable development.
The non-governmental
organization All China
Environment Federation
(ACEF) has a lot of influence
in the Middle Kingdom.
Its goal is to promote
sustainable development
in China. On October 18, 2008,
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT
signed a strategic partnership
agreement with the NGO.
This strengthened
cooperation enables making
suggestions about new
environmental regulations
and discussing with policy
makers. Two private meetings
with the minister of
environmental protection
have already occurred during
ACEF seminars.
In Hong Kong, the North East
New Territories (NENT)
dump produces biofuel for the
home gas company Towngas.
Thanks to a 19-km (12-mi)
long tunnel, the refined
biofuel that is produced
can be used as a synthetic
natural gas and represents
an energy production capacity
of 3 MW. Every year,
this contract between Swire
SITA and Towngas prevents
the emission of more than
136,000 tons of CO2
and 43,000 tons of naphtha,
making the air better to breath
in Hong Kong.
Sino French Water Development confirmed
its cooperation with Chonqing Water Group,
after acquiring holdings in the Chinese
operator in April 2008. A letter of intent, signed
last September, concerns the concession for
potable water. In play is the challenge of
meeting the constraints of a development zone
in the city of Chongquing, where water
demands are increasing by an average of 14%
a year. The potable water concession includes the construction and management of a
potable water treatment plant with a total daily
capacity of 600,000 m3, providing drinking water
for over 1.2 million inhabitants.
As part of a memorandum of understanding,
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT and Tsinghua University set up a partnership in the areas of water,
water treatment and waste. A cooperation
agreement also foresees the rehabilitation
and joint management of an educational
laboratory. After its renovation mid-2009, the
new laboratory will be named Tsinghua-SUEZ
ENVIRONNEMENT Education Laboratory of
Environmental Science and Engineering.
In Shanghai, SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT has
been linked to Tongji University and the Eastern
China University of Science and Technology
(ECUST) since 2004. This cooperation led to the
water research center found on Shanghai’s
petrochemical site. The center was founded in
2006 and has already filed a patent application.
18
_CONTINENTS
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
ASIA
No. 02 - MARCH 2009
ASIA
CONTINENTS_
19
IN FIGURES
1800 km
DEGRÉMONT IN INDIA
REPRESENTS:
That is the size of the watercourse
network PALYJA built in Jakarta
150
installations built
01 02
SOUTHEAST ASIA /
SINGAPORE
DEVELOPING SCIENTIFIC
AND TECHNOLOGICAL COOPERATION
— In Singapore, SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT signed
a partnership agreement with the National Water Agency
(NWA). This organization is responsible for managing
water and sanitation for the city-state, where drinking
water is a crucial challenge.
The agreement was signed for five years.
It foresees that the NWA join SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT’s
worldwide network of research laboratories. Furthermore,
research projects have been launched to develop
shared technology related to drinking water filtration
membranes, reusing waste water, and systems
for centralized and real-time management.
01_PALYJA’s drinking water
treatment plant in Jakarta,
Indonesia.
02_Cleaning filters in a water
treatment tank in Jakarta, Indonesia.
JAKARTA
10 YEARS
© DINESH SAPARIA / GAMMA EYEDEA
© DR
© DR
More than 200 employees in the country
27,5
million inhabitants supplied
with drinking water and 8 million
with sanitation
More than 60% of business activities
in the municipal sector
01
INDIA /
DELHI
RECYCLING WASTEWATER
FOR FARMING
OF COOPERATION
IN JAKARTA
AND NEW SERVICES
For ten years, PALYJA, SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT’s
Indonesian subsidiary, has been the service operator and
supplier of drinking water to western Jakarta, serving over
3.2 million people. The operator built a 1,800-km (1,120-mi)
drinking water network, which represents more than a third of
the existing network. They also entirely rehabilitated the
production installations that deliver nearly 6m3/s; they were
first built over 50 year ago! The icing on PALYJA’s birthday cake
came in the form of ISO 9001: 2000 certification and the
launch of new services.
PALYJA built 11 “water kiosks” for the populations who
are not served by the network. These are supplied by drinking
water cisterns. PALYJA plans to connect around 500,000
people to the network in the next four years. The operator
wants to offer more proximity through Paling, a mobile
customer information service that collects payment and signs
up new customers.
01_One face of modern India.
— In New Delhi, Degrémont signed a €27-million
10-year construction and operating contract
for a wastewater recycling plant.
Following 30 months of construction, the treatment
plant will have a capacity of 136,500 m3 a day,
or the equivalent what 600,000 inhabitants consume.
The treated water will be used to irrigate nearby
farmland. In addition, the biogas produced from
the sludge will be recuperated and allow the plant
to cover its own energy needs.
BOMBAY
c
UP
DRINKING WATER FOR 4 MILLION INHABITANTS
The city of Bombay’s demographic grown means it needs to supply more and more drinking water.
A contract signed in 2008 with Degrémont, a subsidiary of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, concerns the construction
and four-year operation of a new drinking water production plant. The plant will be able to treat 990,000 m3 of water
a day and supply more than 4 million inhabitants. Furthermore, the ¤59-million contract also foresees treatment
of the 160 tons of sludge the new installation will produce daily.
20
_CONTINENTS
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
THE WORLD
The World
c
UP
SITA France and Renault
Trucks concluded
a partnership to develop
a new generation of hybrid
trucks with reduced fuel
consumption and lower
emissions.
No. 02 - MARCH 2009
THE WORLD
21
EUROPE
UNITED STATES
SAVING ENERGY:
A CHILD’S GAME
AWARD
Thanks to the European program Active Learning and to a series of learning
tools put online for teachers on www.teachers4energy.eu, the latter now have
access to practical exercises to discuss energy-related issues with their pupils.
Twenty activity sheets can be used for experiential-learning focusing on the
major environmental challenges of tomorrow, which is part of France’s Grenelle
Environment Round Table objectives.
The National Council
for Public-Private Partnerships
chose United Water and the City
of Indianapolis for their prestigious
Service Recognition Award, which
is bestowed annually to projects
that demonstrate an exemplary
public-private partnership.
FRANCE /
INTERNATIONAL /
CANNES
FEYZIN
A NEW STORY
WASTE ELECTRICAL
AND ELECTRONIC
EQUIPMENT (WEEE)
— Lyonnaise des Eaux renewed its sanitation
service concession with Cannes for another
20 years, integrating the construction
of a new wastewater treatment plant, Aquaviva.
This future wastewater treatment plant
has a high environmental quality design,
will have a capacity equivalent to
300,000 inhabitants, and will be
the first carbon neutral in the world.
The construction will be carried out
by Degrémont and GTM and is slated for
completion in 2011.
SITA is setting up an eco-industries platform
in Feyzin, in the Rhône, which aims to combine
the synergies of two activities undergoing
massive changes: treatment of WEEE and
dismantling of end-of-life vehicles. By grouping
together the recuperation and reuse of these
various sources of materials, SITA ensures
enough volume to guarantee large-scale
industrial treatment of end-of-life products and
the production of quality ecoproducts.
c
UP
Recycling the content
of a 240-liter (63-gallon) trash
bin of paper every two weeks,
for a year, saves the same
amount of energy consumed
by an LCD television left
running for 11,000 hours!
DOWN
,
WEEE COMPOSITION:
MENTORING
33%
plastic •
© CH.GUIBBAUD/ABACAPRESS
GIVING A BOOST
The project “Pass’ pour le Sup”, which was launched by Michel
Barnier, the French Minister for Agriculture, in May 2008, helps
students from modest backgrounds enter higher technical
education. SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT is a partner of this first
edition and since October 2008, staff members have been
providing 20 young people with daily support.
CONTINENTS_
12%
cathode ray tubes •
5%
wood •
1%
other •
49%
metal •
More than a third of the
French do not believe
in global warming, according
to a survey of 12,862 people
carried out in January 2009,
for the daily Le Figaro.
DUNKIRK
GERMANY
HQE TREATMENT
STATION
FOR DUNKIRK
METROPOLITAN AREA
EURAWASSER
LOOKS WEST
The new Coudekerque-Branche sewage
treatment station, has been inaugurated
on December 19, 2008, by Lyonnaise des
Eaux and the Urban Community of Dunkirk.
It meets the requirements set by the 2000
Water Framework Directive regarding the
quality of swimming waters and conformity of
discharge into natural areas.
The organization that was chosen puts an
accent on fitting into the landscape, using
quality construction materials, reducing
nuisances such as noise and odors, reusing
sludge and implementing energy management, which allows for 20% energy savings
over a traditional station.
— Since January 1, 2009, Eurawasser
has been supplying water and sanitation
management services to the region
of Rheingau, which is located 50 km
(31 mi) southwest of Frankfurt.
This subsidiary is primarily present
in Eastern Germany and now is
strengthening its position in the west.
It is responsible for supplying 44,000
people with potable water and for
maintaining the installations
of the region’s water services.
It also manages the two wastewater
treatment plants and 28 km (17 mi)
of sewers. These contracts were signed
for five years with an option
for three-year renewal, and they mark
Eurawasser’s success in a country
where water continues to be mainly
managed by public structures.
22
_CONTINENTS
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
THE WORLD
ENGLAND
No. 02 - MARCH 2009
ICONS_
23
ENGLAND
SECOND LIFE
The company Above+Below recycles old seat
linings from London buses and tubes, giving
them a new use in a new form: they become
sneakers. True Londoners recognize the kitsch
patterns—orange carpet with green diamonds,
blue fabric dotted with red wings! These hip
shoes, trimmed with linings originally meant
for the dump, also have a sole made from
33% old tires, and leather that comes from
used wallets.
INNOVATION
LONDON
COLLECTING WASTE
WITH SITA
SITA UK opened a new plant
in Flixborough Wharf, a port
in the county of Lincolnshire.
The plant will recycle treated
wood and reuse biomass.
SITA UK plans to develop this
kind of activity throughout
the country. As a result, more
than 100,000 tons of wood
should escape burial in 2009.
— The new SITA UK contract with
Hounslow, a district in the City of London,
began at the beginning of 2009
and includes collecting electrical and
electronic equipment as well as Tetra Pak
packaging. During the year, the services
will be extended to include the weekly
collection of food waste and the free
collection of plant waste.
DIAGRAP®
INTERNATIONAL /
NETWORK INNOVATION
LEBANON
TRUTH FROM
THE MOUTH
OF BABES
SAFEGE
AUSTRALIA
PHARAONIC PROJECT
The largest composter in all of Australia will soon see the day in Mindarie.
This turnkey project by SITA Australia should, in the end, treat 100,000 tons
of household solid waste every year. Four parts have already been delivered,
each measuring 33 m (108 ft) long and 5 m (16 ft) wide, weighing more than
150 tons.
Map of Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France.
The colors indicate the CCTV inspection
schedule:
w2009-2010 sessions in red
w2011-2012 sessions in orange
w2013-2014 and 2015 sessions in yellow
wlater sessions in green
Although Lebanon as large
water resources, it will be
facing deficits by 2020.
Safege’s mission, financed
by the European Commission,
is to consolidate and
disseminate in the country
technical management tools
(IT systems, work
organization methods, etc.)
that were prepared with
the help of the IPP Eau
project. Safege is helping by
delivering training-action and
technical consulting services.
NEAR AND MIDDLE EAST
WATER FOR BAGHDAD
In December 2008, in Baghdad, Degrémont signed a contract in association with the companies Al Mabrook
and Issam Al Iraqi Construction Contractors to design, purchase equipment and train personnel for building a
drinking water production plant based in Al Rufasa, Baghdad. The contract will make it possible to supply water to
four million inhabitants in Greater Baghdad who have previously lacked a supply.
© DR
SITA Northern Ireland
is challenging children with
its SITA Schools Environment
Challenge. This competition
is for pupils from several
schools, and the winners will
be announced on World
Environment Day, June 5,
2009. Participants will carry
out a project that illustrates
a way to protect our
environment. The winners
will receive a computer
and will visit a state-of-the-art
waste treatment plant.
© VIRGILE SIMON BERTRAND
IRELAND
IN ADDITION TO OFFERING COST SAVINGS and better
environmental protection, the innovative DIAGRAP® (rapid
diagnosis) methodology offers a decision-making tool that allows
local authorities to diagnose their sewer systems and better plan
their renewal. “We shift from costly management of emergencies
to managing prevention,” explains Mathilde Le Roux, project
engineer at Lyonnaise des Eaux’s Technical Sanitation Department.
The approach makes it possible, among other things, to prevent
collapses that discharge wastewater into natural areas.” The
DIAGRAP® methodology was developed by the Lyonnaise des Eaux
and optimized and commercialized at the beginning of 2007;
it is implemented in pilot municipalities in Bordeaux and Paris.
“It has three parts,” says Mathilde Le Roux. “First, it uses data from
previous CCTV inspections. In addition, this analysis is completed
by on-site periscope video inspections looking to pinpoint major
anomalies. To these inspections is added the analysis of 16
theoretical risk criteria that pinpoint the network’s weak points.”
These data are then compiled in a geographic information system that offers maps of the network based on each of the 16 risk
criteria. A final map gives a schedule of CCTV inspections to carry
out in the years to come for the entire network. This program is
updated annually by integrating all the interventions done on the
“MAPPING PROVIDES
AN OVERALL VISION OF THE SYSTEM
AND ITS DANGER ZONES”
sanitation network. To date, Lyonnaise des Eaux has sold this
service to 24 municipalities under public service delegation. “At the
beginning of 2008, we starting working in Isle-sur-la-Sorgue,”
Mathilde Le Roux explains, “This municipality has 80 km (50 mi)
of network that had just suffered from several collapses. Thanks to
the DIAGRAP® methodology, we have an overall view of the
current state of the pipes and can detect danger zones. We have set
up a CCTV inspection plan and a rehabilitation program for priority
collectors, and we did all that in less than a year.” It is now the city’s
responsibility to implement this works plan, which also takes into
account its urban planning priorities.
24
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
_EYEWITNESS
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
/ STRATEGY AND COMMUNICATION CONSULTANT
© DUVIVIER THIERRY
PIERRE GIACOMETTI
© ERIC FOUGERE / VIP IMAGES / CORBIS
CHALLENGES
AND PERCEPTIONS
01
peans, for example, are on the leading edge regarding climate change, thanks, among other things,
to France and its Environmental Round Table.
Americans seem to be less worried than the
Europeans, as demonstrated by international
studies, and less involved, as can be seen by their
refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol.
But at the same time, the gap is little by
little closing between Europe and the United
States on this issue.
Would you say the sustainable development
is a subject that “speaks” to everyone around
the world?
It speaks to a lot of people, but not to all. And not
in the same way. First, it is still very connected
to the environment, leaving aside the other
dimensions such as sustainable economic
development, poverty and scientific research.
It established itself in Western countries and then
spread to other quickly developing countries like
China and India. But today, a number of countries remain outside this momentum. In Southern
countries, preserving resources is not a priority,
and that is understandable.
Local stakeholders have to faces other kinds
of emergencies, such as finding food, housing and
healthcare. Considering their daily lives, sustainable development is not on the list of priorities.
Are there differences even among developed
countries?
Yes. These are linked to habits, cultural practices
or the relationship to the environment. Euro-
Won’t the election of Barack Obama accelerate
the process?
Probably. Barack Obama falls in the same
line as Al Gore, some of whose discourse he has
picked up. His election shows that sustainable
development has acquired a societal visibility.
This is a 180° turnabout we are seeing. An ecological determination is there, led by pragmatic,
non-ideological operators.
Doesn’t the current crisis risk slowing down
sustainable development?
Of course it will! A garage owner required to
adopt new reflexes for recycling waste product
will have that much more trouble adopting them
if he has fewer customers. The danger lies in
there being no change in the traditional gap
between concern and action. That is why public
authorities and private organizations must stay
on course and teach others, so that all the layers,
not only the elite, are convinced of the benefits
w
of taking care of the planet.
© DUVIVIER THIERRY
Pierre Giacometti describes
the increasing societal interest
in sustainable development
and different perceptions
found throughout the world.
An encounter.
02
01-02_Macau (China) and its
two faces: a megalopolis that
never sleeps, and small,
human-sized streets.
26
_EYEWITNESS
w
How is it possible to disseminate this
preoccupation to a larger audience?
You need subtlety. You cannot share a conviction
with incantations, but you can with proof. That
is, by the way, one of the lessons learned from
Barack Obama’s campaign, which I followed for
several weeks on the trail.
The environment, sustainable development
and energy were core themes in his program, but
not only in the form of slogans. He gave concrete
demonstrations, using figures, why it was important
for citizen consumers to be interested in these
issues; what repercussion that could have on the
budget, on buying power, on our children’s futures,
on property value, etc.
N°2 02
No.
- FÉVRIER
- MARCH
2009
2009
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
TALENTS_
05
27
that your commitment is not confined to the management committee or to the headquarters. An
effort has to be made so that operational
managers, who are in contact with the public,
local elected officials and non-profit associations,
shift from words to actions. It will be a long
process, but that is normal: in an organization,
people are always suspicious of what comes from
above, and these local “ambassadors” are already
very busy with other subjects, such as diversity,
profitability and quality. You need to have patience
… and faith!
* Greenwashing: A marketing approach used by an organization
with the goal of giving the public a image of ecological responsibility, while putting more money into “green” advertising than into
real actions.
What advice could you give to business
directors?
You have worked for
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT
in England, France, the
United States and today
China. Do these countries
share a definition of
sustainable development?
No, because sustainable
development has various
definitions depending
on culture, organization
and individuals.
These countries demonstrate
a same preoccupation with
the preservation of fossil
fuels, fighting climate change
and protecting air and water
quality, but they are not all
at the same stage of maturity
on these issues, which
they are each treating in
their own way.
© DR
01_Paris (France), a city that
is very concerned about ecological
challenges due to its size.
02_Mexico City (Mexico) is facing a
number of environmental problems,
including atmospheric pollution.
Are any of these four
countries particularly good
or bad in this area?
They all have their strengths
and weaknesses. Europe, for
example, sometimes gives into
bureaucracy. China may
appear to have an anarchic
approach to the issue, but its
strong point is that once a rule
is made, everyone comes
in line. I do not think there is
one overall sustainable
development champion,
but as many champions as
there are specific aspects
(water, energy, waste, etc.).
ANDREW SIMPSON / LANDFILL SUPERVISOR - SITA UK, ENGLAND
“COMMITTED
ON LAND AND AT SEA ”
© RAPHAËL TRAPET
QUESTIONS TO...
ALLAN THOMPSON / TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
OF SINO FRENCH WATER DEVELOPMENT
© C. DUPONT
Avoid greenwashing* and defend your convictions
despite the crisis. If you want your business to
have a responsible image, you have to make sure
ANDREW SIMPSON, with his safety helmet tight on his head,
a wide, waterproof fluorescent jacket over a warm pullover and
muddy boots, likes contact with the earth, with “his” land and
its incomparable hilly, wild landscapes he so enjoys contemplating. Andrew is a man of commitment and passion who joined
SITA UK in 2005 to “contribute to protecting the environment,”
he explains.
He has been landfill supervisor for six months in Seghill, a
small coastal village in the region of Northumberland in northeastern England. This married 35-year-old heads up a team of
five people, managing and ensuring the smooth operation of
this 50-hectare site. He takes his job very seriously: “It is a
demanding job that requires high standards and attention to
detail. But I am very proud to do everything possible to comply
with legislation and to avoid any untimely contamination,”
specifies this native of Newcastle, whose inhabitants are known
for their accent and their sense of humor.
The big story right now in the region concerns the ongoing
public inquiry into an extension of the Seghill site. “For SITA UK,
this would be an opportunity to broaden its scope of action, and
for me an opportunity for my actions to have a long-term effect,”
says Andrew, hopefully.
Day and night, Andrew never turns off his pager. Why? In 2001,
he joined the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. At any time, he
could be called away to the nearby Blyth Lifeboat Station to
respond to an emergency. He has participated in any number of
at-sea rescue operations, and he regularly goes in to schools to
talk to children about the dangers at sea.
This is another way for this quiet, simple man to hand down
and share what he knows. Andrew is happy to have the chance
to follow his passions and make his commitments a reality…
on land and at sea.
28
_SPECIAL REPORT
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
No. 02 - MARCH 2009
SPECIAL REPORT_
IS THE
CRISIS,
AN OPPORTUNITY
FOR SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT?
© T.DUVIVIER / TRILOGI'C
SITA Agora Ecopôle recycling centre, Noyelles-Godault, France.
29
30
No. 02 - MARCH 2009
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
_SPECIAL REPORT
SPECIAL REPORT_
31
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
HAS BECOME
PART OF OUR EVERYDAY LIFE.
BUT COULDN'T THE CRISIS RUIN PREVIOUS EFFORTS IN THIS AREA?
OR WILL IT MAKE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT KEY
TO STIMULATING THE ECONOMY? HERE IS AN OVERVIEW OF THE VARIOUS
STIMULUS PACKAGES PLANNED AROUND THE WORLD.
POINT OF VIEW
0,1%
of global GDP invested every year
for 30 years would make it possible
to manage climate change
Sustainable development takes
many forms, including traditional
recycling, windmills, solar panels
and cogeneration plants.
©CH.GUIBBAUD / ABACAPRESS
WE ASKED MAXIMILIEN ROUER*
HIS VISION OF SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT IN THESE TIMES
OF ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRISIS.
© TRACTEBEL ENERGIA / SUEZ ENERGY INTERNATIONAL
*Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
© DJAMEL DINE ZITOUT / LA COMPAGNIE DU VENT
managing climate change could only cost 0.1%
of global GDP per year for the next 30 years.
Growth should not be affected and could even
accelerate.”
In Chinese, the character for “crisis” also
means “opportunity”. Without a doubt, political
and economic decision makers have understood
that sustainable development is both a necessity
to fight the ecological crisis and an opportunity to
overcome the economic crisis. Some, such as
Robert Bell, forecast that the next financial bubble will be green!
© DR
THE GIGANTIC $750-billion American
stimulus plan should benefit “green business”.
The country’s new president Barack Obama has
in his sights to develop renewable energy forms
and energy efficiency. A ten-year plan with
$150 billion invested in clean energy would
create three million jobs in solar energy, wind
power and clean cars.
In Japan, Prime Minister Taro Aso announced a series of measures to develop a “green
economy” market, and to create up to a million
new jobs by 2015. The goal is to fight climate
change while boosting the economy.
In France, the ecology minister published a
study on the impact that the 268 measures found
in the Grenelle Environment Round Table text
would have. With €440 billion in investments
by 2020, it would be possible to maintain or
create 535,000 jobs, including 235,000 in the
construction sector alone.
It is clear that green economy is in and is
even seen as a means to boost employment.
According to Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of
the United Nations, “The IPCC* estimates that
At BeCitizen, we have observed that,
particularly in these times of crisis,
industrials are looking to lower production
costs. Yet, these same industrials have
already improved their manufacturing
processes and decreased their wage bill.
There is only one other area they can play
with, thanks to eco-innovative technologies:
the utilities (purchasing fluids, raw materials,
energy, waste management). For example,
a large paper producer consulted us,
and with an investment of $20 million in
four different eco-technologies, they will
save ¤9 million every year. Terrena,
France’s largest agricultural cooperative,
is in the process of moving away from
an energetically intensive farming model
to an ecologically intensive one to decrease
its production costs.
*Maximilien Rouer is chairman of BeCitizen, a sustainable
development strategic consulting agency he founded in 2000.
He is also co-author of Réparer la planète: la revolution
de l’économie positive (Repairing the Planet: the Revolution
of Positive Economics).
32
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
_SPECIAL REPORT
BALANCING RISK AND OPPORTUNITY:
LEVERAGING
THE CURRENT CRISIS
ONE IS A PROFESSOR, RESEARCHER AND BUSINESS CONSULTANT.
THE OTHER IS A MARKETING DIRECTOR AND BUSINESSMAN.
WE ASKED THEM TO COMPARE THEIR POINTS OF VIEW
AND THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN TIMES
OF CRISIS. WHEN THEORY AND PRACTICE CONVERGE…
AURÉLIEN ACQUIER
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN “STRATEGY, MEN AND ORGANISATION”
AT ESCP-EAP EUROPEAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT.
HE IS CO-AUTHOR OF A WORK ON ORGANIZING SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT, EXPERIENCES BY PIONEERING ENTERPRISES
AND FORMULATING RULES FOR COLLECTIVE ACTION.
HENRY SAINT BRIS
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT MARKETING
No. 02 - MARCH 2009
SPECIAL REPORT_
AURÉLIEN ACQUIER : I will not try to explain
the causes and consequences of the current
crisis. That is not my specialty and most of the
analyses leave something to be desired.
However, it seems to me interesting to compare
the accumulated cost of the economic stimulus
packages put together by the United States,
Europe and Japan (around $2 trillion) and the
estimated cost of the ecological crisis as analyzed
by the Stern report. In 2006, he estimated that
it would be necessary to invest 1% of global
GDP, or nearly $700 billion a year until 2050
to stabilize the climate. According to the report,
lack of action could cost 20 times more than
that. Perhaps the current financial crisis
will help to measure the amplitude of the future
ecological crisis.
,
HENRY SAINT BRIS : One thing is certain, we are
living in a period of widespread and quick
upheavals. Three figures are particularly
significant: in 2008, worldwide stock markets lost
nearly 50% of their value, dropping from
$48 trillion to $26 trillion. In the United States,
with foreign savings becoming scarce and deficits
rising, the public debt could reach more than
10% of the GNP in 2009. And Europe is experiencing the worst recession since the Second
World War, with an unemployment rate of 10%
forecasted for the end of 2010.
,
A. A. : In addition, we have gone from a context
in which banks were vulnerable to one in which
states are weakened. They socialized the risks by
“buying out” questionable assets.
,
H. S. B. : Coming back to the parallel between the
economic crisis and the ecological crisis, it seems
to me that the two are closely connected. In
both cases, the systems have lived off on credit.
The economic crisis is the result of artificial
growth based on collective debt that spiraled out
of control in the last 20 years. Similarly, our
industrial economy has functioned as if raw
materials were infinite and as if we could tap into
33
ecosystems without paying the real price.
The time has come to pay our debts, both
economically and ecologically!
,
A. A. : With one difference, which is that there are
visible and invisible debts. For the environment,
the question is how to make the debt visible?
That is, how to internalize external costs, how to
transform the rules of the profit system so that
prices take into account the costs of pollution
and use of ecosystems.
,
H. S. B. : Our traditional economy has hit a wall.
The crisis is an opportunity to invent a new model
“THE ECONOMIC CRISIS
IS THE RESULT OF
ARTIFICIAL
GROWTH
© PIERRE-EMMANUEL RASTOIN
© PIERRE-EMMANUEL RASTOIN
© PIERRE-EMMANUEL RASTOIN
BASED ON COLLECTIVE DEBT”
34
No. 02 - MARCH 2009
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
_SPECIAL REPORT
SPECIAL REPORT_
35
IN THE FIELD
“COMPANIES
WILL HAVE
TO INVENT NEW
regulations. Public action will play a decisive role
inventing new forms, if new forms there are to be
(volunteer initiatives, international organizations).
,
H. S. B. : And companies will have to invent new
business models. At SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT,
our business is undergoing major changes: from
managing and controlling the effect of pollution,
we have moved on to prevention. Today, the
group manages cycles of resources that have
become rare, which are water and secondary
products from waste. With our new Edelway
label, we are contractually committed to
numbered objectives to help customers improve
their environmental performance in three areas:
reducing greenhouse gas emissions, preserving
resources and protecting biodiversity.
,
A. A. : That is true, and this is a fascinating
area of exploration. Businesses like Vinci and
Lafarge are in the process of reviewing their
business models, and are raising the question
of moving down the chain of value, of
becoming involved in the use and management
of buildings. These changes are often very
destabilizing, because they mean reviewing how
whole systems are engineered, and require
developing new alliances.
,
H. S. B. : Indeed, during the last 20 years,
businesses have made major gains in productivity in work and capital. Until now, they have
neglected the productivity of resources. This
represents a considerable reservoir of savings
and that many opportunities to reduce environmental footprints.
,
A. A. : Yes, by internalizing environmental
externalities, we create new reservoirs of value
creation. However, we also have to ask the
question of what we measure. If you take an
indicator such as the HDI* rather than the GDP,
you will notice that the richer an economy the
more the HDI reaches its limit. Much of the
growth in recent years has had no effect on
collective well being…
JORDAN
IN THE MIDDLE EAST,
THE NEW AMMAN TREATMENT STATION
WILL BE 95% SELF-SUFFICIENT
The As Samra plant, which was designed to treat wastewater from 2.2 million residents in Greater Amman, is
implementing technically advanced solutions both in water
treatment (activated sludge and primary decantation) and in
sludge treatment (digestion and composting). It has an
average flow of 267,000 m3/day, with a maximum of 530,000
m3/day, and can return very high quality water to its natural
environment.
In addition, hydraulic turbines installed upstream and
downstream, along with gas engines fueled by biogas
produced by digestion*, cover 95% of the electricity needed
to run the treatment plant. Degrément participated in
building this plant, and it embodies a new generation of installations that come under the new Edelway label SUEZ
ENVIRONNEMENT recently launched, which in this case
makes it possible to act directly on reducing carbon footprint
and preserving natural resources thanks to the treatment and
reuse of wastewater for agricultural and industrial purposes.
*Human Development Index.
BUSINESS
MODELS”
*gas resulting from anaerobic fermentation
of waste (methane/carbon dioxide)
FRANCE
SAINT-ÉTIENNE,
ACAPRESS
© W.LYONS / AB
SITA RENEWS ITS CONTRACT
WITH A COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES
© PIERRE-EMMANUEL RASTOIN
© PIERRE-EMMANUEL RASTOIN
© DR
that leaves space for growth that is more sustainable, more frugal in resources and less brutal to
nature. It offers us opportunities. First, because it
buys us some time in that it marks a pause in the
race to consume. Then, because stimulus plans
will turn large amounts of financial means towards
energy infrastructures and the environment.
Finally, because a new development model that
allies economic growth with environmental
preoccupations calls for setting up a new form of
international governance, as announced by the
emergence of the G20 and as will be demonstrated by the future revision of the Kyoto Protocol.
,
A. A. : The economic crisis represents opportunities, but also a lot of risks for the environment. In
the United States, the 1974 crisis, and then the
election of Ronald Reagan in 1981, marked a stop
to private and public initiatives in favor of the
environment. It is hard to say if we will be seeing
a similar change, but it is certain that a key
challenge for the private side will focus on
SITA’s waste treatment contract with the municipality of Saint-Étienne came
up for negotiation at the end of 2008. Discussions were stumbling over the
amount of the contract, when SITA came up with an original proposal making
it possible to renew the contract for operation the Borde-Matin landfill.
SITA proposed a sustainable development agreement with several parts to
it, focusing on developing renewable energy production by reusing biogas and
associating the municipality in revenue from its sale. Installing photovoltaic
panels on the site is currently under study to increase energy production.
The agreement also proposes financial counterpart for CO2 emissions
produced by transporting the waste from other municipalities and for the
greenhouse gas emission generated by the site. With this profit-sharing and
compensation system, SITA has broken away from the traditional service
provider relationship between the customer and the supplier, to inaugurate a
veritable partnership focused on sustainable development.
36
_ICONS
No. 02 - MARCH 2009
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
“RECUPERATING HEAT
TO OPERATE MARKETGARDEN GREENHOUSES”
Books
MILESTONES_
Movies
Events
THE WORLD’S WATER
2008-2009
By Peter Gleik
Published by Island Press
5th WORLD WATER FORUM
March 16–22, 2009
Istanbul, Turkey
— The World Water Forum
is the world’s largest
international event about water.
WHY SHOULD I RECYCLE?
By Jen Green & Mike Gordon
Published by Wayland
© P.AVENTURIER/GAMMA EYEDEA
© RANDY MAYOR/PICTUREARTS/CORBIS
IN SEARCH OF LOST HEAT
“ENERGY RECOVERY PLANTS without household solid waste
often lose energy, 50% of which could be recovered,” explains
Frédéric Duong, projects manager at SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT’s
Waste Projects Division. This was the basis for SUEZ
ENVIRONNEMENT and SITA to develop the innovative concept of high
performance cogeneration (CHP+), which consists of installing
specific equipment to recuperate all or part of the heat available at
low temperatures (around 45° to 50°C). “The R&D aims to examine the best link between the heat recovery process and its use for
heating market garden greenhouses,” says Frédéric Duong.
Producing vegetables in greenhouses does indeed consume a lot
of heat, which could represent as much as a third of the production
costs. Concretely speaking, this project responds to all the require-
ments of sustainable development. It will have a significant
economic impact, because the energy recovered from the waste
reuse unit will be sold at an extremely competitive price compared
with fossil fuel energy. Environmentally, high performance cogeneration will increase the energy efficiency of waste reuse units. And
finally, the project responds to a social challenge because
greenhouses employ, usually locally, around seven to ten people per
hectare. Currently, SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT and SITA are developing several projects in Europe with market garden producers, such
as on the Econotre site in Bessières, near Toulouse. Since 2001,
this 3,000-inhabitant municipality has harbored a waste sorting
and reuse unit run by SITA. The local authorities, already
committed to the Agenda 21 program, today want to develop an
“exemplary environmental and economic project,” by making land
available to build market garden greenhouses, which should become
a reality in 2009. This represents a first step in reproducing this
approach on other sites. In the future, it could extend to burial centers and treatment stations in order to increase biogas recovery.
8
— This film is made up of eight short stories
illustrating the eight Millennium Development
Objectives for reducing poverty in the world
by 2015, each addressed by an acclaimed
filmmaker (Jane Campion, Gael García Bernal,
Wim Wenders, Jan Kounen, Mira Nair,
Gaspar Noé, Gus Van Sant and Abderrahmane
Sissako), who sought to mobilize public opinion
to fight poverty through their vision of these
planetary challenges.
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT WEEK
April 1–7, 2009
Women at a well near Khudiala, Rajasthan,
India (26°26’N-72°40’E).
STATE OF THE WORLD 2009:
INTO A WARMING WORLD
By Worldwatch Institute
Published by WW Norton & Co.
FIXING CLIMATE: WHAT
PAST CLIMATE CHANGES
REVEAL ABOUT THE
CURRENT THREAT—AND
HOW TO COUNTER IT.
By Wallace S. Broecker,
Robert Kunzig.
Published by Hill and Wang
© YANN ARTHUS-BERTRAND
HIGH-PERFORMANCE
COGENERATION (CHP+)
WASSER BERLIN
March 30–April 3, 2009
Berlin (Messe Berlin Exhibit
Hall), Germany
— Berlin’s international
tradeshow and water congress
offers a full overview
of the water market, with
a conference on solutions
linked to water management
and treatment.
© DR
GLOBALIZATION OF WATER:
SHARING THE PLANET’S
FRESHWATER RESOURCES
By A.Y. Hoekstra
and A.K. Chapagain
Published by
Blackwell Publishing
37
Home
— A green film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand,
coproduced by Elzevir Films/Europacorp,
which will come out worldwide on June 5, 2009
for World Environment Day.
The film will be broadcast on the Internet,
television and in cinemas. It is the object of carbon
compensation: the greenhouse gas emissions
given off by the plane and helicopter travel
for making it will be compensated for by support
to clean development projects.
“PPR is proud to support HOME”
3rd INTERNATIONAL TRADE
FAIR ON RENEWABLE
ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
April 21–25, 2009
Dakar (Foreign trade
international centre of Senegal),
Senegal
— Meetings of partnerships
whose main goal is to promote
investment in renewable energy
and various environmental
sectors in Africa.
EARTH, OUR COMMON HOME
May 10–14, 2009
Montreal (Conference hall),
Canada
— The 5th World Environmental
education Congress will cover
issues of identity, solidarity and
social-ecological initiatives, as
well as links between ecology,
economy and ecosophy.
WASTE TECH 2009
May 25–29, 2009
Moscou (International
Exhibition Center Crocus Expo),
Russia
— 10th International trade show
on managing and recycling
wastes and environmental
technologies.
INTERNATIONAL WATER
WEEK
June 22–26, 2009
Singapore, Malaysia
www.siww.com.sg
17TH EUROPEAN BIOMASS
CONFERENCE AND
EXHIBITION – FROM
RESEARCH TO INDUSTRY
AND MARKETS
June 29–July 3, 2009
Hamburg (Congress Center
Hamburg), Germany
— Discussions and analyses
of current and future trends
in the biomass sector.
INTERNATIONAL FORUM
ON INTEGRATED WATER
MANAGEMENT
June 1–3, 2009
Sherbrooke (University of
Sherbrooke Cultural Centre),
Canada
— Presentation of pragmatic
tools and sharing field
experience, with the following
themes being highlighted:
characterization and diagnostic
tools, governance and planning
tools, information and joint
work tools, and finally
intervention tools related to
major water challenges.
38
_PERSPECTIVES
w
ALLAIN BOUGRAIN-DUBOURG / JOURNALIST
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT MAGAZINE
No. 02 - MARCH 2009
PERSPECTIVES_
A
ccording to a recent survey, it appears that I was the
first to use the word “biodiversity” on television, a few
months before the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. I hoped
that in doing so what was then called “protecting
nature” would become more credible. Today, the
word has imposed itself. And leaves me with a bitter aftertaste. The
word biodiversity is cold, impersonal, while behind it you find everything that is alive and breathing! Animals and plants, land and water.
In Barcelona, during the most recent Congress of the
International Union for the Protection of Nature, the record proved
to be frightening. Nearly 17,000 species are threatened with extinction! To simplify, that corresponds to one out of three batrichians,
one out of four mammals, and one out of eight birds are on they way
out. Nor have the oceans escaped the disaster: overfishing, waste
discharge and climate change can explain in part the degradation.
In her novel Out of Africa, Karen Blixen has her heroine say,
“Perhaps the Earth was made round so that we would not see
too far down the road.” But now, it is our duty to be lucid.
We must look beyond the horizon. What purpose does a dragonfly
serve? Or Hermann’s turtle? Or the vision of Europe? The
scaffolding that holds up the living world is as complex as it is
fragile, and the slightest missing bolt could bring the whole thing
tumbling down. We could reiterate Victor Hugo: “The beauty is more
useful as the useful.”
But the most effective teaching goes through the pocketbook. Currently, 40% of the world’s economy is based on services
provided by nature (halieutic resources, pollination, therapeutic
molecules, etc.). And yet the services in question have declined by
60%! The future of nature directly conditions the economic future
of humanity. It is not superfluous to remember this obvious
statement when our strategies are dictated by the legitimate
question of buying power.
In recent years, preoccupations about energy and climate have
overshadowed biodiversity. It is urgent to wake people up.
Océanopolis Brest, and then SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT have brought
attentive support to this seemingly impossible task. This led to a
series of short programs called “the heros of biodiversity”, which are
consecrated to the scientists, associations and simple citizens who
invest to give a new chance to life. These people working behind the
scenes deserve to be in the spotlight. First, to give them their due
homage, but also for the value of the example they incarnate.
The poet said that a useless life is an early death. At the
beginning of this new year, I hope for long life to biodiversity.
© LAURENT BALLESTA / ANDROMÈDE COLLECTION
THE BEAUTY
This spring, the French
television channel France 2
will broadcast every Saturday
and Sunday, after the evening
news the series “heroes
of Biodiversity”.
These 26 programs give
an opportunity to discover
scientists, associations and
simple individuals who
are working to preserve
the Port-Cros groupers,
the Charente-Maritime otters,
South African leopards,
plankton, and more.
© BRUNO BARBIER
IS MORE USEFUL THAN
THE USEFUL!
39
Produced and realized by Allain Bougrain-Dubourg (right), the series “Heroes of Biodiversity” honors people working to preserve our
environment, such as Laurent Ballesta (left). This biologist and underwater photographer thinks that the message of respect for marine life
starts with pictures. This is how he sensitizes the authorities.
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Protecting water resources. Reinventing waste.
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Making the planet sustainable is the best job on Earth.