Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good morning. We are very pleased to meet with you again in person after these last two shareholders meetings that unfortunately we had to hold remotely. We're very pleased to be able to talk to you directly about our progress, especially pertaining to the environment. That's pretty much going to be the central focus of our AGM. Also, we're very happy to, at long last, be able to have a spontaneous debate with you. We couldn't begin this AGM without a thought and our deep compassion for the Ukrainians who are currently living in a hell, such a hell that we didn't think was possible to take place right nearby. We've had our few expatriates leave the region, and colleagues from neighboring countries spontaneously volunteered to welcome hundreds of thousands of refugees, as you know.
Our group is feeling very little direct impact from this. We didn't have any major construction projects going on either in Ukraine or Russia, so direct impact on our 2022 earnings and our balance sheet will therefore be limited. Of course, today, no one knows what the direct impact will be due to the possible shockwave produced rippling out to the world economy in terms of business, commodities, raw materials, logistics, supply chains. Due to these uncertainties, and we cannot make any predictions whatsoever with these uncertainties, let me tell you, in our group, you're fortunate that we're very diversified in terms of business lines, geographies. We have concessions contracts that are very long-term contracts. We have excellent order book. We'll come back to that more later.
Furthermore, we're very well-positioned regarding the challenge of the century, i.e., the environment and the state of our planet. As is my custom, Christian Labeyrie is here, CFO of the group, and Patrick Richard, who's our chief of legal. Executive committee members are seated right in front of us in the room. Many members of your board of directors are also in attendance. I suggest that we see them. Yves-Thibault de Silguy, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors. Yannick Assouad, Lead Director. Benoît Bazin. Robert Castaigne. Graziella Gavezotti. Caroline Grégoire Sainte Marie. Marie-Christine Lombard. Dominique Muller. René Médori. Ana Paula Pessoa. And Pascale Sourisse. Three Board members will be leaving the Board of Directors after this AGM. I would especially like to thank Yves-Thibault , who has been a director of ours for 22 years.
He's made major contributions, especially thanks to his in-depth knowledge of international relations. I'd like to thank two Directors that are not in attendance here, but they're watching remotely. Uwe Chlebos, an employee representative working in Germany, and Miloud Hakimi, employee representative working in France. They've been members of our Board since 2014. Here as well, we can say thanks to their common sense, thanks to their input. We've made progress, and we very much thank them for their input. I'd also like to welcome the two new employee representatives today, Roberto Migliardi joining the Board of Directors, and Alain Saïd, and Claude Laruelle, whose appointment as Director will be one of the resolutions proposed to you later. It's time to begin the meeting as such.
The combined shareholders meeting is meeting on the first invitation and the legal information having to do with invitations to shareholders was sent out as per legislation. The financial statements and all the documents made available to shareholders were made available to them in the terms provided for under current legislation and rules. The documents are to be found on this table. Patrick can hold them up and show everyone, and we'd ask you to duly note this. Now, we need to appoint members of the bureau. I will act as chairperson of the bureau. As to the tellers, I see from the shareholders present represented, Dominique Muller, Chairman of the FCPE Castor Relais, Chairman of the supervisory board of the FCPE Castor Relais, as well as Déborah Salomé-Yomtob representing Amundi, have the largest number of shares.
Therefore, I'd ask for them to stand as tellers. Ms. Muller, Ms. Yomtob. All right, no objection. Thank you very much for that. I'd also like to suggest that Patrick Richard, Chief of Legal, act as Secretary to the AGM. The quorum, let me tell you that our share capital currently is 500 is as shown on the screen here. You need to subtract from the overall number of shares. Thus, the treasury stock held by VINCI, 31 million-odd shares. This gives us a number of shares with voting rights. Now, the bylaws of your company don't provide for double voting rights. If you calculate this, the quorum is 70.18%.
70.18% is the quorum, which means it's well above the 20% and 25% quorums that are required to be able to appropriately deliberate during the combined shareholder meetings on first invitation. I'd also remind you this quorum is much higher than the usual quorum. Usually it hovers around 62%, so that's excellent news indeed. I'd also remind you that resolutions from the ordinary session of this AGM are passed on a simple majority. Those under the extraordinary session pass on a 2/3 majority. The agenda for this AGM, you're familiar with it. It was disclosed. It was posted. It's on page five of the invitation. I'm not going to read through it verbatim.
You have a reminder of the points in our agenda on these two slides, and of course, we will come back to each of these resolutions during the final voting session. Lastly, let me tell you that your company did not receive any requests for a draft resolution or any new item for the agenda at this AGM. I can tell you that kind of consultative committee didn't use its right to put up a resolution as per the legislation. As is our custom, I would suggest we not read out the full report by the B oard of Directors. To make it lively, we will go through the summary points, and we'll talk about the highlights of your group in 2021. How are we gonna do this?
First of all, I'll be suggesting that you watch the 2021 video of the year. As you'll see, it's very much a green film focused on the environment. We'll also talk about our outlook for 2022. Christian Labeyrie and I will talk about the outlook. Isabelle Spiegel will give us an update on our environmental ambitions and new commitments here. New activities by the board committees will be reported on by the various Chairpeople of Board committees. We will hear from the statutory auditors. After all those various presentations, we will then begin a Q&A session. We will vote on the resolutions after the Q&A. Let's begin now by hearing the video of the year.
We are together today to celebrate the Environment Awards.
I was really amazed by all these initiatives, amazed by the exceptional level of participation, the quantity of initiatives, their quality, and the number of colleagues who voted for their favorite ones. I was amazed by how ingenious, how pragmatic they are, and by the fact that they are so down-to-earth and ready to become operational straightaway. It was amazing to see the brilliant progress that has been made these past two years for the environment. You remember two years ago where we were. It's for me, it's for you all, I'm sure, the source of energy, of excitement, of hope in future that will carry us for years to come. Thank you all for that. You are wonderful.
It's no longer a utopian vision. It's not just green. There's a great awareness at global level of the climate urgency, the urgency to act at every level, so we must reinvent our way of life, production, consumption habits. EXEGY is all about design, eco-design of our structures, taking into account technical and economic performance as we've always done. Now we're adding also environmental performance and addressing the challenges of green growth, which VINCI Group is so determined to address. The Greater Paris was very motivated to work with us on decarbonizing the concrete in our tunnel segments. What struck me most on a personal level was realizing that all the research and development we started back in 2016 was meeting our customers' needs in January 2021.
All the assets are designed to be EMR compliant. EMR means environmental minimum requirements. Before we start any activities on-site, as a contractor, we have to justify that our asset has no significant effect to the environment. This is mandatory for our own quality system and also for the client. It makes me feel very proud to be part of this big project and in a project where I can influence the design, where I can influence the construction, so that the environmental takes a big part of the project.
Conversion of VINCI Construction quarry into a floating solar farm in Peyrolles-en-Provence. The main aim of this plant is to ensure self-consumption designed to power the airport. We're continuing to the airport's facilities, so all the electricity produces power directly. It covers about 30% of the airport's total consumption. Now, the environment ranks alongside safety. The VINCI Group is shouldering its environmental responsibility. It's a big group, so it has an impact on society. The country's first solar plant in an airport in Faro. The energy transition is underway. We see that coal, diesel is behind us. We're headed for the all-electric age. For that reason, our grids will need to be reinvented.
Energy storage is an essential building block to grow renewables, and they're intermittent, so they'll tend to unbalance the grid and battery storage as a way of providing flexibility and dealing with that intermittency. The more renewable energies we have in the grid, the more storage systems like this one will be required. France, a battery energy storage system in Dunkirk. Cameroon, urban microgrid and smart management system in Yaoundé. The environment is essential for Bosman Bedrijven, especially now we equip our buildings. The less energy we consume, the better it is for the environment. The Valley is an ambitious, sustainable, innovative project using smart building technology. The Valley has an air conditioning ceiling housing the cooling and heating system. We wanna make the world more sustainable and make it better in our own way. Installation of a data infrastructures optimization software.
For web services to control all moving assets around with logistic themes. We did it also together with case studies with customers, and we have the possibility to solve their daily planning puzzle to optimize trips and tours and to save more than 50% of the existing CO2 level at the moment.
These are controlled, modular columns. They are what we call rigid inclusions. Grooved rigid inclusions. One of our inclusions is strong as a 300 mm column, the same amount of concrete as in 270 mm that saves substantial amounts of concrete or grout. We reduce concrete quantities, and we use as little concrete as possible on site.
Positive mobility. That positive mobility is not just getting from point A to point C, but also how you impact your daily drive and how you impact that environment. To fight climate change, I think the open road tolling system has been a huge effect in minimizing the impacts of gases that have an impact to our environment. All our roadways here in this area are free flow, full all electronic tolling, so vehicles don't have to stop and generate those harmful gases that are emitted through the stop-and-go traffic.
Decarbonizing transport is key. Our goal, our ambition, is to get electric vehicles to use our motorways. This is bigger than the actual project. It's not just a drop in the ocean. It will bring about real change. This can change things. Ulys was already the leader of electronic toll collection in France. Our goal is to be the leader of all-in-one road travel subscriptions. One of our first projects is universal recharging, a single digital payment method to any recharging station in France. On motorways, of course, but off them as well. Launch of Ulys Electric, the mobility subscription deal, VINCI Autoroutes. The eborn fast charging network grows in the southeast of the country, France. Over 50% of the utility vehicle fleet is now electric. VINCI Autoroutes. We've been working on reducing our emissions for years. The first step was to improve our energy efficiency.
We started buying renewable energies, then to offset residual emissions, we decided to take part in reforestation programs here locally in the Rhône area. The real answer for aviation is hydrogen. We're spearheading VINCI Airports program to develop on-site production of liquid hydrogen by 2030. Partnership with Airbus and Air Liquide to promote the use of hydrogen in airports, and hydrogen distribution stations for ground vehicles. Launch of the world's largest clean hydrogen infrastructure fund with several other international companies. France railway signaling system for the T13 tram train maintenance and stabling yard near Paris, France. Introduction of mechanism to modulate airport fees. System for the development project in Saint-Denis.
I used to scuba dive. I went back scuba diving on places where I used to scuba dive 20 years ago. I realized the effect of global warming and how it has changed. That has been a shock to myself. That made me realize that, yes, something was happening and we need to take actions. Optimizing the resources and the use of resources is a key part of the project. It is our duty as a contractor to try to optimize all the requirements for material, whether it's concrete reinforcement or whatever. We have a duty to minimize our requirement on those materials. Being on a project like this one, which can have a major impact on this transition, it's giving me a sense of pride. We've got the means of our ambitions here.
We decided to act, and today on the Universeine project, we factored the climate emergency into the Universeine project. It really is a showcase for what we believe in and for our environmental strategy. We also seek to reduce the project's overall carbon footprint by reusing materials and by using low emissions materials. For example, EXEGY's ultra-low carbon concrete developed by VINCI Construction France, which will be used for all the floors in the new office buildings. GRANULAT+ is Eurovia's circular economy brand. We're here to recover, reuse, recycle, and save natural resources as much as possible. Our values and our future are our bread and butter. These environmental issues also need to be factored into our growth. The intention is there. We want to act. We're doing it day after day. If it was just to look good, it wouldn't work.
We have to be convinced and convince others to expand, to establish, to move forward with the circular economy. In France development of recycled aggregate production within the GRANULAT+ range. In France construction of the Hekla Tower in La Défense, VINCI Construction.
At the time we started the project, it was really new for our business unit to do 3D printing with robots. That's really an innovative project for us. It was the first time that a big industry partner invested in such a project. Yeah, the new technology is really innovative because it's another way of thinking about spare parts, because otherwise you just buy them before you might need them. Now you can just make them when you need them.
As a community, as an industry, we all share the responsibility for our environment, and we need to take care about using the critical resources. I think this should be a priority for all countries, for all companies, for all industries, to use resources in a very meaningful way.
I chose the environment because it's what I love. I studied environmental science and feel fortunate to have a job I believe in with all my heart. Yes, the environment is the obvious way to go. Our customers generate about 7,000 tons of waste a year, and our goal is to recover all that waste. That is to say, no waste to landfill by 2025. We want all the recyclable waste to be sorted and recycled into materials, and all the household waste to be used for energy recovery. The goal is zero waste, but there'll always be some waste. What we need is to sort that waste properly. We've put in place a b:bot. The machine shreds PET bottles. The advantage is that we have an agreement with our central purchasing organization. We send them all the materials, they sort and recover them.
The Estérel rest area will be a pilot site. The goal is to do everything we do here on the rest of the network. Solutions for zero waste recycled motorways on VINCI Autoroutes. Asphalt mix recycling has been growing in recent years. Technological breakthroughs allow us to use old mix to make new mix, and we're setting high targets at VINCI Autoroutes, and we're getting all our partners on board to achieve the same ambitious objectives to go further and do even more to protect the environment. Salvador Bahia is the country's most sustainable airport. VINCI Airports. France. Waterfront development project in La Grande-Motte. VINCI Construction. France. Inspection and diagnostics of Saint-Jean Bridge in Bordeaux. VINCI Construction. France. Handover of the renovated La Samaritaine building in Paris. VINCI Construction and VINCI Energies. France. Handover of the Duo Towers in Paris. VINCI Construction and VINCI Energies.
Preserving natural environments, to me, means coexisting with them. Preserving doesn't mean building sanctuaries. Preserving means taking a natural, damaged area and restoring the biodiversity that belongs there. We have 130 wildlife crossings on the 24 km of the A355. That's one every 212 m. Makes the motorway transparent. I honestly couldn't do this job if I didn't believe in it, if I didn't believe it made a difference, especially if it was just to look good. We need some serious effort, otherwise I couldn't be bothered to invest all this energy, and I couldn't really just pretend. France. The western Strasbourg bypass opens to traffic. 10 years ago, when I started at VINCI, people would say, "Yes, Sylvain, sure. Your frogs, your fish, we'll be careful.
Don't worry." 10 years later, it's reassuring and encouraging to see that what I was saying all day long is now coming from our management. When Olivier announced the aim for no net soil sealing in our developments, a big difference. This policy of VINCI Group makes what we do more meaningful. Greening our operations, helping to reduce net soil sealing makes us even prouder of what we do. We demolished to try and rebuild a nonprofit or social enterprise to build its car park 2 km away and to move towards zero soil sealing in our area. We work with this social enterprise. The goal was to work on land rehabilitation here with them. I crisscross France, I do mountain running, trail running, and I'm always in the middle of nature, and I love it out here. It's really energizing.
I'm not here to harm it. If nobody acts, if we give up, obviously, we won't change anything. Wishful thinking won't get us anywhere either. We're looking at a big emergency. We all need to roll up our sleeves and do something, not just talk about what somebody else should do. We have to do something at our level. With our stakeholders, we've built a collaborative app to monitor all the offset sites. We shared that with all our partners and government agencies so that we can track offset measures real time. Our partnerships with local stakeholders have all given them a new perspective on private operators and infrastructure builders. They showed that we could build something positive together and set up projects to foster biodiversity. Construction of a solar farm on a rehabilitated land in a former quarry in Paulmy.
VINCI Immobilier came in and cleaned up the soil in this industrial brownfield to recreate offices, homes, shops, a school, and lots of green spaces. The starting point for design is totally different now. The first chapter in the spec sheet is the environmental challenges. It's always more complex to transform cities over cities than to build around cities. We're aware that the model is no longer sustainable, so we need to build our skills in urban recycling. The fact that we're starting now and setting 10 years before the law takes effect should put us in a very good position. The lighting system for the Jacques Gabriel Bridge in Blois. Delivery of a treatment plant for waste in the Czech Republic for sewage sludge treatment. Costa Rica restoration of 5,000 square meters of World Heritage Forest, housing extraordinary biodiversity.
India constructing the world's tallest reinforced structure. Dredging of the upper part of the Óbidos Lagoon in Portugal. Partnerships for biodiversity protection. Really, what's bringing to the table is its capability in Spanish. Spain was one of the first countries to develop these renewable energies. In terms of biodiversity, we're fortunate to have a development platform for these projects. For laying also these high voltage cabling without disrupting the biodiversity. Well, Cobra brings to the table its capability. They're fortunate to be Spanish. Spain was one of the first European countries to develop renewables. They're fortunate to have a development platform for renewable energy projects, and in the long term, we will operate renewable energy assets that we developed ourselves. Hello, and welcome to L'Archipel. Hello, Philippe. This is so exciting.
I wish you all wonderful projects here, wonderful experiences, memorable moments in your professional life here at L'Archipel, which is now our common home. Where all together, we will invent the future of VINCI.
That magnificent video illustrates, if there were need for illustration, of the incredible diversity in our business lives. The major human component in all of our projects, and the fact that our teams are highly mobilized on the environment, which is such a major challenge now.
Whether you're talking about design, build, maintenance or operation of our projects, our employees now always bear in mind, not only, of course, providing the best possible service to clients and to be beneficial to society, to be efficient in terms of technology and economic, but, and especially, they also very much bear in mind, come up with, solutions that are going to be a plus for the environment, in line with our environmental objectives. Above and beyond reducing our own CO2 footprint, our clients are also expecting us to help them, in turn, reduce their footprint. To be successful during this transition, we have to
really have strong performance ourselves. Christian Labeyrie will be reporting to you now on our 2021 performance, as well as our 2022 strategy. Our 2022 strategy and beyond 2022. Now after 2020, which saw great resilience and our great ability to adapt, 2021, we booked a strong rebound. Business went beyond its 2019 pre-crisis level. Our order book looks very good indeed, and margins improved significantly. Several remarkable points. Free cash flow is up to record level EUR 5.3 billion. This is thanks to the rebound of business, yes, and also thanks to excellent work done on collections from our clients. Particularly cash flow at VINCI Airports is positive again in the second half, thanks to very major efforts made by your group to reduce operating expenditure and capital expenditure.
Our activities are improving their operating margins, record level 6.5% at VINCI Energies and up 40 basis points to 3.7% at VINCI Construction versus 2019. Motorway traffic recovered as expected very quickly as soon as lockdowns were lifted. Now motorway traffic is above pre-crisis levels, pre-health crisis levels. At the end of the year, we finalized the acquisition of Cobra IS. We heard this again in the video, designed to build a global leader in engineering works and services relating to energy, but also enabling us to step up developing concessions for renewable energy, therefore our overall environmental performance. Let's delve in greater detail to this, starting with VINCI Autoroutes. After the first four months of 2021, especially the month of April, you'll remember that's when there was still restrictions on mobility.
After that, light vehicle traffic rebounded quickly, going above levels in 2019 in the second half of 2021. Finishing the full year, there'd been very low traffic beginning of the year, so ending of the full year at -0.53% in traffic. Heavy vehicles traffic stayed above 2019 levels for the full period, reaching the end of the year at a +3.1%, for the period. We feel there's still potential for further growth in traffic, firstly because foreign traffic, especially at the Spanish border in 2021, will have been below usual for the full year. Furthermore, bus traffic remained impacted and should rebound end of the year. This crisis confirmed that the road is a vital network for our country. Nine trips out of 10 are by road.
We believe France will only be able to comply with the Paris Agreement without quickly decarbonizing road transport, which is precisely what VINCI Autoroutes is doing in its own network. This is what Jean Castex, our Prime Minister, underscored during the inauguration of the highly exemplary Strasbourg bypass that was mid-December last. VINCI Autoroutes is one of the main prime contractors in France, and we're very pleased to have reached the agreement with the state to make the west bypass for Montpellier and to continue thereby our mission, purpose and town and country planning. To talk about VINCI Airports now, after the first half of 2021, which was fairly depressed, down, we saw a very significant uptick in traffic starting last summer.
The last quarter of 2020 had seen more than a twofold increase compared to the previous period. There were big differences from one geography to another. The Americas, North and South America, almost reaching normal traffic levels. Europe is normalizing and Asia remaining down due to mobility restrictions which are imposed in China. Hard work has been underway for the last two years on OpEx and CapEx, making it possible to significantly improve EBITDA for the full year and returning to positive operating income in the second half of 2021. What I'm saying here is that we're reaping the benefits of that stringency, and we see the positive effects of that stringency when traffic bounces back. We took control of six airports in Amazon, including Manaus, which is very famous. We've been a very...
Done in a very determined fashion the rollout of our processes and procedures, which have are tried and true, particularly in Salvador, in terms of quality of service, productivity, environment as well as an ethnic diversity. A beautiful year at VINCI Energies, business up 10% versus 2019, which is truly exceptional. All this in spite of some delays in supply toward the end of 2021. VINCI Energies, as I said, has yet again improved its operating margin 6.5% versus 6% in 2019, which is remarkable. Proves the strength and robustness of VINCI Energies's business model. Excellent cash generation made it possible to improve by EUR 700 million the net debt situation for the full year period in that activity. Lastly, VINCI Energies, it's a major tradition, continued with its strategy of external growth.
No fewer than 50 acquisitions of small and medium-sized businesses in 2020 and 2021. Bolt-on activity of around EUR 300 million in a full year. Now, new VINCI Construction, you remember this was the tie-up of Eurovia and VINCI Construction, has made good on its promises. Business up by 5% versus 2019, reaching EUR 26.3 billion. This new VINCI Construction we're talking about has been a ramp up of the major projects that it won previously. There's a great deal flow of projects. Even more importantly, I would say, we are seeing a return of the small and medium-sized deals. These are very important to ensure resilience of the entire business. Operating margin, significant growth to 3.7% versus 3.3% in 2019. Should continue to grow.
Lastly, excellent cash generation, improving by more than EUR 1 billion the net debt situation of the division for the full year period. Just like VINCI Energies for several years now has done a lot more activity business outside of France than inside of France. That is now also the case for VINCI Construction, new VINCI Construction, which has more than half of its business which is outside of France. That's very much in line with our strategic policy. Property development turned around beautifully after the pandemic. Accommodation reservations are slightly above 2019, particularly when we're talking about managed residences. These are developing well. VINCI Real Estate, VINCI Immobilier is the number one developer to commit to the target of net-zero net artificialization by 2030, which is 20 years ahead of schedule, ahead of the law called Climate and Resilience Law.
This very necessarily will make for an in-depth change in the overall model for property development, preferring using surfaces that are already artificial or through recycling surfaces in urban areas. I'd like to hand the floor to Christian Labeyrie.
Ladies and gentlemen, VINCI shareholders, good morning. I'll briefly run through the key figures of the year 2021. Firstly, our revenue close on EUR 50 billion, EUR 49.4 billion, up 14% versus 2020. All our businesses recorded revenue increases. Xavier said, + 21% Autoroutes, thanks to the traffic rebound. + 10% for VINCI Energies. 14% up for VINCI Construction. They resisted the COVID crisis in 2020. Revenue for the group is slightly higher than its pre-health crisis level in 2019, + 3%. The operating income on activity, that is, the operating income of our subsidiaries, consolidated, comes in at EUR 4.7 billion, sharply up on its 2020 level, which stood at EUR 2.9 billion.
It remains below by EUR 1 billion to its pre-health crisis level owing to the drop in the contribution of VINCI Airports impacted by declining air traffic. By business unit, we see the following. The earnings of VINCI Autoroutes close to its 2019 level. A loss at VINCI Airports Limited, thanks to drastic savings, and generates a positive income in H2. The results of VINCI Energies and VINCI Construction that are topping their 2019 levels. VINCI Immobilier is up but down versus its pre-crisis level. Consolidated net income, Group share EUR 2.6 billion, twice its 2020 level, but lower by EUR 700 million of its 2019 level. The 2021 results impacted by one-off tax liability in the U.K., EUR 200 million following the increase in corporate tax rate in the U.K.
This increase led us to assessing our tax liabilities, but no cash impacts. The good news is that for 2021, high level of cash flow generated over the year that tops the EUR 5 billion mark. More about that later. We're able to maintain our debt at a very reasonable level in spite of the major acquisition of Cobra IS, Spanish company finalized at the end of the year. Next slide. Debt has only increased by EUR 1.3 billion on the year. In spite of the acquisition of Cobra IS, that represents a net impact on debt of EUR 4.2 billion. Excluding acquisition of Cobra IS, debt shrank by close on EUR 3 billion in 2021. This was made possible by this cash flow generation at a record level. EUR 5.3 billion is against EUR 4 billion for previous years.
In addition to the EBITDA coming in at close to EUR 8 billion, up EUR 2 billion versus 2020, we need to stress the improved working capital requirement, EUR 1.6 billion. Good CapEx control, and that'll be VINCI Airports. M&A, in addition to the acquisition of Cobra IS, let's mention the investment in Brazil to obtain a 30-year concession for managing seven airports in the Amazon, as well as the acquisition by VINCI Energies of some 100 small companies in Europe. Other financial flows are a total of EUR 2 billion concerning payment of the dividend in cash for the year 2020, as well as the interim dividend for 2021, and share buybacks that we resumed in Q4 of the year in order to offset, in accordance with our policy, the dilution brought about by the creation of shares, essentially in the corporate savings plan.
Net debt coming in at EUR 19.3 billion at December 31st. It's interesting to put things into perspective to better assess the quality of the financial performance in 2021. In the past 10 years, free cash flow generated by group companies is up by 10% on average per year, whereas net income has only increased by just over 3% in spite of the economic, financial, and health crises, and now geopolitical, that we weathered during the period. We also know an acceleration in cash generation over the past three, four years. Excellent performance reflects the strength and resilience of our business model that rests on varied and complementary businesses on an increasingly marked geographic diversity. In 2022, international turnover will top for the first time turnover in France.
We're able to develop this business model on a large scale thanks to rolling out a highly decentralized organization where each profit center, each business unit, there are several thousand, is responsible for its own cash from operations, its investments, and its earnings. This empowerment of men and women on the ground who enjoy great autonomy for decision-making is the VINCI hallmark. Financial policy, we always ascribe great importance to liquidity because it's the price of independence. At the end of December, we have just over EUR 80 billion in liquidity, half of which in the form of confirmed undrawn bank credit lines. The rest, in terms of the EUR 18 billion, represents the available cash in the group's balance sheet. Large part can be rallied rapidly through the central division of the holding company.
We must be able to meet our commitments, that is to reimburse VINCI or the loans or those of its subsidiaries that are maturing, as we did in May 2021 by reimbursing a bond loan of Cofiroute of EUR 1.1 billion. We wish at every point to seize new opportunities for acquisitions that form part of our strategy, which was the case last year for Cobra IS. That represented cash out of some EUR 5 billion at the end of last year. Lastly, experience of recent years and beyond in the past shows that if it's not certain, the worst can indeed happen, as the health crisis in March 2020 demonstrated it led to a brutal halt in our activities in France and a plummeting income. We were able to weather this ordeal without too much stress.
It's thanks to our prudent financial management that has always presented liquidity as a paramount priority. Whatever the outside circumstances, we plan to respect our commitments vis-à-vis the lenders as well as our shareholders, while continuing at our pace the execution of our expansion strategy. In this context, it's key for a group such as VINCI, whose gross financial debt, that is actually in treasury, is close on EUR 30 billion. EUR 28.5 billion with an average maturity of some seven years. It's key to have good access to the bond market. They are prime source of refinancing, be it for our debt in euros, in sterling, or in dollars. That's why we ensure that we always enjoy the best possible credit rating. Give us our business profile, our financial situation. A rating is a key benchmark for lenders to assess the quality of borrowers that we are.
The two main rating agencies, S&P, Standard & Poor's, and Moody's, confirmed recently in March of this year for S&P, after the Ukrainian crisis in October 2021 for Moody's, our long-term ratings A- and A3 with stable outlook. These represent the solidity of our business model, concessions, energy, construction, the diversity of our businesses, and our prudent financial management. In these troubled times, these items allow us to remain confident. Lastly, as the curve bottom right shows, we've continued to benefit from decline in the average cost of our debt because of the debt maturities that were issued previously at much higher rates than presently. We're able to reimburse these loans in better conditions. This good result in the cost of debt is also the consequence of the proactive, dynamic way that we manage our interest rate risk and exposure. Our policy entails maintaining variable rates.
The part of our debt that is backed onto the recurring cash flows of our concession activities inflation index, we take advantage of the positive effects of the yield curve, short rates being almost structurally below those of long rates. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you, Christian. Before talking about the future, I'd like to just say a few of my thoughts. First of all, during the pandemic, we all understood really just how we draw our strength, our creativity, our energy from our relations with other people. Of course, remote working became more prevalent, but it does have its limits because a company is first and foremost a location, a place where people get together, all working toward a strategy, a shared dream. That's the whole reason the lead teams from the various business lines moved to the Archipel, our new shared home in Nanterre, where almost 4,000 employees can work together, get together, think together in a very pleasant environment, full of light, open to the city. You saw it briefly during the video. I would invite you to come visit us there at the Archipel building.
It's very interesting. Next, in a period when it was very difficult to get together with people, more than ever before, we've got to be shouldering our social and societal responsibility. Let me underscore some initiatives, such as the leg-up program for young people called Give me Five in France. Plus, there are other good citizens actions we began in many countries since the very beginning of the health crisis, then more recently, to accommodate refugees from Ukraine via our subsidiaries in neighboring countries. We want to really set the example in all of our countries, as we are in Qatar, where the recent report by the International Trade Union Confederation, ITUC, really does clearly demonstrate that we are pioneering when it comes to workers' rights in terms of hiring, working, and housing conditions, and most importantly, safety on the job.
All these actions, plus many other actions in all of our countries, are a great illustration of our policy, our approach as being a humanist company, as well as our ability to mobilize and push, move forward toward a more inclusive society that shows greater solidarity. We need to build on these initiatives, add to them, extend them. Clearly, we can say there's no option to saving the planet today. Furthermore, the environmental transition is only going to happen if we don't pay greater attention to societal and social points. Societal, environmental, social, economic performance, that's our view of performance. It's comprehensive, and it's explained in our policy manifesto, which guides our teams, all of our teams with an eye to ongoing and constant progress in all of these areas. Lastly, the last point, agility, ability to adapt.
We've, I believe, clearly demonstrated this during the pandemic, and this is thanks to our local managers. We repeat our belief that the right decisions are made closest to the field. This self-same highly decentralized organization will make it possible for us to continue moving forward in spite of possible macroeconomic disturbances which may happen due to the war in Ukraine. Let's talk more about the short term, how we view 2022. The continuity of the good trends we've seen in recent months, visible on this slide on the screen. VINCI Autoroutes is assuming annual traffic above annual traffic booked in 2019. This is what we've observed in the first two months of 2022. VINCI Airports, you remember, is benefiting from a positioning of almost 80% in tourism and business trips when you meet with friends and family.
Only just over 20% is job-related business trips. We benefit from this positioning, 78% tourism, 20% business. We believe that there's going to be resumption, a faster resumption in tourism and travel for pleasure than business traffic. We're already observing this. That should make it possible for us to book yet another step toward traffic recovery. Our central scenario is reaching traffic levels in 2022 of 60% to 2019 levels, producing net income near breakeven. We're almost back to a normal situation in the Americas, North and South America. We're observing a significant improvement in Europe and especially in Portugal. This is very important for us. Furthermore, we're seeing the beginnings of takeoffs, no pun intended. At Gatwick, they've just reopened South Terminal, which had been closed since the pandemic.
I mentioned Asia, still low-ish for air traffic, but we're seeing some signs of recovery. Now to talk about our engineering, construction, and services business lines. We've got an excellent order book, as you can see on the slide here. VINCI Energies, we should continue growing in 2022, all the while maintaining the high level of operating margin as booked in 2021. Furthermore, we'll see now the full-year consolidation of Cobra IS, the group we acquired at the very end of 2021. Lastly, at VINCI Construction, the ambition is to continue growing the operating margin by being ever more selective in terms of the projects we invest in every year. All in all, for your group, VINCI as a whole, net income 2022 should be above the level of net income we achieved in 2019, which was before the pandemic.
Now, you'll observe we're very much in motion, moving forward. We're moving to the future realistically and with great confidence for a main reason. Our business lines, construction, energy, mobility, put us at the very core of global challenges. We're talking about transforming cities and buildings to make them more sustainable, more virtuous in terms of energy consumption and the environment, and more pleasant to live and work in. We're seeing the digital revolution in all industries and human activities. We're talking about decarbonization, mobility, every type of mobility. We're talking about speeding up the energy transition by boosting green electricity in the energy mix. We're looking toward low-carbon hydrogen for industry, and longer run also for heavy mobility. We're tackling projects from an angle of carbon footprint and preservation of biodiversity, developing the circular economy.
Yeah, your group is very much involved and is very much a solutions provider in all these areas and to all these challenges. These can be great leverages for growth in the future. This is the backdrop. This is why we reached agreement with the ACS Group to acquire Cobra IS. Cobra IS, let me tell you, is a set of companies active throughout the energy value chain in engineering, construction, maintenance. Furthermore, they're able to develop, finance, operate renewable energy facilities. They make about 45% of their business in Spain and 9% outside of Spain, particularly in Latin America, via business units which are dedicated to small and medium-sized deals, making up about 60% of their business. The remainder is projects that are turnkey, bigger projects.
For instance, very long, very high voltage power transmission lines in Brazil, sometimes 1,300 km worth of very high voltage lines, gigantic projects. Also, there's cogeneration, such as in Mexico. There are critical systems for management, monitoring of tunnels and roads in Australia. Cobra was one of the first in Spain, I mentioned, who's been active either as a builder or more comprehensively as a developer and a builder in renewable energy. You know, renewable energy is growing apace. Cobra Solutions in terms of new projects under development at varying levels of maturity. Their portfolio is an overall installed capacity of 14 GW. And it's about 30% in the Arabian Peninsula and about 75% outside of Spain.
This portfolio contains around 25% onshore wind, 75% photovoltaic, and then some offshore wind projects, such as a 100 MW project, which is floating offshore project, off the coast of Scotland. Then a deal won recently 480 MW in the Irish Sea. Now, I've talked to you about the future and the short and medium term. In the longer term, what we think is crystal clear is that our future very much depends on the future of the planet. Last year, you'll remember, you approved, 98% of you voted in favor of our climate resolution. You know that this is long-term endeavor. It means we have to reinvent ourselves very significantly to improve our own impact and also to help our clients, our subcontractors, and so forth, to reinvent themselves. That's Scope 3.
We decided this year to give you an update on this program, our environmental ambition. I'll be giving the floor to our head of environment, Isabelle Spiegel, to talk to you more about this. Isabelle. She's just been appointed to the Executive Committee at VINCI. It shows you just how important this subject is in our group, and I'll give the floor to her now. Isabelle.
Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good morning. VINCI is continuing rolling out its environmental ambition close to the field, which means we take into account the specifics of our various business activities as well as the specifics of the geographies where we operate. A reminder, our environmental ambition is based on priority challenges in our business areas, and most importantly, these are areas where we have direct leverage over, where we can provide solutions.
Here we're thinking about the climate, acting for the climate, optimizing resources thanks to the circular economy, and preserving natural media and environment. Before giving an update on our various environmental action plans, I'd like to talk to you about method briefly. We began in 2019 by really systematically listing, putting together an inventory of the actions where we could address the environment. We then gauged and evaluated potential for reducing impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions, as well as economic impact, amounts to be invested and return on these investments. This led us to commit to cutting by 40% greenhouse gas emissions under Scope 1 and 2 by 2030. We'll continue with this, moving towards Scope 3, which is indirect greenhouse gas emissions through our value chain.
By identifying the main contributors to this, by working on this, to decarbonize various materials, decarbonize mobility and so forth, buildings, energy efficiency and so on and so forth. These actions took about 18 months. Today, we can now commit to these greenhouse gas emissions, which are called indirect under Scope 3, to cut them by 20% by 2030. This target for reduction is for the entirety of our value chain, which is both upstream, the materials we use, the purchasing, but also downstream, which is to say energy efficiency of equipment we use, buildings we build, and concessions traffic. These are two commitments, and we wanted to call in an international, a recognized international body, the Science Based Targets initiative.
Science Based Targets initiative did certify these two commitments, the - 40% under Scope 1 and Scope 2 and the - 20% additional reduction in indirect emissions under Scope 3. They certified this is in line with a trajectory which is called well below 2 degrees. We're very much in line with the Paris Agreement. We've got common milestones for all of our entities, and that's our course. Of course, if we want to go faster or better, we will do so if feasible. In terms of rollout of these plans, they're rolled out at the field level, and all divisions are involved here. We are gonna begin by listening to this, watching a video.
The mechanics is simple. If you look at carbon emissions by country, 1/3 for transport, 1/3 from buildings, and 1/3 from industry.
If we address the third that concerns transport, 87% of travel is by road. If we wanna decarbonize transport, we have to decarbonize the road. For our own business Scope 1 and 2, we pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. The results speak for themselves. We've achieved 13% reduction in 2021. 45% of our vehicles are EV vehicles. In the same way that we've begun the transformation of all our tunnel and infrastructure lighting with low-carbon systems. On recycling, we're at 75% of operational waste recycling, and the surface 46% of asphalt, which is considerable recycle. The 4,445 km of autoroutes represents 45,000 hectares. There are 2,000 that are green.
We just teamed up with the Forestry Commission, and we're going to embark on renaturalizing 200 sites. Scope 3 is first and foremost our work as a client. On the A89, we're capable of reducing the carbon footprint by 50% with no additional cost, improving the efficiency of asphalt plants and rallying smart ideas. Strasbourg is a case in point. It gives a very compelling illustration of the role that infrastructure can have on the environment. Then the Scope 3 downstream. The emissions of VINCI customers at 40% of VINCI Group's emissions, we must tackle that, change the perspective on the motorway, realize that it's an infrastructure that's plastic, modular and evolving, and that we can use in a decarbonized way.
That means stepping up the use of motorway by public transport, car sharing, which is what we're doing with 3,000 car-sharing spaces, multimodal areas, dedicated lanes. The second lever is, of course, decarbonizing energy. 60% of VINCI's service areas have electric recharge stations, and by 2023, it'll be 100%. Our ambition is to halve our carbon emissions over 10 years in spite of the growth and the return to normal traffic levels. We're ahead of plan. We've already reduced these emissions by 30%. In our airport buildings, we've massively reduced our energy consumption by transforming our boilers, limiting temperatures. In the use of all the products that we have on our infrastructure, we've limited the use of pesticides. We process and treat water on all our facilities. Net zero by 2050, all our assets will comply. We want pilot systems.
We plan to achieve net zero by 2030 in Europe and even in 2026 in Lyon. How are we going to ensure that our customers, the travelers, the visitors reduce their emissions? Here, we're impacting on the full chain. We have an incentive program, modulation of airport fees that gradually encourages airlines to change their fleet. We're proposing forestry offset programs, working on energies of the future. For airlines, we're pleased to have been the first group to welcome French biofuels at Clermont-Ferrand, at Gatwick. By 2035, be the hydrogen-fueled aircraft. We've already signed the first partnerships with Airbus, with Air Liquide, with Dassault, so that Lyon can receive the first type of airport infrastructure to produce green hydrogen on the airport, so that airlines can benefit from that. VINCI Highways, it's the e-car.
In Peru, LIMA EXPRESA to be the first fleet of corporates to set the example with its fleet of e-vehicles on our airport car parks. In countries where energy is decarbonized, we'll soon be reaching 300 recharge stations on our airport car parks. Third segment, very important. We've chosen this year to take it to the next level, not just to decarbonize our on-site electricity, but to inject it into the grid and produce green energy on the transport infrastructure of VINCI Concessions. We have new programs, Faro, Portugal, Lyon-Saint-Exupéry. We're going to embark on more ambitious programs in Sweden. The aim is to reach 1 GW of solar power produced on our infrastructure. How to limit our own emissions, we plan to reduce our emissions by 40% Scope 1 and Scope 2.
95% of vehicles that we need to have e-vehicles, hybrids, and what we've put in place for our corporates, 5% on buildings. Buildings, better insulation, more efficient equipment, rethink the air conditioning to reduce power consumption. Scope 3, VINCI Energies represents about 7 million tons. That's 25x more than our Scope 1 or 2. VINCI Energies is totally decentralized. Everything happens in each of our 1,800 companies with its clients. Our teams have developed tools to assess, and track, and measure the carbon footprint, so as to inform the clients not only of the cost, but on the carbon footprint. We can simulate variables to say we ensure one piece of equipment rather than the other. It might cost a bit more, but it saves a lot of CO2.
Allows our clients to take enlightened decisions depending on their needs, and also to communicate and meet their own commitments by considering Scope 3. We have a great tool for commercial action, a flurry of offers, reduce energy consumptions, more efficient processes, optimize energy consumption of our data centers. It's also optimizing travel times on logistics for trucks. The flurry of these offers and their impact in terms of carbon is low individually, but it all contributes to the overall effort, and all these small projects at the end of the day contribute to the group's strength and size. The first environmental challenge for us at VINCI Construction is act for the climate, reduce our own carbon emissions. We have a reduction target of 40% by 2030. Since 2019, two years we've already reduced that by 8%.
It means working on carbon emissions of all the products we source. Three priorities: concrete, steel, and bitumen. On concrete, we're working actively through our range of EXEGY low carbon concrete, ultra-low carbon concrete that can reduce by 20%, 30%, or even 70% the carbon footprint. We've already achieved at head office a number of low carbon posts. We're currently on the Olympic Village site with the Greater Paris company. We're gonna test for the first time segments for the tunnels in low carbon. Second area, we're actively developing our network of recycling and recovery platforms for job site waste. We have a road that is 100% recycled over and above that engineering feat. We demonstrated it's possible to work between 50% and 70% recycled materials. Protecting natural habitats under the Equo Vivo label.
Over and above our own emissions, we're building infrastructure, and we're renovating infrastructure that contributes to reducing the carbon footprint. All the rail projects we're directly concerned in France by the superb project of Greater Paris. Once it comes into service, it'll be 1.2 million tons of carbon that will be avoided every year. There are many such projects. We have a light rail in Ottawa, another one in Auckland, and in terms of railways, we're building the super project second high speed line in the U.K. This, of course, contributes to limiting infrastructure through the energy infrastructure, all the nuclear power plants, all the hydro power plants, and we're inventing a number of solutions. The e-road and positive energy solution of induction recharge road. Two prototypes in Germany for buildings to correctly process all buildings that pose problems of energy efficiency.
At the current pace, it would take 200 years. It's far too long. We must devise by way of solution the idea of demolishing buildings and rebuilding all the buildings that we construct today, be they houses or offices, are always built to the highest energy standards. The town has built up over a century on an extension, both natural land or farmland. The model is now unsustainable. Soil sealing worsens climate change. We've become the first property development to have zero net soil sealing by 2030, with 20 years ahead of the Climate and Resilience Law, where we artificialize one square meter in the countryside or on the edge of the city, we will renaturalize one square meter in the downtown area. By 2030, we want to have half our revenue in urban recycling.
We're trying to improve the town and make it better by working a lot on wastelands that are everywhere. There's the 50 plots of land that we bought from Engie, polluted soil, to transform them into many things, offices, homes, student campuses, senior homes. On the Athlete's Village, we're coming from a brown field, former power plant with coals, and we're building part of the Olympic Village there to renature the surface area that was totally built of concrete. We have a green corridor. It's a real symbol of urban recycling, as well as the Stadium at Nice, where we're working on the former car parks. On one of the stands at the stadium, we built 350 homes, commercial buildings, a dojo.
We also took advantage of this project with green buildings, working with Édouard François, an architect specialized in the green facades. Demand for protecting the environment is really a business focus. We sense that it's something that's absolutely key. Of course, we have people who are young, very dynamic, a passion for the environment. That's one of the reasons why we're able to accelerate and make this proposal for zero net sealing by 2030 instead of 2050. What's unique, we're positioned on two major trends: the digital transformation and the energy transition. By combining these two trends, we're committed to the environmental transition of our clients at the heart of their processes and infrastructure. We work in partnership with all the players, the contractors, the car makers, the energy manufacturers, very determined on this issue.
We'll have understood that it's vital, and all VINCI Autoroutes people have rallied to this ambition. This promotion of VINCI's values is not just an opportunity for change, but to ensure that a growing number of companies accept this challenge we're laying down. Guarantee your opening, your connection in the world with the best environmental practices. We're part of the solution. This concern for the environment is shared by all our clients. The share of our activity today for projects that have a positive impact on the environment is about 50% of our activity, and it's set to grow.
You saw all these projects, concrete actions that are an illustration of where we stand right now in terms of rollout of our ambitions. Let's talk about the commitments, pretty much in order, talking through some of our priorities. First of all, when it comes to cutting greenhouse gas emissions, particularly under Scopes 1 and 2, those that are within our actual scope of action. We cut this by around 8% in 2021 compared to the baseline year, which is 2018. We rolled out specific actions, as we just saw a moment ago, such as energy efficiency actions in our factories, also electrification of our vehicle fleets, also tracking consumption of job site equipment with an eye to reduce their consumption. Also using more renewables by setting up solar panels for our own energy consumption.
As you can see on the screen, this is how we track our carbon trajectory to reduce our emissions by 2030. In 2021, we're ahead of schedule in terms of the overall reduction timeline. This timeline is to be seen in absolute terms. We're talking about actual Scope 1 and 2 emissions restated for scope effects if there are acquisitions or possible divestments. You see a slight increase from 2020 to 2021, which is mainly due to increased revenue and also due to the first efforts toward decarbonization. Now to talk to you about indirect emissions. We mentioned these earlier. That's Scope 3. We're moving forward systematically here. Here we can see 1/3 of our Scope 3 emissions are upstream, and that's where we're making progress in terms of low-carbon concrete, for instance.
Concrete itself is around 3 million tons of CO2, so it's the biggest proportion than scopes one and two. 60% of downstream, this is traffic of concessions, installation of quick electric charging stations on the motorways to boost use of electric vehicles. Also, we're talking about modulating prices based on carbon usage in airport areas. Furthermore, there are energy efficiency solutions we saw in energy equipment and also buildings. Some specific examples to talk to you about, these are group offerings and solutions. We talked about EXEGY, that's our low carbon range. Here we see #REHASKEEN, which is a facades renovation using external facade insulation. This brings us right up to the core of renovation requirements.
We're also talking about optimizing things such as the amount of time that aircraft taxi on the ground. This has to do with working with their airport operators. There's also another offering where you've got both production of renewables using PV panels, local storage, and then recharging stations to serve our clients' vehicles. That was RVE. Furthermore, we're going to be optimizing resources by the circular economy. That's the second focus of work. Here, I won't go through the objectives in detail. You can see them on the left-hand side of the screen. Just a couple of key figures, though, I'd like to mention to you to show some of our specific actions currently. In production of aggregates, 15% of aggregate production comes from recycled materials.
We can say that 15% of production sites have zero landfill waste. Some examples, illustrations. We saw motorway maintenance. This is about recycling 50%, 70%, even 100% recycled road. Also, decarbonization, because we can cut our greenhouse gas emissions by around 50%. Think of perpetual quarries. A quarry where you recycle and produce aggregates. Then also daily actions such as aerosol spray cans that can be recharged, reused infinitely. These were in-house produced. Then we worked with partners on initiatives like zero plastic wastage at rest stops. Next, to talk about natural media. We're talking about moving toward zero net loss of biodiversity. We do this step by step, pragmatically.
Some of our actions have to do with no longer using phytosanitary products. The idea of zero usage there, percent reduction in usage of these at all of our concessions. Furthermore, we're working on this as a partner. We've got research partnerships. We've also got partnerships with local associations to address biodiversity and local impact. We've also talked about the target zero sealing, zero net artificialization of soil. This is a major step we're making in this direction. Examples. Let me just give you a couple of examples. Water and reusing, for instance, air conditioning humidity. We're doing this at the Salvador Bahia Airport. We're moving towards zero liquid release at that airport. We're also talking about reuse of industrial brownfield locations.
Helps us move toward zero net artificialization because we use land that's already filled brownfield, and we do property development there. Those are just some examples to give you an update. Of course, I had to mention something else. I had to talk to you about the mobilization of our employees. 2021 was a strong year at VINCI. We really got things into motion. We said to the group, "The environment is something that each and every one of us is responsible for. We can't wait until 2019 to act. We have to react right away." We supported employees. We organized trainings. We organized togetherness sessions, environment days in September each year. Furthermore, we did an in-house contest, the Environment Prize. Throughout 2021, it had an impact and it helped us achieve several things.
First of all, 2,500 applications that we received. 2,500 applications in this in-house contest. These were always very specific actions they were applying for, not just ideas, but specific actions. Over 25% of employees, 37,000 employees voted to select the initiatives. There were local and regional votes, so we had strong mobilization of all of our teams. We can say we have 800 contact people whom we trained and who can support too, so they in turn can support the candidates locally with expertise and so forth. All in all, 200 winners in the regionals, 14 winners in the finals of this contest.
This has really brought to fruition a real portfolio of concrete actions for the group that we just need to roll out so we can mitigate environmental impact and improve the economic viability. This is something that's well underway. We're moving forward. We're really specific. Gotten down to brass tacks here. The people are highly mobilized. We're seeing some of the initial tangible results, especially with your carbon trajectory. We can say this is very much part and parcel of operational strategy in every division now. Thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you, Isabelle. I'd now like to turn to the governance session by suggesting that the chairs of committees summarize for us their work. As I indicated at the outset, the term of Mr. Yves-Thibault de Silguy is coming to an end. He served the group since the year 2000, firstly as Board member, then as Chairman, then as Vice Chairman, Lead Director, and lastly as Vice Chairman. During the course of the 22 years, Yves has brought an outstanding contribution to the group, notably as part of our international expansion strategy, but above all, by putting in place and steering a very effective governance system. Please express your appreciation along with mine. Merci. Mesdames et messieurs, chers actionnaires.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I'd like to present my report of last year as member of the Board and Chair of the strategy and CSR corporate strategy. The Universal Registration Document in its various pages 122, 139 and 273 describe these activities, so I'll be brief and focus on some essential points. As Vice Chairman of the Board, it falls to me to provide my insight on business and the group. Given the knowledge of the group and experience, I establish contacts with the foreign personalities, trade associations, and individual shareholders, without forgetting my attendance at many fora and conferences, which requires having regular contacts with all members of ExCo. In spite of health conditions that made foreign travel more difficult these past two years, this mission in 2021 represented some 41 business days of work.
The strategy and CSR committee met seven times. It is open in addition to the seven permanent members that you see in photo on this slide. All board members who so wish may attend its meetings, and experience has shown the interest of this setup because there's a high participation rate. It is a forum that is appreciated, useful for discussion for assessing group development projects. In CSR, all M&A projects, disposals of public partnership, projects representing a commitment greater than EUR 50 million for the group are submitted for opinion. If it exceeds EUR 200 million, they are submitted to the board for agreement. In 2021, we reviewed projects. You saw a number of them in the film earlier in the energy, hydrogen, construction, airport concession sectors.
For CSR, particular focus was given to the health and safety program and to the vigilance and compliance program. Since 2018, the commitments of Xavier Huillard's manifesto presented earlier, aiming at comprehensive performance, environment, sharing the fruits of growth, gender equality, diversity, ethics, safety, professional pathways, civic commitment, human rights, all these commitments were examined since 2018 on 13 occasions by the committee. That illustrates how much your board is vigilant on all these issues to build a sustainable world. That's why CSR is part and parcel of the strategy. Lastly, in closing, because it's the last time that I have the pleasure and honor of reporting on my activities within the VINCI Board, I should like to thank all of you, our loyal shareholders, Xavier and all his colleagues, my board colleagues, for your support, your commitment, and your professionalism.
Thank you for allowing me to live at your side this great success story. I've been a Board member since the year 2000. Back in 2000, the group numbered 120,000 people, EUR 17 billion in turnover, EUR 400 million net earnings. With Cobra, these figures are now 260,000 employees, EUR 54 billion in revenue, EUR 3 billion in earnings. It's a superb performance and adventure, and the shareholder can only be satisfied 'cause had he invested EUR 1,000 in 2000 and assuming the reinvestment of the dividends, he's at the head of a capital of some EUR 16,000. The performance has topped 13% per year. I don't know many CAC 40 companies delivering such a feat. I leave confident in the future. The growth potential of VINCI has never been so great.
There's every reason to be optimistic and believe that thanks to its businesses, thanks to its proactiveness and assessing the challenges that our societies are facing, mobility, urbanization, the energy transition, the circular economy. Well, thanks to its geographical footprint, thanks above all to its amazing human wealth, it's a breeding ground for success. It will continue in the interest of all stakeholders. Thank you.
Merci, Yves.
Thank you, Yves. Now I'd like to give the floor to Yannick Assouad, Lead Director and also Chairperson of the nominations and governance committee.
Good day, ladies and gentlemen, VINCI shareholders. Of course, the health crisis often made us meet remotely. We weren't able to talk as much about governance in the past couple of years as usually, so I'd like to make up for that. First of all, governance, I'd like to talk about how we're organized in the group on governance. In addition to our formal sessions, the board of directors also has a chairperson, I just mentioned this, as well as a Lead Director who is independent. That's me. We have four specialized committees, and you'll hear reports from them in just a moment's time. One of the specialized committees is the nominations and governance committee.
The board has 15 members. The number of women members is 54.4%. That's well beyond the required level. The independence level is 67%. All these board members have a great deal of competence and expertise, which is perfectly suited to all the various issues in the VINCI divisions. As we saw in the video, these divisions are quite diverse in terms of business line, business area, as well as geographical location. To talk to you more specifically about the nominations and governance committee, it has five members. You can see their pictures here on the screen. In 2020 and 2021, we focused mainly on questions of succession. We'll talk about this in a moment's time. To talk about the term in office of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, among others.
We didn't only talk about succession of the chairman CEO, but we talked about succession plans for all the main top managers at VINCI. We also talked about changes in the composition of the board of directors. We'll talk about that in a moment as well. To talk now, though, about succession, and specifically the succession of the main manager of the group, Xavier Huillard. As you can see, his succession is not right on the immediate agenda. Your board of directors is proposing to renew Xavier's chairman office as director of VINCI Group. The board will also appoint him Chairman at a Board that will take place after this shareholders meeting, and will propose keeping him in his office as Chief Executive Officer. The reason we have opted for this format, well, there are actually two reasons. It's twofold.
First of all, you just heard the financial results from Christian Labeyrie. We haven't returned to financial performance which is the same as the performance before the COVID crisis. As you know, contracting business, construction, VINCI Energies have performed beautifully. They've gone beyond their 2019 results. That is not yet the case in the concessions business. For airport concessions, there's still going to be a period of time before they achieve their 2019 performance levels. There's a second reason, which is probably even more important. In our view, when we approved the acquisition of Cobra IS, we felt we couldn't propose a new senior management a change in senior management during this important period of integration of Cobra IS. Cobra IS is a new activity of the group.
Geographies, Spain and Latin America, which are not new to this group, but they've got a much bigger footprint there than VINCI Group has had. Therefore, it's our view that only Xavier Huillard as Chief Executive Officer could properly carry out integration of Cobra IS. However, it's crystal clear that Xavier will reach the age limit of our bylaws during this term in office. The Board is fully aware of the fact that when he reaches the age limit as Chief Executive, he will hand over to his successor. This will take place during this upcoming term in office of his.
Par ailleurs, comme je l'ai dit.
Furthermore, as I said.
Le Comité des nominations et de la gouvernance
The Nominations and Governance Committee.
Succession. Il est trop tôt.
Looked into succession plans. It's too early to talk about any specifics, but I can say, rest assured, we've got a pool of top managers for VINCI Group, a very significantly sized pool of top managers, precisely because of the way the group is managed.
Ils poursuivent un parcours-
People have their careers whereby they manage ever bigger business units as they move forward in their career. It's a learning process for them, and that means that we've got highly mature, highly experienced top managers. A big pool of top managers, as opposed to what you might sometimes see in some other major corporations.
Ce recensement, scanning de tous-
We've scanned through the whole pool. We know.
Il y a bien entendu.
There'd be potential people to replace the current CEO and also people to replace all members of the group's executive committee.
En ce qui concerne le conseil d'administration, Xavier l'a dit.
Now, the Board of Directors, Xavier said this.
Un nombre de renouvellement
There are several renewals we would like to propose for your vote this year. First of all, to renew the term in office of the Chief Executive Officer, as I mentioned a moment ago, plus three further terms in office. Ms. Marie-Christine Lombard, current chairperson of the Compensation Committee, the term of René Médori, who's chairperson of the Audit Committee, and the term in office of the company Qatar Holding, whose term in office is also to be renewed this year. We also said the term in office of Mr. Yves-Thibault de Silguy is not up for renewal. Mr. Claude Laruelle, we propose to you as his replacement. Mr. Claude Laruelle is deputy CEO of Veolia in charge of finance. Let's watch his video right now.
En tant que jeune ingénieur des ponts, j'ai commencé ma carrière.
As a young engineer, I started my career at the transport ministry in Seine-Saint-Denis at the time when the government had decided to build the Stade de France stadium. I delivered iconic things, such as the covering of the northern motorway, plus one of the major viaducts in Drancy. I worked at the subsidiary well-known in VINCI, Entrepose. In 2000, I became part of Veolia Group. I learned about water processing and water selling in France, then in the U.S., where I turned around our construction businesses, then in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, I worked a great deal with mainland China to help our concessions there. I went back to the head office of the group in 2013 when the group was in the throes of transformation.
I worked with Antoine Frérot, and then I took charge of our construction activities, toxic waste, and water technology. I became CFO in 2018. Among other things, I was involved in all the major financial deals having to do with the merger with Suez.
Un administrateur pour moi, il est avant tout.
As I see it, a director is first and foremost a resource for the company, particularly when major decisions are to be made, high impact decisions. A director represents the shareholders, of course, and the director must take into account all stakeholders. My view is that director needs to play his or her role in every respect, and together with the board, needs to define the company's strategy. As I see it, that's probably the most important role of his. He also has a controlling function, supervision.
Je vais apporter au groupe VINCI tout d'abord mon expérience internationale.
VINCI Group, I can bring to them my international experience in Asia and in North America. Furthermore, I can contribute my knowledge of long-term businesses at Veolia, ranging from 20-50 years. Also, my knowledge of short-term business lines, such as construction and major projects, which I have led within Veolia. I'll be contributing all my experience that I got during the Suez transaction from a legal point of view, financial point of view, and also a strategic point of view. We worked a great deal within Veolia on all comprehensive performance. I take into account all stakeholders, particularly when it comes to our annual performance and our long-term performance by defining performance indicators that are the right ones, the relevant ones. All of this I'm hoping to contribute to VINCI Group.
Enfin, les mandats des
Lastly, the terms in office of the two board members representing employees on the board of directors are coming up for renewal. The term in office of Uwe Chlebos and Miloud Hakimi are up for renewal. The company used the procedures that are required for their replacement. They do not need to be elected by the shareholders. The two new directors representing employees will be Mr. Roberto Migliardi and Mr. Alain Saïd. Thank you for your attention.
Merci, Yannick. Thank you, Yannick. I'll ask René Médori, Chair of the Audit Committee, to come up on stage.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, the audit committee of VINCI's board is comprised of four board members, three independents. It met on five occasions in 2021 with an attendance rate of 100%. Your CFO, Christian Labeyrie, and his main colleagues, as well as the statutory auditors, took an active part in all these meetings. The committee also auditioned the legal officer, development officer, head of ethics and vigilance, the head of insurance, also the main executives in charge of group businesses. During the course of 2021, the audit committee organized its work according to the four focus areas defined by the order of the 8th of December 2008, taken up in the AMF recommendations. The first focus area concerns following the process to draw up financial information.
Secondly, to track the effectiveness of the risk management system and the review of in play litigation and the anti corruption scheme. Third focus area on following the efficiency of internal control systems. Final area concerns monitoring the legal control of the statutory accounts and consolidated accounts by the statutory auditors. Thank you.
Merci, René.
Thank you, René. Last but not least, I'll ask Marie-Christine Lombard, as Chair of the Remuneration Committee, to come up on stage, please.
Ladies, gentlemen, dear shareholders, good morning. I am pleased to present to you for the first time the work of the VINCI Remuneration Committee that I've been chairing since the 17th of April 2019. Since AGMs were not able to be held physically in 2020 and 2021. The committee is made up of four Board members, including one director representing employees. It met three times in 2021 with an attendance rate of 100%.
As you know, the task of our committee is to prepare the decisions of your board concerning, first point, on the remuneration of company executive officers on the share ownership systems for employees, the employee share ownership and share allocation plan, and on remuneration plan for board members. I'll start with this latter point. I'll start with the 11th resolution that concerns the remuneration policy of members of the board. This compensation is within a ceiling of EUR 1.6 million set by the general meeting of 17th of April 2019. As you can see on the slide, the remuneration of board members of VINCI comprises a fixed portion in blue linked to the fact that they are board members and their role of chair or members in the various board committees.
A variable component in red that's linked to their participation at board and committee meetings. The top of the chart represents the ceiling of what might be paid if the individual were to take part in all meetings scheduled and bodies of which he's member. That is to say eight Board meetings and five to eight meetings of each committee.
The members of the council.
That's for board members. 12th resolution concerns remuneration policy applied to executive offices. In this case, the Chairman and Chief Executive, Mr. Xavier Huillard. Every year, this is the subject of an ex-ante vote by the AGM. On this occasion, the Board can adjust the components for calculating this remuneration for the future in order to better reflect the challenges of your group. The policy that we're submitting to your vote this year is not very different to that which you approved in 2021. In its cap structure on the left, it comprises a fixed portion in blue, a short-term variable portion based on the company's full-year performance, and a long-term portion in yellow. However, what we propose comprises a few adjustments.
The fixed portion would be of an amount of EUR 1.3 million as against EUR 1.2 million in the previous policy set in 2018. The amount of the short-term variable portion cannot exceed 160% of the fixed portion. That's EUR 2.08 million. It depends, of course, on the attainment of five indicators: financial, managerial, and CSR. The variable long-term portion is a conditional allocation of VINCI shares over three years, subject to conditions of presence and performance. Performance concern, of course, economic, financial, and CSR-based, and assessed over the three years. Their levels determines the number of shares that will be awarded at the end of the day. In the event of termination of the term of a CEO before the end of a plan, the number of shares is reduced proportionately.
As to the practical application of this policy in respect of 2021, it is also the subject of an ex-post vote by the AGM. For 2021, Mr. Huillard's remuneration comprised as follows: fixed portion, EUR 1.2 million. Short-term variable portion, EUR 1,862,400 as against EUR 928,380 for 2020. We recall that it was penalized by the health crisis. In 2021, as we saw in the previous presentations, notably that of Christian Labeyrie, the economic performance was indeed excellent. The net earnings per share has increased 105%. Current operating income is up 77.8%. Free cash flow rose by 120.2%. The non-financial performance was also good.
As we saw in the presentations, your board took into account the way in which management defines and ensures that the group's environmental ambition is genuinely and actually rolled out within the group. The presentations testified to that. The inclusion of all employees, including international employees, in the employee share ownership program and continued international expansion of the group in spite of the health crisis. Long-term variable portion, it's a conditional allocation. 8th of April 2021, of 30,900 VINCI shares, representing a fair value of EUR 2,429,976. This allocation is, of course, accompanied by performance conditions reflecting the challenges that the group is facing. 50% of the allocation is subject to creation of value for the shareholder.
2.5% linked to the share price performance, better than that of a comparable set of companies. 2.5% to maintaining reasonable debt. 25% is subject to environmental or social targets such as safety at work and managerial feminization. In order to be complete, let me state that the remuneration in 2021 of your Chairman and Chief Executive comprises the making available of a company car. As you know, VINCI attaches prime importance to employee share ownership. For 20 years now, the group has been offering its employees in France and the 41 countries in which it's present the possibility of becoming a company shareholders.
These employees benefit in this respect of a top-up by the company, maximum EUR 3,500, as well as a favorable tax treatment as long as they accept that their assets be frozen for five years. The result of this policy is that employees today own 9.9% of the share capital as at December 31st, 2021, through common investment funds. There are many who are shareholders, over 60,000 people, employees and former employees. Of course, they're very motivated in the group's performance. The participation rate of employees remains quite stable, just under 10%, because if every year there are many employees who subscribe, many also sell shares, in particular those who retire.
That's why we are asking you to approve the 16th and 17th resolutions that allow an issuance of shares with a discount of 5% maximum within a limit of 1.5% of the capital in order to undertake capital increases reserved for those employees. Lastly, the committee examines the introduction of long-term incentive plans through which the group allocates to certain categories of employees, 3,419 senior executives and employees in 21 share of the company based on conditions of presence and performance, and that performance must be assessed over a three-year period. Such a plan was put in place on the 8th of April last year. Covering 2,458,780 existing shares.
These shares will be delivered to the awardees on the 8th of April, 2024 if they meet the performance requirements. The number of shares will be based on economic stock market and CSR performance criteria. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you, Marie-Christine. Now I'll give the floor to our statutory auditors who are going to summarize for you their various reports. You can find their full reports in the information document and the annual report. We'll be hearing from Mr. Bertrand.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good day. On behalf of the group of statutory auditors, PwC and Deloitte, I would like to now report to you on our assignments. In summary, we prepared 12 reports, including our two reports on the consolidated annual financial statements of your company, the report on the regulated third-party agreements. Four reports which are additional reports, using the delegations previously granted by your AGM. Four reports on authorizations to be given to the board of directors to carry out capital transactions, and then two reports on selected environmental information from your company. Another one on consolidated information on non-financial performance of VINCI. As per the custom of this AGM, I would just like to summarize the contents of the report. First of all, our two reports on the annual financial statements.
Our report is designed to give us assurance that there's no material misstatement in the financial statements. To that end, we have assignments in France and abroad in the main group entities. Our approach is tailored to VINCI's organization, its business activities, and our risk evaluation. In 2021, the context was the global pandemic due to COVID-19. We took that into account. We presented detailed conclusions of our work to the audit committee on February 2nd, 2022, and the summary was given to the board of directors meeting on February 3rd, 2022. Having to do with consolidated financial statements, we paid special attention to impairment testing of group assets and recoverable value of these assets. Also, booking of construction contracts, provisions for contingencies and risk of litigation, as well as acquisition of energy activities from ACS Group.
Pertaining to annual financial statements, now our main points were to evaluate the stakeholdings. By way of conclusion, we confirm we examined the ways and means used by management to evaluate all of these elements. We certify the consolidated financial statements, and the annual financial statements are fair and sincere, giving a fair representation of the results and the financial situation and the assets of VINCI as of 31 December 2021. This brings me to report on regulated party agreements. We inform you, we were told of no such agreement during this or previous financial period. This brings me to the resolutions for the extraordinary AGM. We have three reports here. These main points are highlighted on this slide. Has to do with authorization to reduce company capital by canceling treasury stocks.
Authorization to issue ordinary securities or shares, getting access to share capital reserved for employees of VINCI Group companies for employee savings plan and rights increases to make it possible for certain foreign subsidiary employees to have similar benefits to those given to others in the savings plan. All of these resolutions and our three related reports, we have no observations we would need to make. Lastly, having to do with corporate, social and societal and environmental responsibility of your company. We have reports. First of all, we have a report from an independent third party, and we can confirm that we did not see any significant misstatement which would in any way jeopardize the fact that the non-financial performance of VINCI, as reported, is compliant in all respects with applicable regulations.
Information as a whole is presented in a fair fashion as per VINCI standards. On VINCI's request, we did a second report by the statutory auditors to give reasonable assurance having to do with some of the indicators which are used by VINCI in the area of social and environmental considerations having to do with job accidents, energy consumption, direct greenhouse gas emission Scope 1 and Scope 2, and emissions from clients on motorways. Based on this work and information, we feel in all significant aspects, this is compliant with VINCI standards. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your attention.
Merci, Bertrand Baloche, et merci.
Thank you, Bertrand Baloche, and Monsieur Meriba, our statutory auditors. This brings us to the question and answer stage. First of all, to talk to you about our written questions. We did receive questions in writing, two questions in writing. Each of them had several sub-questions. This came from two shareholders. The board of directors met before this AGM and approved the answers given to these questions, and you can read the answers to these questions in writing. You can read the questions as well as the board's answers to those questions on the company's website. Now, this is the most important part of the session, the Q&A session for questions from the room. We're available to you to answer what questions you would like to ask us.
It is, as is our custom, you raise your hand, tell one of our hostesses here that are holding panels. Then I will try not to frustrate anybody, but I'll decide who gets to ask the next question. Let me just say to you, after the AGM, you'll have an opportunity to have discussions with our shareholders' relations team. They're just outside this room in the lobby. You'll be able to get information from them about various events organized by the shareholders club. The team will also answer any questions you might have on news items. Furthermore, I'd say that you should also have discussions with VINCI Ambassadors network. We started the initiative several years ago. The idea is to really bring our shareholders even closer, have a full understanding of our company's projects.
Okay, I don't see anyone raising their hand. I'm going to take question number seven.
Bonjour. Le développement international-
Hello. International development of this group is a major strategy, but it's also a risk 'cause we can see with the current geopolitical instability. Monsieur Vidailles, two questions I would have. Firstly, how do you select the countries where you'd like to do business and develop that business? Second question-
Voilà.
Well, sorry, that's all. Just the one.
Merci.
Thank you. That is a very important question, very topical. Unfortunately, sometimes in a very abrupt fashion, we see whole sections of the global world can shift over into a situation where we can no longer conduct our business. Therefore, we have to be very cautious. I think to summarize, I would say this: We first of all go into a new country on the small scale way gradually. We feel that to really do a good job of it in a new geography, we need to learn to fully understand that geography. We need to understand their habits, use those selfsame habits. We have to understand the vendors' networks, the subcontractors and so forth. What we often do is we begin by going there small scale into a new geography. We will, for instance, send our high technology added value business areas.
That helps us get an understanding of that country and possibly roll out more business to that country, something broader subsequently, maybe all of our business lines. Now, as to the priority geographies, it's important to add a point on this. Our current focus is on Europe. We still have a great deal of potential, much to be done in Europe. Our various business lines, well, we're strong in all the business lines in France, but not all of our business lines are equally as strong in all European countries. So we still have a lot of potential in Europe. Next, we have a special focus on the two Americas, North and South, proven by the acquisitions we've done in recent years.
For instance, our acquisition in road building in North America three or four years back, and then the recent acquisition of Cobra IS. Beyond, the intrinsic, plus points of that company, that gives us a broader footprint, in the Americas. Small scale to begin with, gradually, slowly but surely, with the long term in mind, but for the time being, highly focused on Europe and the two Americas. Now let's go to the other side of the room. Question number eight.
Bonjour.
Hello.
J'ai une question également sur un fait d'actualité.]
I have a question, something in the news now, news that's important to all of us here. It's not just a French problem, it's a European issue. The return of inflation. Inflation, evermore problematic, less and less controlled. My question: At VINCI, will inflation be a problem in upcoming years?
In terms of business generally and then profits, you're right. This is a subject that's very much in the news. Here as well, we have to keep a watchful eye on things, be very stringent and very agile. Now, we have to temper what you said by the fact that a lot of our businesses are short-term. For instance, think of VINCI Energies or also road activities.
My point here is that here, a deal will begin to wrap up within a few months' time, so it's fairly easy-ish to include in subsequent deals the right prices, whether you're talking about concrete, electric cables, steel or what have you, so that we won't feel negative effects of inflation, this skyrocketing inflation in some commodities. That's pretty much settled for short-term business activities. The problem is also settled in a lot of our concessions activities because we've got prices, tariffs in airports and also motorways that more times than not are directly indexed on inflation. Inflation is exactly what you're alluding to. Now, there might be a difficulty on more longer-term projects. Sometimes there aren't price revision clauses that are fine-tuned enough to actually replicate increased prices we must pay as subcontractors and for raw materials.
Have to be very careful about this. Decision made recently, for instance, was to no longer accept to sign contracts over the medium term, several years, if the contracts don't contain price revision clauses. This had been the case in a lot of our business lines previously, but now we're being very strict on this and systematically requiring this. It doesn't mean that we'll be completely unscathed after the period of inflation, but we're trying to control this, contain it, and make sure this does not have a significant impact on our income statement in upcoming years. Now, the second thought I might have, I believe if we're talking about the availability of equipment and supplies, wisdom would dictate we need to diversify sources of supply. It's always very risky to have one single source of supply.
Wisdom says you need to have many sources of supply so that you can make use of them as need be if there are any problems with longstanding sources of supply.
Merci.
Thank you.
Next, question. I think you have a question for us.
Yes, sorry, I'm not a good public speaker.
Just a short statement. Thank you for the films that were really very good, and it encouraged us to invest into VINCI, the group. Mr. Chairman, you, as Mr. Xavier Huillard, board members, Mr. Patrick Richard, you received an email recently. I'm just a small shareholder of this big group with a great many subsidiaries, and I'd like to thank Mr. Huillard for the response given to a mail and to follow up action. Defending the group and its image is important to guarantee the future that you described very well in your presentation. I welcome the group's results without voting on the resolution for the distribution of the dividend this year. I don't wish to offend you, but an ancillary situation asks me to solicit you to explain this reason and discuss it with your board.
This acquisition would allow VINCI to be fully the builder of cathedrals and to better satisfy all its shareholders, small or large, its public image and its future clients. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you, sir. I didn't quite understand your point, but what I suggest is that after this meeting, that you should speak to Patrick Richard so as to have the follow-up on that. Let's now move to the other side of the room.
Mr. Huillard, could you please set out the VINCI plans as regards hydrogen, please?
Well, I really would be pleased to do that. As you know, VINCI's a pretty technical group with obviously a great many engineers and technicians. As soon as there's a new subject, they address it with a lot of enthusiasm. It's the case for hydrogen. Hydrogen has a great future as part of the energy transition and the environmental transition that has been mentioned at length since the start of this. We've done four things so far. Not in any particular order, but we've invested at the side of prestigious people such as Lafarge, CEA, Vicat, the cement maker.
Also in Carole Delga's region, a company called Genvia that has as its ambition to develop a new type of electrolyzer, which is a high temperature electrolyzer, which offers two advantages. The first is to allow power, higher energy output than current electrolyzers and to operate in both directions. In one, you put water and electricity, in the other, you recover oxygen and hydrogen. It works in the other direction. You inject hydrogen, and you recover water vapor and electricity. It's both an electrolyzer and a fuel cell. The idea is to develop. It's at the state of development. A gigafactory capable of producing every year many stacks that are the high temperature electrolyzer so as to boost green hydrogen production. Secondly, we've mounted a hydrogen business unit.
Thanks to the skills in oil and gas, a business unit that might propose to our clients all the information that you need to put about electrolyzers, compressors, systems, so as to have systems that use or distribute hydrogen that are efficient. Third initiative by VINCI Concessions, we were in the driving seat with some colleagues in setting up the largest green hydrogen global fund, which down the road will have investment power of some EUR 15 billion. That's gonna invest minority tickets in production and distribution of green hydrogen for industry or for heavy mobility, because we're convinced that heavy trucks will be propelled in part by green hydrogen technology. As was mentioned at length, the new frontier of aviation is clearly the use of liquid green hydrogen, and we're preparing for that. Is my fourth point.
We're seeking to develop on our concessions, be it highways or airports. The first initiatives to pave the way for the advent of hydrogen as an energy powering mobility. Highways, of course, a hydrogen gaseous green plant near Toulouse, and airports, a three-phase plan that in the years 2030, 2035 produce locally liquid green hydrogen, which will be injected into aircraft, which should begin to be hydrogen powered. It's an absolutely extraordinary opportunity that fascinates, that many of our employees are well-versed in the matter because we've done a lot of outreach through our structure for foresight called Leonard. Sorry, it was a bit of a long answer, but it's really one of my pet subjects. Next question.
Mr. Chairman, it will have escaped no one's attention that we're in the midst of a presidential campaign.
One of the candidates in the runoff vote has in their program a plan to nationalize the autoroutes, the highways. VINCI Autoroutes makes a very significant contribution to the group's operating profit. I'd like to have your thoughts on the risk that might represent such a plan for the group's strategy and even on its financial soundness going forward.
Well, it's not appropriate to make comments on the presidential campaign that's currently underway. I'd just like to say that we've already experienced a similar episode a few years ago, as you'll recall. Back then, we clearly demonstrated our ability to effectively and professionally and loyally deliver our side of the contract. We accelerated down that route. That is to say we have modernized.
We were really strong in making proposals for our French autoroute networks, in many areas through all the initiatives, shown earlier in the films or in what Pierre-Cyprien was saying. For example, we conducted a survey recently in conjunction with think tank Altermind aimed at showing that there's a huge collective effort required if we wanna have a chance that our country can deliver on its COP 21 commitments, 'cause as was rightly said, the company won't be able to comply with the 2050 carbon neutral deadline if we don't hurry up and decarbonize mobility, especially road mobility and specifically motorway mobility.
As we speak, we are putting up these subjects for public debate, floating ideas, be it car sharing, intermodality, putting in place public transportation and dedicated bus lanes by rolling out e-charging stations such that the owners of e-vehicles can use their e-vehicles, including over long distances, without running the risk of being blocked by the unavailability of recharge stations. All this to say that we've always managed our side of the bargain with a great deal of loyalty, professionalism, as witnessed during the pandemic. We ceaselessly assumed our role as public-private partner, facilities manager for these autoroutes and we're even more needed to decarbonize mobility. I cannot imagine that these new realities will not take this into account. The state as a grantor, we're just a concessionaire of the state.
Grantor knows that it needs us and our peers from the other motorway networks in order to accelerate the decarbonization of this infrastructure. Lastly, final point that's widely accepted is that these motorway concessions have a lifetime. The concessions will come to the end of their life cycle beginning in 2032. Is it useful to have a big national debate in anticipating this period, which is soon at a time when there are gigantic efforts to be undertaken in order to help to decarbonize this activity?
Merci.
There's a panel over there, but I can't. Number six. Next question.
Hello, Mr. Huillard. I represent the investment publication and its readers who've entrusted us with 215 proxies to vote. I would just like to say well done, bravo for all these efforts on the environmental front that are endorsed by Science Based Targets, reduction of greenhouse gases. You've given many practical examples that show your efforts in this field. Could you say a bit more about the impact in terms of investment and the cost of these emissions reductions linked to these efforts?
Yes, of course. Without paraphrasing anyone in particular, I would say that it's whatever it costs. Why?
Because, as was mentioned by Isabelle earlier, when we drew up our environmental roadmap, in parallel, we calculated what it would cost us in terms of investment, the various progress to be achieved between now and 2030 and what it would bring in over the same period. We did the long-term calculations between 2020 and 2030, what it cost to move to an e-fleet of vehicles, how much it cost to improve the energy efficiency, and above all, the type of energy that we use in our plants manufacturing asphalt, et cetera. Each time we did the costing, we wanted to check whether overall it cost us or whether it benefited us. The good news is that, of course, certain initiatives, in spite of the fact that it's a long timeframe, certain initiatives we don't get the payback even over a 10-year period.
There are a great many initiatives that have investment payback times that are very short. All in all, we realize that in actual fact, this environmental transition doesn't cost, it benefits. Once we acquired that belief on concrete cases, part of this study for our ambition by 2030, of course it would have been ridiculous to limit our investments because we are firmly of the view that these investments have an investment payback, an IRR, an internal return on it that's positive. It needs to be driven home that even if it's less the case today that gradually, progressively there emerged an idea such that the only way to solve the state of the planet was to build down. We're saying the opposite.
The only way of solving the planet's problem is to continue to grow, but not in the way we've organized growth up till now. In doing so, not only does it not happen to the detriment of economic growth, the ability for companies and governments to generate economic value added, but what's more, it creates economic and financial value.
If I'm emphasizing this, it's our belief at Vinci that we've seen, that we've been very committed for a very long time on social and societal issues, is that if collectively, we were minded to build down for the planet's sake, it would have very rapid consequences on the social and societal fronts that through their knock-on effect, would prevent us from delivering the environmental transition. The economic, social, and the environment are three components that help one another. We're in a virtuous spiral. The more you work for the planet, the more you develop economic activity, then the more you can afford to do good things on the social and societal. Those three components go hand-in-hand, and it's the concept of global comprehensive performance that I tried to summarize earlier. Number four now.
I'm an individual shareholder.
First of all, congratulations and thank you for the financial performance and non-financial performance. I have a question, mainly for your CFO. If I saw your chart properly, I see your debt levels going down significantly. I believe the figure was quite significant. You're prioritizing liquidity, cash on hand, and cash flow, and using floating rate debt. Now, you know very well interest rates may well go up. We don't know how fast. Could you tell us broadly what the impact will be if rates go up? How have you protected the company to prevent a negative impact if interest rates were to spike?
What we're seeing right now isn't a spiking in short interest rates. I was referring to 3 to six -month rates. The rates went up one to two -year, and then it flattens out up to 10 years.
We prefer liquidity, which means cash on hand. The cash we're investing at zero or negative interest rates. It was very costly in 2020, 2021. Cost us less in 2022. We spent EUR 5 billion, as I said earlier, end of the year. 2022, we think rates might go down. As I tried to explain to you, our debt isn't fully only floating rate. Some of the debt's floating rate, but most of it's fixed rate debt. Our exposure is fairly limited and controlled exposure. As we said, it's backed by our cash flow, which to some degree is indexed on inflation and on our interest rates. There's a natural balance between the two, which means all in all, we're in a pretty good situation. In the longer run, 10, 15.
For 10, 15 years, we've been practicing this policy, and we can modulate it, shift it as need be, and we're doing better than others who set their rates years back. We set a portion of our interest rates fixed, but not all interest rates are fixed. We believe that in upcoming years, interest rates are gonna trend downward, so it wouldn't be right for us to get too much fixed rate. Cash would be costing, we'd be investing it at lower rates.
The outcomes, what you saw earlier, we think in 2022 and 2023, certainly in 2022, based on our current interest rate forecast, we think the trend's still downward in terms of our cost of debt, even though some of our debt is dollar- and pound sterling-denominated, and you know those currencies' interest rates are much higher than euro interest rate.
Which is why it's great to have a CFO, because I would have been fairly uncomfortable answering that question. Another question, please. Further questions. If I'm not mistaken, no one's asking for. Yes. Okay, question number three now.
Good day, Mr. Chairman. Regarding the economic environment, there's inflation, there's also energy prices, gasoline prices, taxes on gasoline. Does all that have an impact on the motorway concessions business? Second question, again, on energy. Electricity prices are going up significantly.
Big investments are being made in changing energy systems for geopolitical reasons, and also, for the purposes of energy transition. Question: the acquisition of Cobra, does this mean we're moving into, the energy field?
Let me start with the last part of your statement. Yes, certainly. One of the reasons for acquiring Cobra, I ask, is their demonstrated ability for 20 years now to develop, renewable energy assets, onshore, and offshore wind and so forth. The idea indeed is to begin, activity of development, build, and, operation of renewable energy activities. A focus on the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America. A figure here, to be cautious, since, increasing supply prices make it difficult to do some of the calculations, but our view is we could reasonably be able to produce per annum, approximately one additional gigawatt. I don't know if that's meaningful.
I'm talking as a peak gigawatts. It's intermittent energy. Renewable energy, green electricity, an extra gigawatt per year. Once we've demonstrated our ability to reach those levels, we'll ramp things up, we'll be able to produce even more. Interesting. Since we've moved into this new area of energy production, you saw this in the videos and some of the talks today. Several of our businesses have moved more and more into renewables. This is the case for airports and motorways. Motorways, we realized we had a great deal of land available that wasn't directly needed for motorway purposes that we could use to set up renewable assets to produce energy for our own consumption, and also conceivably to produce green hydrogen that could then be beneficial to our motorway clients. Same point for airports.
At airports, the surface area used for airport landings, taxiing, and parking is really small compared to the overall land area. For security reasons, there mustn't be any obstacle to aircraft landings and takeoffs. There's this space, if you get the permits, that can then be used for things such as photovoltaic panels, first of all, for our own consumption. Secondly, to produce green hydrogen, which could then be used to fuel future aircraft that use liquid green hydrogen. VINCI Energies, like Cobra IS, have many activities, works activities where we're working on renewables construction. You also talked about prices and the question if petrol price increases could have a knock-on effect to our motorway traffic. I think that's what you were driving at. The answer is yes, it's possible.
If we think it through, we realize, firstly, heavy vehicle traffic. Well, trucks don't drive because of fuel prices. They drive somewhere if they need to transport a product from point A to point B. There may be an impact by significant increases of petrol prices in light vehicle traffic. We've seen this. When there's an abrupt increase in petrol prices, the initial reaction of our customers is to cut their driving. They don't want to be spending too much on petrol. Then they get used to the increased prices because people need to drive. This is part of how people are. Initially, possibly, we're not seeing this today yet, but possibly, if things continue like this, there may be an impact on light vehicle traffic on our motorways.
Our firm belief is that subsequently, after a few months' time, traffic would end up bouncing back to usual levels because people necessarily need to travel and be mobile. As to energy prices, particularly electricity, that's what we were talking about earlier on our ability to pass on these price increases to our clients, either via short contracts or using having price revision clauses in our longer term contracts. This brings us to the end of the Q&A period. I'd like to thank you very much for taking part in this and for asking your questions. I'm very pleased to observe that there's no one who's frustrated. We've been able to field every single question people wanted to ask. We will now move to the vote.
You will have received a voting tablet, simple to use, even if you don't see anything for the time being. When the vote begins, your tablet will be switched on automatically. For the time being, it's not the case. I hope it'll happen. Once it is on, you will see that you have three buttons, a green button for a vote for orange abstention, and red vote against. Green, amber, red. I will declare the vote open for each resolution, and you will make your choice, abstention, for, or against. Don't forget to validate to confirm your decision by pressing the corresponding button, and you'll be able to do it up until I say that there's no more voting, and we'll have the result of the vote on that resolution almost immediately. I hope I was clear.
Ask Patrick Richard to kindly run through the list of resolutions. We'll do it slowly to begin with so as to allow you to get used to this new tablet that is presented as more efficient, but we'll try and see and manage.
First resolution, approval of the consolidated financial statements for 2021. A net profit group share of EUR 2,597 million.
If your tablet is not on, you can press the button that is just here, allows you to switch it on for those of you who have not switched on their tablet.
Est-ce que la technique peut nous dire?
Il faut que tu déclares le vote ouvert.
Le vote est ouvert.
Vote is open. Donc là, vous appuyez sur un des trois boutons et vous n'oubliez pas de valider.
Le vote est clos.
Vote closed.
La résolution-
Resolution is passed.
Patrick?
Yeah.
Patrick.
Deuxième résolution.
Second resolution
N'est pas encore à l'écran.
Not yet up on the screen.
Elle approuve l'approbation des comptes sociaux de la société pour l'exercice terminé le 29 septembre 2021, un bénéfice net de EUR 2.58 billion.
Approval of the parent company financial statements for 2021, net profit of EUR 2,580 million. Please vote now.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting.
La résolution est adoptée.
The resolution is passed.
Troisième résolution.
Third resolution
... Qui propose de fixer le montant du dividende à EUR 2.80 par action, la première tranche de EUR 0.75 sera versée en novembre dernier sous forme de dividende. Celle qui atteint à EUR 2.25 par action interviendra le 26 avril 2022 et le solde aura lieu le 28 avril. Le vote est ouvert.
Set the dividend to EUR 2.90 per share. An interim dividend EUR 0.65 paid out last December. The balance to EUR 2.25 per share coupon will occur in April of this year, and the balance on the 28th of April. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting.
La résolution est adoptée.
Resolution is passed.
Quatrième résolution.
Fourth resolution.
Elle porte sur le renouvellement de la délégation de pouvoirs de Monsieur Xavier Huillard pour une période de 4 ans. Le vote est ouvert.
Renewal of the term of office as Director, Mr. Xavier Huillard, for a period of four years. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting.
La résolution est adoptée.
Resolution is adopted. Thank you for your confidence.
La cinquième résolution.
Fifth resolution
... Porte sur le renouvellement du mandat de directrice de Marie-Christine Lombard pour une période de quatre ans. Le vote est ouvert.
Renewal of the term of office as director of Marie-Christine Lombard for a period of four years. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting.
La résolution est adoptée avec 20 votes pour.
The resolution is passed with a.
Bravo. Bravo, Marie-Christine.
Well done. Well done, Marie-Christine.
Sixième résolution.
Sixth resolution.
Elle porte sur le renouvellement du mandat de directeur de René Médori pour une période de quatre ans. Veuillez voter.
The renewal of the term of office of René Médori as director for a four-year period. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting.
Très beau score également pour René. Bravo.
Very fine score for René. Well done.
La septième résolution.
Seventh resolution
Concerne le renouvellement du mandat de directrice de Qatar Holding LLC pour une période de quatre ans. Le vote est ouvert.
Renewal of the term of office of Qatar Holding LLC as director for a period of four years. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting.
La résolution
Resolution is passed. We're pleased to be able to continue to rely on this important partner, both operationally and as a shareholder.
La huitième résolution.
Eighth resolution
... Porte sur la nomination de Monsieur Claude Laruelle en tant que directeur pour une période de four ans. Le vote est ouvert.
Appointment of Claude Laruelle as director for a four-year period. Please vote now.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting.
La résolution est adoptée.
Resolution is passed. Well done, Claude.
La neuvième résolution.
Ninth resolution
... Ratifie la décision qui a été prise par le conseil d'administration de transférer le siège social de VINCI de Rueil-Malmaison à Nanterre, dans l'immeuble Archipel que vous avez vu plus tôt. Veuillez voter.
Ratification of the decision taken by the Board to transfer the head office of VINCI from Rueil-Malmaison to Nanterre, the Archipel building you saw earlier. Please vote now.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting.
La résolution est adoptée.
Resolution is passed.
Dixième résolution.
10th resolution.
Autoriser votre conseil d'administration à réaliser des actions ainsi qu'à la limite de 10% du capital, à les céder sur les marchés. Résolution proposée aux pages 142 de votre document universel. Vote ouvert. Le vote est clos.
No more voting.
La résolution est adoptée.
Resolution is passed.
Onzième résolution.
11th resolution.
Qui porte sur l'approbation et la publication de la rémunération des membres du conseil d'administration. Page 142 de votre document universel. Vote ouvert.
Presented pages 142 of the registration document. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting.
La résolution est adoptée.
Resolution is passed.
Douzième résolution.
12th resolution.
Approbation de la rémunération spécifique aux membres de la direction de la société, en particulier celle applicable à Xavier Huillard, Président Directeur Général, présentée sur la page 143 de votre document universel. Vote ouvert.
Approval of the remuneration policy for executive company officers, particularly that applicable to Xavier Huillard, Chairman and Chief Executive, presented on page 143 of the universal document. Please vote now.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting.
La résolution est adoptée.
Resolution is passed.
Treizième résolution.
13th resolution.
Elle a pour objet l'approbation de la politique de rémunération des membres du conseil d'administration. Page 147 de votre document universel. Vote ouvert.
Approval of the remuneration policy for board members presented on page 47 of the Universal Registration Document. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
Vote closed.
La résolution est adoptée.
Resolution is passed.
Quatorzième résolution.
14th resolution.
Voilà, elle porte signature des éléments fixes, variables, exceptionnels des rémunérations en tout genre et des avantages en nature versés en 2021 ou dus au titre de cette même année à M. Xavier Huillard, Président Directeur Général. Page 150 de votre document universel. Vote ouvert.
Approval of the fixed variable exceptional items of total remuneration and benefits of any kind paid in 2021 or granted in respect of this same year to Mr. Xavier Huillard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, on pages 150 of the universal registration document that you're asked to approve. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting.
La résolution est adoptée.
Resolution is passed.
Nous en venons maintenant aux résolutions relevant d'une assemblée générale extraordinaire. Quinzième résolution demande au conseil d'annuler, dans la limite de 10% du capital social, les actions acquises dans le cadre du programme de rachat et qui donnera lieu à une réduction du capital social. Cette autorisation sera valable pour 18 mois. Vote ouvert.
Turning now to resolutions requiring the approval of an extraordinary shareholders' meeting. 15th resolution, renewal of the authorization granted to the board in view of the reduction of the share capital through cancellation of VINCI shares in treasury. The capital within the limit of 10%, 26 months. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting.
La résolution est adoptée. [/Foreign language]
Resolution is passed.
Seizième résolution.
16th resolution.
A pour objet la délégation au conseil d'administration de procéder pendant 12 mois à des augmentations de capital, y compris de s'élargir aux salariés des sociétés filiales du groupe dans la limite d'1.5% du capital avec une décote n'excédant pas 5%. Vote ouvert.
Delegation of authority to the Board to carry out share capital increases reserved for employees of the company and its subsidiaries within a limit of 1.5% of the capital with a discount not exceeding 5%. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting.
La résolution est adoptée.
Resolution is passed.
La dix-septième résolution-
17th resolution.
a pour objet de permettre au conseil d'augmenter pendant 18 mois de 1.5% à 10% pour s'allouer aux membres d'une catégorie de bénéficiaires, cette fois étrangère à la société dans la limite de 1.5% du capital. Vote ouvert.
Delegation to the board to make capital increases, for a category of beneficiaries, or certain foreign subsidiaries within a limit 1.5% to the share capital. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting.
La résolution est adoptée.
Resolution is passed.
Enfin, la dix-huitième résolution.
Lastly, the 18th resolution concerns powers for formalities following this meeting. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
No more voting.
La résolution est adoptée.
Resolution is passed. Ladies and gentlemen, there being no further business, we can now adjourn this meeting. I'd just like to once again say how pleased we are to have met up with you again. Also, to thank you for your attention, your participation, the quality of the discussions that we had earlier, and by expressing the sincere wish that we will see you all again next year. That if you are interested, we are quite prepared to organize guided tours of our new head office at Nanterre, which we're particularly proud. Thank you all very much. Stay safe.