Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for this conference call to present how Veolia's multi-faceted performance contributes to value creation. After my introduction, where I will present not only our 2024 results but our ambitions as well, both on the financial and non-financial performance, I will go through, you know, with the team here, three pillars of our strategy, starting with decarbonization, which will be addressed by Emmanuelle Menning, our CFO, depollution and regeneration, which will be commented by Sébastien Daziano, our Head of Strategy and Innovation, as well as Isabelle Quenon, our HR Director, who will present the social achievements and targets of our multi-faceted performance. As you know, in Veolia, we measure success not only on the financial but on the non-financial results as well. That's what we call multi-faceted performance.
I will start by commenting in a few minutes on the financial results, which have already been released a few weeks ago. They were very good, starting with top-line growth, plus 5%, which is a lot higher than a few years ago. As you know, Veolia used to grow more than like 2%. Now we're 5% growth year on year. If I look at the growth booster, it's even plus 6.6%, which is really a big achievement, which is associated with the launch of our GreenUp strategic plan. EBITDA increased by plus 5.8% at the end of our guidance, and EBITDA margin grew by 80 basis points. Current net income grew by 14.6% and EPS by 12.4% to EUR 2.13. The leverage ratio was below, you know, our target, which is good, with 2.63 times.
All those were very, very strong results, financially speaking, in a rather challenging environment, thanks to our user positioning as well as our agility in delivering all our objectives and specifically our efficiency program. Our 2025 targets and guidance are very ambitious as well, and we've raised our synergy targets. Going now through the non-financial performance. As you know, and I've just alluded to in my introduction word, we measure success on 15 KPIs, the multi-faceted performance, 4 of them being financial, 11 of them being non-financial across all the stakeholders, which is exactly what's put on this slide with the various colors. This is really embedded into the way I manage the company, with year-on-year targets on every single of those 15 objectives, again, the 11 and the 4, year-on-year, and for the GreenUp 2027 target as well.
All is really embedded, and that's exactly what's put on this slide. GreenUp 2027, we want to achieve 10% net income growth on average per year, as well as increase the CO2 we erase to our customer by 30%, save 1.5 billion cubic meters of fresh water, and treat 9 million tons of hazardous waste, which is as many of pollutants we remove, therefore protecting human health. If I start with the 2024 result of our multi-faceted performance on the non-financial indicators, environmental objectives were all met. I won't mention all the figures. You will see them on this slide, but 1.45 billion cubic meters of water saved. Scope 1 and 2 emissions decreased by 14.5%. Our decarbonization plan is on schedule, with EUR 133 million spent to exit coal and reduce methane. We have achieved as well 73% of biodiversity preservation on all our sensitive sites.
Commercial target, which is, of course, you know, one of our other stakeholders, were very good. I was mentioning already the +6.6% growth on our growth boosters, which I'm very happy, exactly in the range we anticipated for GreenUp, which is mid to high single digits. I could mention as well the net promoter score of 55, which is a super, super good achievement for a B2B company like we are, as well as Scope 4, which we would come back on in a minute, which is the measure of the CO2 we erase, thanks to our service, from our customer's profile of emission. Human resource achievement was very good. As you know, you know, I really am a strong believer that, you know, our employees are a force for good and for the success of the company.
We reached 88% of employee engagement, which is a very, very high level and well above all benchmarks, and a good testimony that the Suez merger was really a success, not only on the financial grounds, but actually in the hearts and minds. Finally, importantly as well, health and safety, where we've reduced year-on-year frequency rates, which has improved again in 2024 to 4.3. In terms of social impact, more than 8 million inhabitants benefited from our service to inclusive access for essential services, while ethic and conformity awareness reached a record high in 2024. A slide now on governance, because this is all well and good to have this target for the entire company. There is something which I really count on and which is very key for me, which is that it is embedded within the company.
Just one example, it's 16,000 employees which have part of their variable pay, which is, you know, driven by exactly achieving or not those objectives. It's not only a few people at the head of the company. It's 16,000, which is a force for driving real action in this spectrum. Of course, it goes all back up to the executive committee, and every single executive committee member has a specific KPI on which they have to drive. Emmanuelle is actually the leader for CO2, for instance, of course, in addition to our mission as CFO. Of course, up to the board, where we have a purpose committee and a governance, which is checking that all that is not only driven from the top, but actually goes down to the entirety of the organization. Alignment is really key for me.
In terms of employee, I've alluded to the fact that employees really are a key element of the success of the organization, financially, non-financially as well. They are interacting with the customers on a daily basis. That's why we've pushed for increasing employee ownership a few years ago, and this has worked well, with employees now owning 9% of Veolia's shares, which makes them the largest shareholder of the group. It's again a key for success, as it aligns the interest of everybody, and it's not only the success of today, but the success of tomorrow and the day after, which we are guaranteeing thanks to that. Of course, you know, if I talk about the financial community, we want to be recognized for everything we do well. That's why I'm very happy to announce today that Veolia is ready for green bonds and blue bonds.
After an extensive work by the team, we've put forward a state-of-the-art green financing framework, which will enable us to issue green or blue bonds, where the funds will be directly to eligible investments, and of course, aligned with the EU Green Taxonomy. Rating agencies, of course, you know, we are very proud of what we do, and we want to ensure that, you know, our work is recognized. Just to take first the CO2 trajectory, it was recognized by both SBTi and Moody's in line with 1.5 degrees target, which is, as far as I know, a worldwide first. I'm not talking about well below 2 degrees, but 1.5 degrees, which, as you know, is a lot more ambitious.
I can talk about all the other rankings, you know, on climate, as I said, as well as on biodiversity, where we were an early adopter of the TNFD status and Act for Nature, which have both fully approved our commitments. I will now hand over to Emmanuelle, who will tell our decarbonization strategy and trajectory even more so.
Thank you, Estelle, and good morning, everyone. I will explain how Veolia is going to tackle the biggest environmental challenge of the century, climate change mitigation and adaptation. You will see that the way we have chosen sets us apart, as we are decarbonizing our assets, but also the assets of our clients. Energy transition, water scarcity, extreme weather events urge us to find appropriate solutions. As Estelle just mentioned, we are uniquely positioned to tackle climate change for our clients. Our business and our environmental impact are intrinsically linked so that our services for our customers help them answer these challenges. Let's start with mitigation. Our energy services are in the forefront. We are producing electricity and heating from very efficient cogeneration. We maintain, we operate district heating networks, which are very efficient and sometimes even more efficient than the centralized system.
We provide energy efficiencies to hundreds of clients. Thanks to this expertise, we developed a portfolio of services with concrete and affordable solutions. Now let's go to adaptation. Our water services help our clients to adapt. After the very dry summers in 2022, or after the tragic flood in Spain last year, we are looking at water availability differently. The exposure and the attention of our clients to water scarcity and water issues are significant, and we have the largest portfolio of solutions for them, including reuse or reduction of consumption. When you look at the organic growth of our services, it increases what we call scope 4, so the reduction, the erased emission for our clients thanks to our solutions. I will come back to it. Sustainability is part of our DNA. You have, with Veolia at the same time, financial excellence and environmental leadership.
It's even the starting point of our GreenUp strategy. More euros, less CO2, more fresh water saved. We were very proud to be the first company to obtain the double validation for our climate commitments, which are in line with the 1.5 degree trajectory by SBTi and Moody's. The numbers speak for themselves. You see our ambition on the slide: minus 50% for scope 1 and 2 by 2032, plus 50% scope 4 by 2030, and net zero by 2050. Two main levers to reduce our scope 1 and 2 will be our coal exit and methane capture. Now focusing on scope 1 and 2. On the next slide. We are well on track with our net zero trajectory. We have been able to decrease by 14.5% since 2021 our scope 1 and 2 emissions. We are very well positioned to reach our 2027 target, which is minus 18%.
We are demonstrating that Veolia can reconcile profitable growth and sustainable development. You have, at the same time, profitability and sustainability. We know what we want to do. To reach 12.2 million tons in 2032. For instance, in energy, we will pursue our coal exit. In waste, we'll do the methane capture. In water, we will reduce the carbon intensity of our energy needs. With the implementation of the CSRD in 2024, we had to restate the allocation of our emissions. We did a thorough review in line with the GHG Protocol definition and CSRD, contract by contract, to see for which assets do we have the operational control, and for which assets we do not have the operational control following the GHG definition.
The non-controlled emissions are coming from our joint venture, our concession, and our operating and maintenance contracts, for which we do not own the assets, and we cannot implement on our own a decarbonization plan. Therefore, there are the emissions of our clients and are classified in scope 3 and not in scope 1 and 2. Of course, we have adjusted our basis line 2021, and let's be sure that it does not change our ambition to decrease scope 1 and 2 by 50% and scope 3 by 30% by 2032. You have transparency and compliance. I was mentioning two main levers for our scope 1 and 2 reduction. The first one is the coal exit. Six years ago, we made a strong management decision, deciding not to take the easy way to sell our coal assets, but to transform them. We walked the talk.
From the EUR 1.6 billion investment by 2030, we already invest EUR 656 million. And these EUR 656 million are creating value. We have a very strong IRR, above 10%, double digit. In 2030, the revenue from coal will be less than EUR 1, when it was 3% in 2024 and 4% in 2023. We are able to replace coal by biomass and natural gas, for instance, in Germany in Braunschweig, or by biomass and RDF, for instance, in the Czech Republic, in Kolín and Přerov, or by natural gas and then later biomass, for instance, in Poznań, in Poland. We will have the integration at the end of the year. Regarding the next step, our priority is, of course, to deliver with consistency this exit program.
We will have China, where we are operating a district heating network, for instance, in Arbin, mainly in Arbin in Manchuria, where we do not have an alternative source, meaning that there is no viable solution to get rid of coal. We have significantly reduced our carbon intensity, and we will reduce by 25% our emissions by 2032. Second lever to reduce our scope 1 and 2, it's methane capture, which will contribute by 2032 by a reduction of 5 million tons. We have an investment plan, EUR 85 million, to reduce, or not to reduce, to increase our average capture rate from 60% to 80%. We have already demonstrated our ability to increase from low standard to satisfying level, as we did in Brazil and Ipeho, from 10% in 2019 to 68% last year. Now coming to scope 3.
For scope 3, we have a clear ambition to reduce it by 30%. Our plan is clear. On the transfer asset, we will apply our successful recipe with our clients. For instance, methane capture on landfill belonging to our clients in Hong Kong or in Oman, or reduce the carbon intensity for the waste arriving in our incinerator, for instance, less plastic or no more plastic. For the remaining part of scope 3, we will engage our supplier to reduce their emissions and reduce the carbon intensity of the energy we buy to be distributed. 38.9 million tons in 2021 increased to 45.8 in 2024 due to scope, mainly Central Europe and Morocco, and we are targeting 31 million tons in 2032. Finally, scope 4. Scope 4 increases our decarbonization impact. In simple words, we are saving, we are erasing emissions for our clients thanks to our solutions.
We were proud to have been able to increase from 13.5 million tons to more than 15 million tons in 2024, plus 13%. It will grow thanks to our organic growth, for instance, in sorting or in biogas capture to 18 million tons in 2027. It is our mission to decarbonize the sites of our clients whenever they are high or low emitting. I will hand over to Sébastien, who will speak about our contribution to depollution and regeneration.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you, Emmanuelle. I will now speak about the second pillar of the GreenUp Plan, depollution, and to have a focus about biodiversity. Of course, Veolia is a key player in biodiversity protection. The IPBES, so the biodiversity equivalent of the IPCC, the GIEC in French, identifies pollution, climate change, and resource depletion as a major human threat to biodiversity. Through our core business activities, Veolia actively works to reduce these pressures and protect nature. For over 160 years, in line with its purpose, Veolia has delivered solutions that balance operational performance, environmental preservation, and human progress. It is the case, for example, for waste collection and treatment, including hazardous waste, to limit the spread of urban and industrial pollution in soils, in water bodies, and in the atmosphere. In 2024, Veolia treated 65 million tons of waste.
It is also the case for water and wastewater treatment to ensure clean water to nature, supporting healthy rivers and protecting water resources from pollution. Veolia operates nearly 3,200 wastewater treatment plants in 2024. In our new contract for drinking water in Île-de-France, the SEDIF contract, we showcase a lot of innovation in water treatment technology, including, for example, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis. We offer here the best service to preserve the health of the environment. Every day, Veolia is part of a virtuous circle protecting the environment from pollution. The group has also made a concrete commitment through GreenUp to treat 9 million tons of hazardous waste by 2027. In 2024, we already reached 8.7 million tons, putting us on a very good track to reach this goal. Now, have a look at the example of PFAS.
Beyond PFAS offer is a combining offer by Veolia and our approach to PFAS and micropollutant treatment demonstrates how we integrate our water, waste, and energy expertise to tackle pollution and protect both human health and biodiversity. With our Beyond PFAS solution, Veolia helps industrial and municipal clients tackle PFAS pollution at all stages of the value chain. We test to find PFAS in water and gas, install water treatment systems using the best existing technologies, like, for example, membranes, reverse osmosis, and activated carbon, and safely concentrate, isolate, and degrade PFAS through incineration. In 2024, Veolia already generated over EUR 200 million in revenue from the treatment of PFAS. We plan to accelerate, and the ambition is to reach EUR 1 billion by 2030. Of course, Veolia is also exemplary in its own operation to limit the impact and to protect biodiversity.
Our operations have definitely a positive impact on biodiversity. They help to treat pollution, limit climate change, and regenerate resources. We work continuously to improve this performance to all of our sites. We protect the nature, both assorted sites and client locations through a biodiversity program with three levels of action. The first one for all of our sites is zero pesticide, on a target by 2027 of 95% of our sites. We are today at 70%. Second level, for sites with more than one hectare of green space, we implement ecological management and aim for 95% deployment by 2027. Third level, for the group, 150 sensitive sites with high stakes for biodiversity, we put in place a dedicated action plan based on the biodiversity footprint. Veolia is now part of Act for Nature International, a French initiative recognized by Business for Nature.
It is a leading global business framework for corporate biodiversity action. Finally, since 2024, Veolia has been part of the early adopters of the TNFD, as it is still said, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures. We are one of the first companies to have used the TNFD Nature Impact Framework in the URD, the Universal Registration Document. This demonstrates, of course, our dedication to understanding and managing the business affected and dependent on nature while addressing the risks and capturing the opportunities. Now, have a look at the third pillar of the strategic GreenUp Plan, regeneration for water and coming from waste. Of course, because a resource is too precious to be used only once, resource regeneration is the third pillar of the GreenUp strategic plan.
Starting with water, Veolia is, of course, a world leader in water regeneration in technology and operation, which allows us to address the growing needs of our clients. It is the case, of course, for municipalities which must respond to growing concerns about the quality and availability of water. It is also the case for industries which face regulatory constraints and must reduce the pressure on water to maintain the license to operate. We act, of course, along the entire value chain. We bring our best know-how and expertise to anticipate, detect, and repair leaks. For example, in the New Jersey operation, where we serve 1.3 million people with drinking water, we typically have losses of just 13%-17%, as the US water network typically loses between 30%-70%. We overperform, of course, the leaks in the US.
We support as well the industries in the implementation and maintenance of zero liquid discharge solutions that clean and reuse water in a closed loop. In the U.S. semiconductor industry, where ultra-pure water is essential, we enable manufacturers to recycle 75% of the water consumption. We support municipalities in the development of water reuse. It is the case in Alicante in Spain, where we manage the whole water cycle of 100% of wastewater using nature-based solutions. Strong in the leadership, as it is still said, we pledge to preserve 1.5 billion cubic meters of fresh water in 2027, and we already avoided 1.45 billion cubic meters in 2024. Last example, regeneration coming from waste. Beyond water, we transform a wide range of materials into valuable resources. This includes common recyclables, and specialized materials such as high-grade plastics and critical metals.
We provide end-to-end solutions to transform waste into resources at every stage of the value chain. It is the case from the mining stage, we recover strategic metals using innovative technologies like with lithium extraction, but also at the manufacturing stage, packaging recyclability, and in the sorting center. I will take one key example, the battery recycling industry. It is a growing and regulation-driven market. We opened one of Europe's first hydrometallurgy plants in Eastern France in early 2025. This is a big innovation facility. It transforms black mass into reusable metals like lithium, copper, nickel, and cobalt. Through this innovation in battery recycling, Veolia is helping to build a robust European battery recycling industry. Veolia is today, to finish, the number one in Europe in the circular economy with a turnover of EUR 9.5 billion. Now, Isabelle will present why we care.
Thank you, Sébastien. When we talk about performance at Veolia, there's a dimension that goes beyond traditional metrics. It's about the profound impact we create in every geography where we operate. As our businesses cannot be delocalized, we operate locally, we are both a global and a local corporation. Let me share something powerful. We are 218,000 people across 56 countries, but our real reach goes far beyond. For every EUR 1 Veolia generates, we create EUR 2.6 in local economies. This translates into more than 1.2 million jobs worldwide, sorry, and that's not just economic value. This is transformative impact at scale. Let's delve into this local anchorage. Think about it. Every second of every day, millions of people depend on essential services that power modern life. This is where resilience meets responsibility. They simply cannot stop. Our mission extends beyond traditional infrastructure.
We are committed to ensuring universal access to these essential services. Let me share what it means in practice. In Cambodia's rural areas, in Ecuador's peri-urban communities, we're implementing decentralized water systems to reach populations beyond traditional networks. Through innovating solutions like those, we've been helping 8.4 million vulnerable people access services they couldn't reach before. As environmental challenges grow and infrastructure needs evolve, this approach becomes increasingly vital. True resilience isn't just about maintaining services. It's about ensuring they reach everyone who needs them. Our impact goes even deeper. 80% of our spending is local, creating a powerful economic multiplier effect in the communities we serve. We also develop employee involvement with local charities by creating resources for communities, a civic engagement program. Our care program allows every employee to have one paid day off every year to support and participate in local charities.
When we deliver these essential services to millions of people worldwide, there's one absolute priority that underpins everything: the safety of those who make it possible. In 2024, we achieved powerful progress with a 35% reduction in our frequency rate since 2021, reaching 4.3 this year. Our aim is zero. This is where we set the bar. To get there, we've built a comprehensive safety framework with 12 non-negotiable life-saving rules, clear standards for high-risk activities, a culture where every employee is empowered to stop work if they spot a risk. What we're speaking about isn't just anchorage. It is expected. A workplace where all the management chain is engaged and determined to tackle the challenge. Yes, our progress is encouraging. We won't rest until we achieve our ultimate goal, zero accident.
Because while we're proud to provide essential services to millions, nothing is more essential than protecting the people who make it all possible. This unwavering commitment to safety isn't just about risk management. It's about who we are as a company and how we value our people. That's a non-negotiable because in Veolia, the how matters as much as the what. You know what powers all those essential services I just described? People, highly committed professionals. 80% of them are blue collars. They are not only our workforce. They are Veolia heart and soul, our ambassadors to millions of customers. Their dedication drives us to go further. Through Veolia Care's program, we are setting new standards in employee support. Wherever we operate, we ensure every employee has access to comprehensive social benefits.
Through our commitment to equal opportunities for all, we've concrete results such as reaching, for example, 32% of women representation in our group management committee, ahead of our GreenUp objectives, and by being a proud signatory of the ILO Global Business and Disability Charter. Through massive investments in our people's development, by nearly doubling the number of training hours, 30 per employee annually. Because this isn't just about skills. It's about empowering every individual to grow and thrive within Veolia. Through a genuine and high-end social dialogue with all our geographies. The vitality of this dialogue is reflected in our ability to conduct ongoing discussions with staff representatives and to negotiate and sign a large number of collective agreements each year. Yes, we are proud to see the results of these ambitious HR policies reflected in our annual engagement survey, as Estelle just mentioned.
This is what defines Veolia. In a world of increasing complexity and uncertainty, our success isn't just built on infrastructure and technology. It's built on people. People who believe in our mission, people who deliver excellence every day, people who make the essential possible. That's the true measure of our performance. That's what makes Veolia's future so promising.
Thank you, Isabelle. Just a few words of conclusion. By all this illustration, which has been presented to you in the last half an hour, you see that everything is really intertwined in Veolia. Everything we do in terms of our employees, our customers, the planet, everything is embedded in Veolia's business and DNA. That is why multifaceted performance is really the way we measure success. If we had not been via a super-engaged workforce, our financial results would not be the same, not only now, but in the years to come. Same goes with our customer satisfaction, of course. Same goes with everything we measure in terms of our performance to save water or to remove pollutants. Because it is Veolia's business to ensure that this is successful, not only in 2024, as we have seen in the results, but in the years to come.
Our mission is to reconcile performance with human progress and environmental protection. This is really what we do on a daily basis. Thank you very much. Now we are ready to take your questions, if you may have some. I'm sure you will.
We will start with the questions over the phone. Operator, I will give you the floor. Then we'll take the rest.
Thank you. The participants, as a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press Star, 1, 1 on your telephone keypad and wait for a name to be announced. To withdraw a question, please press Star, 1, 1 again. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press Star, 1, 1 on your telephone keypad. Mr. Thembao, we'll compile the Q&A roster. This will take a few moments. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press Star, 1, 1 on your telephone keypad.
I will then start with a urgent question. It was sent over the internet. This is a question from Philippe Opatian. Are you concerned or obliged to sign the new DEI rules that the Trump administration is implementing?
Probably for you, Isabelle.
Yeah, sure. We haven't received this letter. More importantly, we are far removed from these considerations. I'll tell you why. Veolia does not and has never practiced affirmative action. Our HR policy is, as I mentioned earlier, and has always been built on the fundamental principle of clear, equal opportunity policy, based solely on skills, without any form of discrimination, whether positive or negative. Our only criterion is professional merit, is talent, period. This is a historical and non-negotiable line of conduct in our group. Our ambition is to build teams that naturally reflect the diversity of the territories and the customers that we serve every day.
Thank you. We have another question from the internet, from Andrew Mulder. Do you intend to issue SLBs, sustainability-linked bonds, as well as green bonds?
Emmanuelle?
Yes. Thank you, Andrew, for your question. We were happy to have developed this state-of-the-art green financing framework, thanks to the work of the team, where every euro which is going to be raised will be directed to investments which are fully eligible with the EU taxonomy. For us, it's a way to show our intent to finance through green financing instruments our purpose in ecological transformation. Regarding SLB format, yes, we have considered it, and it's an option. We may consider expanding our green finance framework in the future to allow us for the issuance of SLB.
Now we have a question on the phone, I think. Operator, I'll give the floor to you.
Thank you. Now we're going to take our first question on audio line. Just give us a moment. The question comes to the line of Wanda Serbinovska. Your line is open. Please ask your question.
Hi, good afternoon. Wanda Serbinovska, UBS. Thank you very much for your presentation. I have just one question. Veolia does a lot on the sustainability, circular economy, and you're a global player. Is there any regulation, any change in the politics that we should focus more, we should track more closely, which can basically provide an exposed discovery for Veolia business going forward? Can you also talk about the U.S.? Is the Trump presidency putting a stop on your growth in the U.S.? Thank you.
I'm going to take this one, if I understood well, because the line was not super, super good. Hopefully, I will have understood your question. What are the catalysts and the regulation which can help developing Veolia's business, as I understand? What about the US presidency on that, the environmental front? I guess the first, if I come back to how do we develop our business in Veolia? Yes, regulation is one lever, of course. If there is no regulation, and you can throw away everything into, I don't know, into the sea, and all pollutants in the world, you can imagine that we don't have a hazardous waste business, and so on and so forth. Legislation is key. So is the implementation of the legislation. There are countries where the legislation does exist, but it's not implemented.
Usually, we don't have business in those countries. That's one lever. Another one, which we don't use, but on purpose, I'm mentioning it, would be specific subsidies. Veolia doesn't rely on subsidies, national subsidies in France, in the EU, in the US. We don't have IRA subsidy. We don't have the Green Deal subsidies or anything like that in Veolia. There is a third lever, which is super important, which is the population, as well as industries pushing for a solution. Population is a big lever for growth for us, and I would call it a lie. Let me give you an example. Whatever you voted for, or whoever you voted for in November, when you open your tap, you don't want that there is pollutants such as PFAS, which could be harming your health and that of your kids. That's really transpartisan, politically speaking.
That we see in pretty much all the countries we operate. Therefore, the population is pushing for depollution or decontamination type of solutions, such as the Beyond PFAS offer, which has taken off super, super rapidly. Another lever is just the license to operate for industries. When you are operating a lithium mine or a semiconductor factory or even a data center, you absolutely desperately need water. Otherwise, you just cannot operate your plants. That becomes a license to operate, to have access to water, either directly or via everything we do to recycle water and save fresh water to be taken from nature. In a way, population, as well as license to operate for industries, is a very powerful lever in the same way as regulation is. I think everything I said does answer to your US law-based question.
In the U.S., I'm very confident that we will go on growing very fast our business, and it's one of our growth boosters in Veolia. How is that so? The underlying pushing trends are, one, health and the environment, the pollutant removal. The other one would be the license to operate associated with strategic industries restoring, typically pharmaceutical, semiconductors, or even data centers. Those are very, very powerful levers for us growing our business in the U.S.
Thank you very much. If I may have one follow-up. Compared to the GreenUp plan that you put over one year ago, what surprised you on the positive side? Which businesses have grown faster than you anticipated, and which businesses are growing less fast than you anticipated?
Oh, that's an interesting question. What surprised us from? You're right. We launched the GreenUp strategic plan a year ago. The first year was a very big success with all the strategic sources bearing already fruits. 6.6% growth of our growth booster was a very good achievement for the first year. It's two or three times faster than the rest of the group. What surprised us? A lot of things, because the world in 2024 was not exactly a smooth, easy, natural for growing everywhere in the world. The good news for Veolia is we have strong foundations, such as multifaceted performance on our purpose, as well as an agility to react quickly and strongly to whatever happens. Let me give you an example. Two years ago, we were selling a lot of pieces of equipment and technologies to produce ultra-pure water for microelectronics.
The main sources of those projects were in Southeast Asia. And then the chip sacks came into place in the U.S., and you know what? you know the project pipeline dried up very quickly in Southeast Asia, but opened up super quickly as well in the U.S. We moved from one to the other. We are constantly chasing for opportunities to be able to deliver on our strategic plan. Where exactly will be like very, very dependent from the macro here and the opportunities there. We are able to react very quickly. Just in my example, I think the fact that Veolia is an environmental services leader present in 44 countries, and each time we are in the top three of each country/activity. We are a very international company, which helps us dealing with, again, chasing opportunities when they arise.
Now we have many questions on the internet. I will start with a question from Arthur Sitbon. Could you provide some detail on your project CapEx track record in energy projects in Eastern Europe and for hazardous waste plants? Have you delivered on time so far?
Just on the first question, I will have Emmanuelle elaborate on not necessarily the CapEx on the entire energy project, but the webinar today is on exiting coal and methane. Maybe you could elaborate on that, Emmanuelle, and it has good return. I do not want to spoil it, but that is very good as well for our business. I would encourage you, Mr. Sitbon, to come in November. We have a specific session, which will be located in Poznań, in Poland, on our energy business and exiting coal, all in one November. I want to urge you to join. Emmanuelle.
Yes, thank you, Estelle, and thank you for your question, Arthur. We are very satisfied with the investment and the delivery of our coal exit investment. As mentioned, from the EUR 1.6 billion investment plan, we already invest EUR 656 million. For all the projects which have been delivered so far, Braunschweig in Germany, Přerov and Kolín in the Czech Republic, and Poznań, which will start this year, we are on time and on budget. The IRR, as mentioned, is very good, double-digit IRR, above 10% for each of the projects. If I may, I will add two elements. We are very proud to be able to deliver that because it's a super complex project. You have, at the same time, to deliver massive investment and continue to deliver district heating to the population, meaning that you have to phase. On top of complex projects, it becomes very complex.
The team has been amazing, for instance, delivering in Poland on budget when you see a lot of projects in the country which are above their initial budget. It was the same in the Czech Republic. The team has been able to prove or to demonstrate its creativity and its ability. For instance, in Přerov, during the construction phase, they have seen in the design possibility to increase the IRR to mixing RDF biomass and sometimes gas with the same amount of investment and to be able to deliver that on time, on budget, and give more flexibility regarding the source or the input. I am very happy regarding that. It is the same with our methane capture. EUR 85 million CapEx investment, we are on time, on budget, and very happy on the consequences with the increase of the methane capture rate.
Maybe, Emmanuelle, if you could say how with this miracle, because I'm asked this question very often, that we have a double-digit IRR on coal exit. I've been asked a lot of times. It's not online today, but I'm sure everybody will be interested to hear about that.
Absolutely. You're right, Estelle. From what is coming this very good IRR? It's coming from several elements. The first one is you have less cost because you have less CO2 quota. That is dramatically diminishing. The second one is the additional efficiency. It's new plants, so the efficiency of the plant is higher. The third element, it's subsidies for the new production that you have after the go-live. You receive subsidies. The third element is that the new turbines are generating more electricity than coal-fired boilers. With this mix of these four elements, you get the IRR we just mentioned.
Which I think is another testimony when we say we're exiting coal. Of course, that's good for CO2, but that's good for bottom line as well. When I say everything is intertwined in Veolia, that's a very good example. In terms of the question on energy, if your question was overall on energy and CapEx and all the rest, we've published during the last few weeks with the annual result presentation slide in the appendix, page 40 or 42, if I remember well, where you have over the last three years the revenue and EBITDA of every single of our various businesses. You will see that the EBITDA of energy in 2024 is higher than that of pre-war Ukraine. We are really ramping up the performances here.
In terms of your second part of the question on the hazardous waste business, we are building five new facilities as we speak. We will start very soon and open one in the Middle East, and then there will be one in Germany, and then there will be one in the US, and so on and so forth. Typically, those are projects which are CapEx intensive, which take years with a lot of assets to be implemented. You have two years of ramping up, but then it is very profitable and makes us quite unique when we own them. Typically, it is what, one or two years of planning and permitting, three to four years of construction, and then one to two years of ramping up to get to the full result.
The good news is today we are kind of at the bottom point, therefore in the hazardous waste rosé because we are invested. We have not finished yet, but we are three-quarters of the way of investments. The ramping up will be in the next few years, and they will contribute to our EBITDA targets of the GreenUp plan. I think we have answered your question. The next one, maybe.
Did we have that we are on waste? We have a question on recycling and on plastic from Arnaud Pellier, who is asking about the fact that some plastics are difficult to recycle. Are you spending a lot on R&D to expand the range of plastics that can be recycled, or would you be looking for new expertise through acquisitions?
On plastic, we are already, as far as I know, the largest plastic recycler in the world with 35, I should check my figures, but 35 facilities across the globe in many, many geographies. All types of plastic, PET, PP, PE, you have a lot of different types of resins from hard plastics, typically for the bumpers in your car, through to a plastic bottle, which is PET. Are we investing in finding new things we can recycle? Yes. We do not need to acquire anything. We are really good at that. I guess the priority is not even to find new ways of things to be recycled because very often we have the technology to recycle things, but there is no business model for it.
I guess if I had to set one priority, that would be to incentivize the various government and public bodies to be more consistent with their messaging through plastic recycling. There is a big thing on PET in Europe, for instance, with the 2025 and 2030 targets for bottlers to have a minimum of 30% this year and 50% in 2030 of content which is recycled. If it stays this way, then it will drive a lot of companies to go on investing and developing this. If it were not, then there will be probably a backlash in terms of plastic recycling. It is not necessarily only legislation as such, it is messaging in a consistent way, which will be very key. I guess this is more that rather than purely technical obstacles which prevent us from doing more plastic recycling.
Let's change subjects now. We have a question associated with our purpose. I note that you have a purpose committee at the board level. Could Veolia consider becoming a purpose mission as per the French PACT law? If not, why not, given you already have a raison d'être?
Good question, which was discussed at the board, as you can imagine, over the last few years. Veolia was one of the first companies to seize the opportunity of the law PACT to actually define a mission or purpose of the organization, what we call the raison d'être, which is clear. I think we are very unique in that everything we've said for the last one hour translates into real figures and real measurements for 16,000 employees in terms of variable pay. It's not only a top layer, but it's really embedded and diffused. The board has decided against going for société à mission, which is a very specific or B Corp, let's say, status.
There is a proposal which will be submitted at the next AGM in April to include the text of the purpose within the status of the company, which will be a big plus in terms of signaling the importance of our purpose for the entirety of the organization. That will be submitted to the next AGM, to all shareholder base.
Thank you. We now have back to energy. We have a question on biomass. Can you share your plans regarding the introduction of biomass as an alternative to coal in your CHP combined heat and power facilities? Do you anticipate any significant barrier or challenges to this implementation? Thank you.
Maybe for you, Emmanuelle?
Yes. Thank you for your question. Few elements of answers. The first one is that biomass is one of the elements allowing us to do the coal exit in Europe, but it's not the only one. It is complete, as you have seen, by RDF, by multi-fuel boiler, and a lot of technologies. Second element of answers for us, the strategy we have implemented for the group is to have a sustainable management of our biomass sourcing. 100% of the biomass we are using is traceable, and way more than 75% is defined as sustainable. We do not use agricultural biomass, but forest biomass. For that, we have a long-term strategy with partnerships with Forest Warden, with furniture companies, and all the partners which are important on this market.
One element also which is important for us, you may have seen, for instance, in Braunschweig in Germany, that we are not using residue of wood, but we are using waste wood. Thanks to the combination of our business, we have, because in Germany, we have waste activity and energy activity, we are the second waste player in the market, we have been able to source waste wood, which is used in our Braunschweig facilities. Showing the capability and the plus generating by the combination. To answer your question, long-term vision, partnership to secure our biomass supply. It is waste biomass, in other words, as opposed to virgin biomass in Europe. That is absolutely key. I think what is important in what Emmanuelle said is like we talk a lot about the synergies between our various businesses in Veolia, what I call the combination.
This is a good example. The RDF, so non-recyclable waste, or the waste wood, as Emmanuelle mentioned, is an activity which is driven by the waste part of our business and feeding the energy part of our business with alternative fuel.
Thank you. We have a question about employees and share a program for the employees. Do you intend to continue to offer share plans for the employees in the coming years, and in particular in 2025? Do you intend to set up, this is another question, but it is related, a share buyback program in 2025 corresponding to this employee program?
Maybe Isabelle for the first part and Emmanuelle for the second?
Yes. The answer is definitely yes. We intend to have, so far we had plans every year, right? We intend to move on with this habit. Actually, the 2025 plan is on its way. We are about to communicate to our employees. Just for the record, we will have probably 54 countries covered with the plan. Pretty much all of our countries. We have so far a little more than 160,000 people who have subscribed to one of our plans.
For the second part, Emmanuelle?
Yes, regarding the second part of your question, you're right. Five years ago, Estelle and the management have decided to launch this employee share plan because it was important for the group to have an alignment between the interests of the employee and the manager. Our strategic vision is clear. We want to have an employee shareholding around 10%, and we were at the end of 2024 around 9%. With the very strong result of GreenUp and the solidity of our balance sheet, we have decided to launch a share buyback program only dedicated to this employee share plan. It will start in 2025 until the end of GreenUp 2027. With this strong management decision, because it's a first for Veolia, we are raising the ambition of GreenUp, expecting not only an increase in our net result of 10%, but also of our EPS.
Thank you. You already addressed the subject, but there's a complementary question associated with our US water activities and the consequence that the Trump administration removing government agencies could have an impact on our US business and in particular in water, of course, PFAS, water regeneration, or hazardous waste. This is a question from Philippe Pourpatien.
I guess elaborating a bit on what I said earlier on, just to take the example of PFAS, first things first, who did launch the first PFAS legislation? Actually, it was Trump 1 administration. I think it speaks for itself. Second, PFAS, you might think of PFAS in water and therefore all the legislation in the drinking water, which so far nobody has announced that it will be changed or removed. The question would be more the date of the implementation rather than the if. There is PFAS as well in other places, just underneath every single airbase and airport in the world, pretty much. You can think of the PFAS opportunity as more global than that, global than just the drinking water.
As far as the other legislations are concerned, again, when I mention pollutant removal as well as license to operate for strategic industries, it does not depend on an EPA legislation, really. It is more license to operate or a need from the population. No specific things that we have spotted yet which could go against our very big ambition of growth in the U.S.
Thank you. We have now a more technical question associated with carbon capture. Do you have already developed any carbon capture technology that could be used in, for instance, for your incinerator of solid waste? Or where are you on this front?
Can I start and you may complement, Emmanuelle?
Yes.
I guess carbon capture and storage is not really what Veolia wants to develop because there are a lot of other players who can be a little bit more relevant than Veolia on that one. What we want to develop, and this is within our roadmap for innovation, is carbon capture and usage. In a way, the circular economy of carbon, typically to produce sustainable aviation fuel, to produce methanol, or any other type of produce from the capturing of carbon. We are far from having it already, I guess, ready to be implemented. It is really innovation. We are testing a few things here. Another one will be storage into rocks, which is another type of technology. Very specific, but no storage into underground ex-oil underground layers. We are trying all that. We have a portfolio of innovation.
As innovation, some of them will work, some of them will not work this way, but we will tweak it a little bit to make it work. Some others, we may think, you know what, there is no business model, so let's see for later. We have tried already quite a lot. In terms of incineration specifically, yes, we have a few of the projects I mentioned on SAF and methanol, which are specifically potentially connected to incineration units, having in mind that incineration, the CO2 associated, we can reduce, as Emmanuelle has mentioned, by removing plastic from it. Because if I become a little bit more subtle, you have the good and the bad carbon. It is a bit like cholesterol. You have the biogenic carbon, this is the good CO2, and you have the non-biogenic carbon, this is the bad CO2.
What we're trying and doing to enhance the biogenic content within the CO2, the incineration units may produce as well, and then to potentially recycle it. Anything you want to add, Emmanuelle?
Yes, maybe one word. You're absolutely right. We are starting on CCU, and a few elements we could share also with you. The first one is that we have already implemented one CCU in India with our partner, which is Tata Steel. It's in operation. Today, we are able to capture 5 tons per day directly from the blast furnace. It's the starting point because in terms of prioritization for our incinerator, we have decided to prioritize energy efficiencies and also to reduce the carbon intensity of the input because we think that it will have a higher impact. For our client, of course, we want to have the most extensive portfolio, and it's one of the technologies we can offer to them. For instance, currently, we are discussing in the U.K. for a contract, which is Markwood, where we are implementing a pilot.
Starting point, we are looking at it and today prioritizing what could have more impact.
Thank you. We now have a question associated with, I'm sorry, we have a question associated with climate and biodiversity. Is Veolia looking to develop solutions on wastewater treatment plants to mine natural fertilizers for the agricultural sector in order to reduce the use of fossil fertilizers? Thank you.
Sébastien?
Yes, of course. Good question. We are testing some innovative solutions in order, of course, to develop fertilizer coming from wastewater activities. We are working on it topic in Europe. If the innovation will be good, we will deploy after this activity in the group.
We do already quite a lot in terms of producing organic fertilizer from wastewater sludge. Of course, once the sludge is treated so that you do not have any pollutant in Chile, in France, in the U.K., and elsewhere. Organic recycling of the organic content and producing fertilizer is already something we do. Sébastien is ambitious that we can do more and innovative stuff, but we do already quite a lot. When you visit a wastewater treatment plant in Chile in Veolia, they do not call it a wastewater treatment plant, the managers locally. They call it a biorefinery. I think it speaks for itself.
Thank you. We have a question from François Imbert, associated with methane capture. Similarly to coal exit in Central and Eastern Europe, have you been able to generate revenues which can be associated to your investments in methane capture?
Any internal rate of returns that you want to share on methane capture?
Yes, biogas, because biogas is methane plus other stuff. Biogas, we produce basically in wastewater treatment plants, hence the biorefinery comment, which was producing fertilizer and biogas, as well as landfill. Do we already have money coming from the selling of this biogas? The answer is yes, and it's good return. We want to develop it more. As you may have seen in the three growth boosters of Veolia, we have one called bioenergy. In bioenergy, typically biogas, and we've set objectives. I will encourage you to come back to our deep dive on energy in January 2024. You will see we have objective in terawatt-hour because it's energy. Therefore, we call it into terawatt-hour of biogas. Basically, we want to double this. This is good money. Do we have an IRR? Not so sure we've done the IRR worldwide on biogas.
Do you have it, Emmanuelle?
You are absolutely right. We are generating more than 6 terawatt-hour biogas that we are producing on our more than 150 sites. The IRR is absolutely in line with the group expectation, which is work plus four. Very happy with the project.
Thank you. We have another question coming associated with nature-based solutions or green infrastructure. The question is, to what extent Veolia, this nature-based solution can support our strategy at Veolia of ecological transformation, and can it be a business case for Veolia, nature-based solution?
I'm coming back, and Sébastien will answer this question. Biogas, I think, not talking about agriculture, but other type of biogas, we may probably be the number one in Europe now of biogas producers, just to give you an idea of the scale. On solution based on nature, Sébastien?
Yeah, we have some nature-based solutions in the group, in Spain, in Chile, or in the south of France. Of course, it could be an opportunity for the group and as well a solution in order to tackle some challenges for water, for example. I spoke before about what we are doing in Alicante in Spain. Of course, the idea is to develop this activity. It is also depending regarding the evolution of the regulation with the municipal authorities, and we are working on it in Europe, but also in South America and in the U.S., and we want to develop nature-based solutions for the group and for the climate and water challenges.
It is fair to say that, again, the question is not that we do not have some nature-based solutions that could be deployed more. The question is the business model associated to it. You can, of course, Veolia is not an NGO. We are here to do business. If the solution Sébastien just mentioned, you want them not two, three, but 10, 50, 100, there needs to be some EUR at one point put into the system, which is not the case yet, except for those exceptions that Sébastien just mentioned.
Thank you. There's still a couple of questions, a couple of written questions. There's one which has already been addressed, but I think it's important, so I'm going to ask it again. What's the target for employee shareholder percentage for the company?
Yeah, we did disclose the target in our URD this year. We have a target of 10%. As you know, as Estelle mentioned, the employees are already the largest shareholder in Veolia, but we do aim for 10%, which hopefully we will reach in the coming years.
We will compensate for the dilution of the employee shareholder starting from this year and until the end of the GreenUp plan. That is what we have announced. That was the new announcement earlier in February.
Thank you. I think we do not have any more questions from the call and not any more from the internet. Maybe we can wait a couple of minutes, but so far, I think we have answered everything.
I guess I can see one popping up, which is how can Veolia encourage other leaders to accelerate actions towards the ecological transition and everything you've been saying. That is a good transition for my conclusion words. For those who can think you have a business and money on the one side and the other type of agenda on the other, Veolia is demonstrating that you can have the two going alongside. Employees, success and commitment, delivering good results. Customer be happy, delivering good results. Saving water, removing pollutants, and reducing CO2 is a good business. That is exactly what Veolia's business is about. Thank you very much.