Ladies and gentlemen, good morning or good afternoon. I am Francisco Silverio Marques, Chief of Staff to the CEO at Veolia. I'm honored to be your host today for what will be not only the presentation of our Multifaceted Performance results, but actually how, for Veolia, Multifaceted Performance is an actual lever for creation of value. To lead this discussion today, I'm very happy to welcome our CEO, Estelle Brachlianoff; and Emmanuelle Menning, our Deputy CEO in charge of Finance and Purchases, as well as a few other guests that you'll discover along the way. We will also have time to take your questions that you can ask by using the chat box on the platform. Now, without further ado, Estelle, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Francisco, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us. I must say I'm delighted to present our extra-financial results today. We're meeting at a particularly significant moment. The world is experiencing profound instability. War has returned to the Middle East, where we operate essential services. Geopolitical tensions are reshaping global trade, and uncertainty seems to be the new normal. In this context, some might question the relevance of ESG, and I think it's exactly the opposite. It's precisely in times like this that our strategy proves more essential. Because the environmental challenges we've been addressing haven't disappeared, they've become security imperatives. Water scarcity, energy independence, supply chain resilience, these are now matters of national security and economic sovereignty. What's happening in the Middle East actually validates our strategy, reinforces our priorities, and confirms the value of our local presence.
We generate EUR 1 billion in revenue in the region with minimal capital employed. Our employee security is our absolute priority, and operations continue with enhanced measures, as you can imagine. As a multi-local group, we're not exposed to international trade disruption, and the fundamental insight remains. In an unstable world, environmental security is economic security. Our 2025 results prove it. 2025 was the second year of our four-year GreenUp plan. Whether you look at financial or extrafinancial performance, this first half of GreenUp is a real success. We're fully on track or even ahead. The numbers are historic. Revenue a bit more than EUR 44 billion. EBITDA up 6.3%, exceeding our guidance. Profitability up 150 basis points in just two years. Current net income up 11.8% on average per year in the same period.
We've achieved our gross profit target of 9.4% two years ahead of plan. Despite EUR 2.3 billion in strategic acquisitions, our leverage ratio stands at 2.79x , well below 3x . Financial strength with room to grow. What's driving this? In particular, international operations. EBITDA jumped 9.3% outside Europe. Our Booster activities in Hazardous Waste and Water Technologies in particular. This is transformation in action. Veolia has become more international, more technology-driven, with a stronger growth profile. Now to our environmental performance, and here I'm particularly proud to share that once again, we're not just on track, we are ahead of schedule. Two out of three GreenUp objectives already achieved two years early. Think about what this means. On regeneration, we've saved almost 1.6 billion cubic meters of fresh water.
That's enough to supply the city like London for a year. On depollution, 9.2 million tons of hazardous waste treated, protecting health, securing industrial operations, exceeding again our 27 goal. On decarbonization, we've helped our clients erase nearly 24% more CO2 versus 23%. We are accelerating the transition not just for ourselves, but for the entire value chain. Now, why are we achieving such strong financial results? Because impact drive result growth. Everything is really connected. When we save billions of cubic meters of water, we're not just hitting a target, we are securing supply for cities and industries, and that creates demand for our services. That's exactly why our Booster revenue is up 8%, EBITDA up 12%. Same goes for CO2.
When we achieve 88% employee engagement and improve safety by 17%, we are building the teams that deliver excellence to customers on a daily basis. That's why our Net Promoter Score scores at more than 57, which is great. When we reduce our own emissions by 19% and deploy 80% of our biodiversity plans, we're proving our solution works. That's why clients trust us. This is a bit like a virtuous circle. Impact is a sign of our usefulness, which drives prosperity for our clients, our people, our shareholders, with real impact on quality of life for communities and economic health for all. Our leadership is recognized globally. A rating from MSCI, top tier across Sustainalytics, S&P, ISS, and EcoVadis. CDP's highest A rating for both climate change and water security.
One of only a handful of companies globally to achieve double A status. Three achievements I'm particularly proud of. First, that specific double A rating from CDP. Proof we are delivering environmental leadership and not just talking about it. Second, our Future Generation Council. We brought together thirty young people under thirty from across the globe, and I had the chance to participate at the first two sessions, and what's remarkable is how they challenge us. They push our thinking with concrete, actionable proposals that go directly to our executive committee. Third, our Sequoia employee shareholding plan, 9.35% employee shareholding. That creates powerful alignment and lasting trust. Now we are aiming for 10%. Veolia's value proposition is unique. We deliver environmental security that creates lasting shareholder value. Our clients face unprecedented challenges, water scarcity, pollution, supply chain disruption, the imperative for strategic independence.
For cities to deliver services, for industries to produce, for economies to grow, environmental security is non-negotiable. We secure supply chain by mining waste and waste heat for local energy and critical minerals, reducing therefore dependence on import. We protect health through Hazardous Waste Management and depollution, ensuring drinking water meets the highest standard, and securing the license to operate for strategic industries such as semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. In a world of instability, environmental security is long-term economic security.
Thank you very much, Estelle. Let's have now a more detailed look at some of these results, starting with decarbonization. Emmanuelle, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Francisco, and good morning, everyone. I am delighted to be among you today to present the progress of our decarbonization plan. What makes Veolia so specific is that our decarbonization strategy is fully embedded into our business model. It's not an additional layer that comes on top. At Veolia, business and decarbonization go along together, as our clients need offers addressing both decarbonization and adaptation, and our own decarbonization plan generates significant additional value. This alignment explain the fast decarbonization for Veolia. Scope One and Two emissions are already down by 18.6% in 2025 compared to 2021, which is our starting point. This represent a yearly decarbonization pace of around 5% per year, so very significant.
We are ahead of our trajectory, and we have already achieved our 2027 GreenUp target, -18%, so two years in advance. We won't stop there. We'll keep on deploying our action plan, because at Veolia, what is good for the business is good for the climate, and we mainly rely on three pillars. First, methane capture. In all geographies, we are increasing the methane capture for further valorization into heat, electricity or biomethane. Less emissions and more revenues. Second, more efficiency in all our businesses to reduce energy consumption and cost. Third, coal exit in Central Europe that I will detail in the next slide. Our coal exit plan is progressing well. In 2025, we went out of coal in Poznań, opening new facility combining gas-fired plant, heat storage and biomass.
With EUR 786 million CapEx spent and five plants transitioned out of nine, we are more than halfway to our coal exit plan. Our figures illustrate this progress. Our share of coal-based activity has reduced from 3.8% of turnover in 2023 to 3.1% in 2024 and to 2.6% now in 2025. We will be below 1% in 2030. Today, I am very proud to announce the upcoming transformation of our heating plant in Karviná, Czech Republic, into a multi-energy facility. By 2029, we will eliminate coal and shift toward the diversified energy mix, combining locally sourced RDF, biomass and natural gas. Based on local and circular energy sources, the new system will significantly reduce annual CO2 emission by 200,000 tons.
This plan benefits to our clients first, who will enjoy diversified, reliable and sustainable source of energy, and also to the planet, with a cumulative reduction of CO2 close to 4 million tons expected in 2032, and to our shareholders, with project bearing IRR above 10% and who will benefit from brand new innovative and decarbonized assets. Beyond the IRR, we increase patrimonial value of our assets, increase our resilience with a multi-fuel approach, and increase connection rates to our network, which are classified as efficient network under the European regulation. Our decarbonization plans benefit the planet, but also our clients. This is why it is so embedded in our business strategy because it is driven by our customers. Let's take example.
We signed in 2022 a partnership with the City of Tashkent in order to operate a massive turnaround of their district heating network. It is a 30 years concession agreement meant to redesign the network and massively improve its operating performance. After only three years of operation, we raise the efficiency rate of the network from 53%- 72%. This translates into a massive 600,000-ton CO2 reduction. Major contribution to Scope One and Two, more sustainability for the client, and reduction in Veolia Scope Three. In Hong Kong, the environmental commitment we took was decisive to win the contract to operate local municipal landfills. We deployed our solution on the ground, raising the capture rate from 46% in 2021 to 69% in 2025, and we will not stop there.
For our clients, it's a reduction of around 600,000 tons. A reduction equivalent of taking 150,000 cars off the road for a year. With this example, you see the essential contribution of Veolia to the decarbonization of our clients. As you know, we follow this contribution under Scope Four, which has already increased by +23.6% since the beginning of GreenUp and is well on track to reach our 2027 objective of +30%.
Thank you very much, Emmanuelle. You brought us to Asia, so I suggest we stay in this continent, and let's have a look, still on the decarbonization front, at what is happening in Harbin, China, with Christophe Maquet, CEO, Asia-Pacific Zone.
Thank you, Francisco. We are in Harbin, in Heilongjiang Province, northeast of China, close to the Russian border, where Veolia owns and has operated the district heating system for nearly 20 years. Harbin is the ice city of China, hosting the famous Ice Sculpture Festival every year. In Harbin, the winter is quite harsh. The temperature can drop to -35 degrees, with an average of - 20 degrees over six months of winter. For the 10 million inhabitants of Harbin, among them the 600,000 who are the customers of our district heating system, you can understand that heating their home is not a comfort, it is a necessity. We are very proud at Veolia Harbin to deliver these essential services to our customer with very high quality. As in all major cities in Northern China, district heating is based on coal.
As of today, there is no alternative fuel on a large enough scale to fuel district heating. Natural gas is not available in enough quantity. Biomass or other options are not sufficient. It's not because there is no option today for coal exit that we are not doing anything to improve the situation. Far from it. Let me present to you what has been already deployed and made Veolia Harbin district heating the best in class in reducing CO2 emissions. We have increased the length of the network, connected more customers, and shut down more than 300 inefficient independent coal boilers. We've replaced kilometers of pipes and improved the network efficiency to reach 94%, which make it one of the most efficient district heating network in the world, well above most European networks who are in an average at 75%.
We've improved the efficiency of the heating plant by deploying the best standards of Veolia and by including the valorization of waste heat. We've deployed some energy saving measures by installing some sensors of indoor temperature at the premises of our end users. What are the results? Between 2012 and 2024, we've reduced the carbon intensity of the network, meaning the CO2 emission divided by the square meter heated, by more than 30%. We do not stop here, as we are preparing the future to further improve the carbon footprint of the network. We are conducting feasibility studies to introduce a share of biomass in the fuel mix with the potential deployment of the solution between 2028 and 2030. The first tests are happening right now in Harbin. Furthermore, we will keep on optimizing Energy Efficiency at top levels using AI.
AI will allow us to optimize the fuel consumption based on the very precise weather forecast parameters, as well as the demand from the customer. Thanks to Hubgrade program that has been specifically developed by the Veolia teams for the Harbin project and is now being deployed in other project of Veolia. What are the expected result? Another 25% reduction of the carbon intensity of the network by 2032. Thanks to all those solutions already deployed, and to be deployed in the very near future, Veolia is reducing tremendously the carbon footprint of heating system in Harbin.
Thank you very much, Christophe, and thank you, Emmanuelle. Our Multifaceted Performance is not only about decarbonization, but also about regeneration of resources and depollution. I'm very happy to welcome now Sébastien Daziano, SVP Strategy, Innovation, and Development for a heads-up on these two topics. Good morning, Sébastien.
Good morning, Francisco. At Veolia, sustainability is deeply embedded in our business model with our regeneration and depollution achievements. First, preserving the water resource is not just a sustainability commitment. It is a core offering and a powerful driver for value creation. Through our core business activities, Veolia actively works to combat thirst, to offer a stable water supply, and to guarantee the continuity of essential services and economic activities. First, we protect the resource. Veolia has deployed advanced tools to monitor and track water distribution from the natural resource to the end user, maximizing efficiency and drastically reducing network leaks to limit water extraction. Today, we need to go further than efficiency. To protect more resources, we have found new solutions for regeneration.
By deploying advanced solutions such as water reuse, Zero Liquid Discharge for industries, and sustainable desalination, we actively ensure long-term industrial and municipal resilience and avoid water shortages for both populations and businesses. In the water reclamation station in Vitória in Brazil, we free up the equivalent of 200,000 people's freshwater needs while securing industrial operation by transforming wastewater into a new resource. The group has made a concrete commitment through its GreenUp program to save 1.5 billion cubic meters of freshwater by 2027. In 2025, we were already ahead of schedule, proving the massive impact of our regeneration solutions. Granting environmental security means as well actively protecting people's health against invisible threats like persistent pollutants. Veolia has an important historical activity dedicated to fighting pollution and treating hazardous waste, and we are consistently ahead of the curve thanks to our capacity for innovation.
Today, we are the first company to propose a true end-to-end solution offer for PFAS with our BeyondPFAS offer, taking these forever chemicals out of the water and ensuring their final destruction. We know how to do this because it relies on the unique combination of our different business line from Water Technologies to Hazardous Waste Management. A clear example of this is our Port Arthur facility in the U.S., where we utilize high-temperature hazardous waste incinerators, where we achieved a world-first technological breakthrough. By providing these end-to-end solutions, we directly help our industrial and municipal clients to guarantee regulatory compliance and secure their license to operate. We had set an ambitious target to treat 9 million tons of hazardous waste and pollutants by 2027, and today we have already reached 9.2 million tons, well ahead of schedule.
Coming now to biodiversity, which is a major priority for Veolia. We are very confident we will reach our target as we aim to deploy biodiversity action plans on 85% of our sensitive sites by 2027. In 2025, we reached 80% deployment on our sensitive sites. Biodiversity goes beyond. It is deeply embedded in our business and our daily operation have a direct impact on biodiversity. Protecting biodiversity is, for us, an essential lever for value creation, and we are innovating with nature-based solutions. A perfect example of this preventive action is in Sucre, in the north of Colombia. Our goal is to leave a positive footprint wherever we operate, and by using nature-based solutions, we restore the soil and protect groundwater recharge zones. We have planted more than 100,000 trees on specific geological outcrops.
This action to protect the water resource directly enhances water quality and secures access to water for over 300,000 inhabitants.
Thank you very much, Sébastien. We have been talking a lot about resources, and rightly so. At Veolia, there is a resource that is absolutely fundamental. It's our 220,000 colleagues across the world. I'm very happy to welcome now Isabelle Quainon, SVP Human Resources, who will tell us everything about employee engagement. Good morning, Isabelle.
Good morning, Francisco. Good morning, everyone. Estelle reminded us of something fundamental, the strategic importance of our teams. Current events are proving just how true that is. In the most powerful way possible. Here's the paradox we live with. When everything runs smoothly, we're invisible. Water flows from taps. Waste disappears overnight. Energy systems hum along quietly. Nobody notices and yet we're essential. It takes a crisis to reveal that truth. A flood, a cyberattack, geopolitical tensions. Right now in the Middle East, in a highly complex environment, our operations continue without interruptions. Our teams are there. Our desalination plants providing a significant share of the region's drinking water are running because hospitals need water, families need water, life needs water. This is what operational resilience looks like. The ability to maintain critical infrastructure and protect our people even in the most volatile environments.
This resilience, it comes from our people, their commitment, their engagement because here's the reality, we are a manpower company. 85% of our employees are blue collars. Our performance lives and dies with the engagement of our teams, and that engagement is built on trust. 85% engagement rate, 14 points above the utilities benchmark. Five consecutive year pretty much at this level. This is our competitive edge. Trust leads to engagement. Engagement drives performance. We are building that trust through three pillars. First, safety and security. Non-negotiable. Our people work in high-risk environments every day, at heights, in the traffic, in confined spaces with hazardous and flammable materials. Some operate in tense and sensitive areas as we see today in the Middle East.
This is where our strict safety framework and security protocols prove their value because when our people feel protected, truly protected, they can do their job even in the hardest contexts. They continue to operate critical infrastructure because they trust the system we have built to keep them safe. Crisis situation put this in sharp focus. There is no room for error, but the truth is it is the same every single day. Whether it's a geopolitical crisis or a routine operation, the standards stay the same. Everyone goes home safe, and that discipline shows in our results. Workplace accidents down 75% in 15 years, down another 5% this year. Our culture is zero accident because every person who comes to work should go home safe to their family, whether they're in Barcelona, Sydney or the Middle East.
We're building this through common safety standards, our 12 lifesaving rules, fair culture where people report near misses without fear, and stop work authority, giving everyone the right to stop unsafe activities. That's how you protect people, assets and performance continuity wherever we operate. Second, ownership and inclusion. Protection is fundamental but also means giving people a real stake in our future. We want our people to think like owners because when people own the company, they perform differently. Our ambition is to bring employee shareholding to 10%, and we are very close, to make our people the number one shareholder at Veolia. Ownership means everyone has a seat at the table. This year we signed the European Diversity and Inclusion Agreement, 125,000 employees covered. Equal opportunities for all in action. Close to 40% of external managers hired are women.
Finally, trust means being there when it matters most, and that's Veolia Cares, launched by Estelle when she became CEO. Supporting new parents, families who lost loved ones, showing people they matter beyond their work. Third, local impact. Anchoring Veolia at the heart of society. Participation in volunteering has doubled in two years. Our team restore ecosystems in Italy, build infrastructure for vulnerable population in Ecuador. Through our foundation, humanitarian missions in Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of Congo. When communities see Veolia as a genuine partner, not just a service provider, we build long-lasting trust. When our people see their work making a real difference at the communities level, they show up with heart and guts. This is how we become essential, not just operationally, but socially. Here's the bottom line. Trust drives engagement. Engagement drives performance.
We build that trust through safety because people need to feel protected, through ownership and inclusion because people need to feel values, through local impact because people need to see their work matters. This is how we deliver essential services in a consistent and reliable way. Even in the toughest moments, even in the most challenging places. Because when the world needs us most, our people show up and our operations keep running.
Thank you very much, Isabelle. We are now getting close to the questions, so just let me remind you that you can ask them by using the chat box on the platform. Estelle, maybe just before we move to the questions, a few words of conclusion.
Yes, what Veolia makes Veolia unique is quite simple. Sustainability isn't a separate agenda for us, it is our business model. Environmental security is what we do. It's what we sell. It's how we create value for our client and for our shareholders. Our 2025 results prove it, historic financial performance. Two out of three green environmental objective achieved two years early. This is proof that our strategy is on track. In a world of turbulence, our mission becomes more critical than ever, keeping vital resources available, reliable, and affordable, enhancing strategic autonomy, meeting the sustained demand for our services and technologies, and that's what we do. We're now ready to take with all the team your question. Thank you.
Thank you, Estelle, and I have a first question from Raj Singh. There is a lot of attention around the water and energy requirements from the AI data center boom. To what extent will Veolia's strategy benefit from such growth? Is Veolia involved in tech-related infrastructure discussions with local authority clients or directly with tech companies?
I will start with suggesting you join our very soon you know theme on specific day on innovation and AI and digital, which is in London in a few weeks' time. All the detail will be sent to you. Maybe Emmanuelle, if you want to elaborate more than just inviting to
Yes, with pleasure.
To this session.
Thank you very much for your question. AI, it's at the heart of our strategy, and on that one we have different approach regarding that. Before coming to business, just one word on efficiencies. Under the push of Estelle and Christophe also, we have a very clear strategy in term of AI and digital, and you may have seen that in term of efficiency. Now 23% at the end of 2025 of efficiency has been created or generated through AI and digital when it was 5% or 10% before. That's one dimension. The second dimension, you're absolutely right, it's an opportunity for our business. We have an offer which is covering really important need of the data center and AI. It's on water consumption, on Energy Efficiency, and on the treatment of hazardous waste.
What we have seen so far with discussion launched by Estelle, even in advance or really in evaluation of the process, is that we can really bring a differentiation on those ones, and especially as we know how to deal with municipality, and that's a language that this type of client does not manage or have under control. We can bring for them cost efficiency to help them to keep their license to operate and also help them when they are building or implementing.
It's acceptability as much as a technical, you know-how which we have a lot.
Thank you. I have now a question from Mr. Philippe Ourpatian about Qatar. Good morning. Following the recent strike in the Qatar LNG facilities of Ras Laffan, could you update us about your position in Qatar and more broadly in the Middle East by activities, EBITDA contribution by businesses and capital employed?
I guess, you know, I will take this question. I've said a few words in my introduction exactly about that. You know, first things first, you know, our priority is to keep our employees safe. In the Middle East, we have 9,000 of them, and they operate essential services. Which means that, you know, what we do is ensuring supply of water from desalination unit through to treatment of hazardous waste and therefore removing pollutants and keeping licensing to operate as much as Energy Efficiency in large malls and airports. We have various types of activity in the Middle East.
When it comes to desalination in particular, as you can imagine, it's a very arid part of the world where desalination accounts for between, say, 70% in Saudi through to more than 95% of the water supply of the entire countries in the region. So it's absolutely critical needs. That's why I said essential services and critical needs is what Veolia does and does well. As you can imagine, those sites have been, their security has been reinforced by actually the national, you know, like, security forces. And you know, we have, as well, plan Bs, just to give you an idea. You know, the first, you know, desalination unit we have are interconnected very, very often.
In addition to storage of water, you know, if one were not to be able to operate, you can switch largely to a neighboring one, and of course there is a bit of a capacity there. That's just to give you one hint. As for the whole details, you can imagine I won't share them with you today. In terms of figures, Emmanuelle, it's EUR 1 billion turnover roughly.
Yes.
But minimal capital employed.
Absolutely. In terms of figures, just to complete regarding the numbers, the Middle East for Veolia, it's EUR 1 billion of revenue. It's a growing zone, but it's limited in terms of capital employed and EBITDA. It's 0.9% of the capital of the group and 1.2% of the EBITDA of the group. The reason for that regarding the limited capital employed is that for our water operation and our Energy Efficiency, we don't put our own investment. It's services, it's procurement, it's engineering. Coming back to Qatar, regarding Qatar, we don't have any capital employed, as we are not putting our own money. It's partnership. We are operating. In terms of revenue, it's limited. We are speaking roughly around EUR 50 million of revenue.
Thank you very much. I have now a question from Olivia Watson. What is the outlook for recycling activities with the pending changes in EU regulation?
I guess there are a few elements about recycling. First things first, recycling is something in circular economy in general which is very well-supported by the EU legislation and elsewhere in the world as well. It used to be an environmental, you know, agenda item, if you want. It's moved recently to as well, and in addition to being an environmental item, to a securing supply chain item. If you are able, like we do, to mine waste, to find back some strategic minerals, so cobalt, lithium, nickel in used and wasted batteries, for instance, instead of importing them from very far away, you can find them in the waste. Therefore, you reduce the supply chain distance, and you reduce your dependency.
Therefore, circular economy and recycling is becoming a security agenda as well as environmental agenda, if you wish. I think that's an important item for everybody, including in Europe, where you don't have that many strategic minerals, you know, under our feet, or same applies with waste heat and local sources of energy which can replace, you know, like importing fossil fuel. I think that's a promotion de facto of what circular economy brings as a byproduct in addition to, of course, the CO2 reduction and footprint. That's why, you know, I'm very hopeful that, not only in Europe, but in places where you are dependent on imports, it's something which will go on growing in the next few years.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Estelle. I have now a question from Mr. Francois Humbert. Thank you for this presentation, especially the focus on coal in CEE and Asia. Is the business case of coal phase-out in Central Eastern Europe unique, or are there other places in the world where this can be duplicated building on the expertise of Veolia in district heating?
Emmanuelle, maybe?
Yes, with pleasure. Thank you for your question regarding coal exit. The first element, you know that, when we have launched that it was in 2018 with the decision to completely transform our asset from coal to other energy fuel. It was an easy decision. Instead of selling, we start to transform, and the transformation has gone really well. We now have a very differentiating expertise to be able to go from coal to multi-fuel approach. We have done that in Germany. We have done that in part of our facility in Czech Republic, and we have start in 2025 with in our facility of Poznań. These project are really amazing because they have an IRR which are above 10%. It's coming from cost reduction from CO2, but also less maintenance cost.
It's come also from additional revenue as our new facilities are more efficient in generating more energy revenue. Just taking the example of Poznań, we have increased our ratio from 40%- 70%, and we have also regulatory framework which are giving us an upside. On top of that, as we mentioned, we are increasing the patrimonial value of our asset as well as being more resilient because it's a multi-fuel approach. Where you're absolutely right is that it is scalable. We have started in some country. We are deploying that in the rest of the country. We have announced this morning Karviná. We will be able to continue to deploy that to our other country, but also to sell it to our client.
This is a special offer that we have put in place and launched, which is Ecothermal Grid and which is working really well with already a project in the U.K.
I guess, you know, Antoine Frérot , what about outside Europe? U.K. is outside Europe as in the EU sense of it. You know, the recipe for success which you described are there in the U.K. You know, there is a CO2 price. It's not exactly the ETS which you have seen in Europe, but it's an equivalent of that, and an ambition and a political ambition, together with local sources of energy which can replace, you know, like, fossil fuel. Same of course, you know, in terms of efficiency and cost reduction as in mainland Europe. Outside Europe and the U.K., I guess Emmanuelle gave you the keys of recipes for success.
If you have no CO2 cost whatsoever, neither any local sources of energy as an alternative, it's gonna be tough. But if you have those two, it can work and it can create a business model, and we'll be very happy to expand in those geographies to share our experience built in Europe.
Thank you. Actually, I have a few more questions about this decarbonization district heating that is really driving a lot of interest. From Charles Swabey. For the European district heating decarbonization targets, what are the timelines for the additional EUR 250 million EBITDA? Will the sites be fully ramped up by 2030? Could you provide more color about what is driving the EUR 250 million EBITDA increase from the assets? Do you expect a margin increase? I will couple that with a question from Peter Crampton that you have already partially answered, because first part of the question was how scalable is the Karviná multi-energy model across Veolia's broader district heating portfolio? The second part, what are the key economic and regulatory hurdles to replicating this coal exit pathway ahead of the group's 2030 headline?
That was a lot.
That was a lot.
You know, like, Emmanuelle, it makes money in Europe, so are we on our way to make the EUR +250 million EBITDA, which we announced when we were in Poznań a few months ago?
With pleasure. Estelle and Francisco, please if I forget something because there were 10 question in the question, please tell me. Dear Peter, it's fully scalable. You may have seen it. That's our main message. It's a truly differentiating element we have to have the team we know how to deliver this project, which are so complex, on time, on budget, multi-fuel. It's a performance that almost no competitors is able to do in Europe, where we are number one in district heating. Coming to the question of profitability, we communicated to you EUR 250 million of EBITDA coming from this coal exit plan, which is absolutely-
By 2030.
2032.
2032. Yeah.
EUR 50 million have been generated before the start of GreenUp. During the start of GreenUp is EUR 50 million, and the rest will come afterwards. Coming to the part which was before GreenUp, it was mainly coming from Germany and a part of it from Přerov. During the GreenUp, we have the rest of a part of Germany in Braunschweig, Kolin, but also Poznań. As announced this morning, after the plan, we'll have the contribution of Łódź in Poland and of Karviná. A very clear plan. We are doing what we say, and we say what we do. Real discipline with clear timeline. What did I forget?
There was a question about the economic and regulatory hurdles to replicating the exit path.
Yeah.
Ahead of schedule.
For us, the ahead of schedule? You know.
That's it. Ahead of the 2030 plan.
Basically, you know, Emmanuelle, we are on schedule to meet the EUR +250 million EBITDA, you know, like by 2032, like you said. We are on schedule, right?
We are.
We publish every year the result, and they are embedded in, of course, our financial results. We're on schedule. What about being ahead of schedule? Can we hope to get quicker? You know, if I try and translate the question.
I think that's it, yeah. Mm-hmm.
You are very greedy, but a fair question. Regarding the hurdle, I just wanted to say in terms of people, we have amazing people. The main challenge we have, it's of course permitting, and it's also the operational challenge, because you have to deploy a solution which makes sense locally in your geography. That's why we haven't deployed the same technology when we were, for instance, in Braunschweig, where we have biomass and gas. When we were in Kolín and Přerov, where we deployed RDF and biomass. We have to find a solution which is fitting the geography. Taking the example of Braunschweig, it was making sense. We are number two in the geography, the second player in terms of solid waste.
For the sourcing of biomass, it was something which was completely secured. For other geography, you have to find the solution which makes sense locally and which is the most financially viable. Can we go even faster than that? The question, it's, for us it will be the permitting. Are we going to be able to get the permit even in advance? Estelle is really pushing for us to have a calendar which is progressive because we want the team who has the know-how to first deploy really properly one project and then go to the other one. If we can scale up, if we can go faster, we'll do it. At the moment, the focus is on delivery.
It takes a few years of permitting, having a design specific to the local sources of alternative fuel you can find, plus what? Three years of construction, something like that. A bit of ramping up. That's why we already see, you know, we are talking about Braunschweig, which was open what? Three years ago, something like that, and which has ramped up now and it will spill over into the results. I guess, you know, we are making one by one every year, which I think is already a very good achievement.
Excellent. Thank you. Thank you very much. Changing topic now and talking about biodiversity. I have a question from Alix Chausson. You have just mentioned your objective to be nature positive wherever you operate. It is a very difficult claim to achieve in a comprehensive manner. What metrics do you use to prove that your positive impacts are superior to the inherent negative impacts of any industrial activity? Your current percentage deployment of biodiversity action on sensitive sites is more an indicator of means than a real way to measure outcome.
Maybe Sébastien.
Thank you, Estelle, and thank you for the question. We are working on two main pillars about biodiversity. The first one is, of course, to diminish our impact
For biodiversity, it is the KPI presented during the presentation. The second pillar is of course about our action and solution because biodiversity is totally part of our solutions. You can refer for this question to our biodiversity report which was published last year. We want to publish before the next general assembly, the TNFD report, which will explain how biodiversity is totally part of our solutions. Speaking about depollution, regeneration of resources, and biodiversity beyond our solutions.
I guess in biodiversity, exactly as in CO2 and many other items on the agenda, too. Speaking, you have the positive impact and the potentially negative impact we have to reduce. Overall, Veolia has a positive impact on biodiversity. Each time we treat wastewater, you know, we have a positive impact on the local biodiversity sources, and we measure it. It's very clear. You have a before and after. You see, you know, fish coming back and in variety of them. Same with other. Basically nature is coming back each time. We have great examples in many places. Same applies with hazardous waste, as you said, Sébastien.
You know, the fact of treating hazardous waste and pollutants as opposed to landfilling them for all industries not only has a positive impact on human health, but on biodiversity health, if you want, and nature health. That's again something we measure. Overall, Veolia has a positive impact on biodiversity. Nevertheless, we could, if we're not careful, have a negative impact, which would unfortunately you know have a bit of a minus. That's why we have this initiative, which Sébastien said on specific critical sites, which you know could have a negative impact if we're not careful. I must say it's not only obligation of means as opposed to results. You know, we act on the action plan we've defined.
Today, there is not one KPI in the world on biodiversity. We are working with act4nature, for instance, on all the initiative to try to define something which will be measurable. As you can imagine, you can count on us not only to define an action plan, but to act on it. Although overall, we have a positive impact on biodiversity at Veolia.
Okay. Thank you. Getting now back to the Middle East, a question from Pierre-Alexandre Ramondenc from AlphaValue. Regarding your desalination operations in the Middle East and the resilience of these activities, could you elaborate on how rising energy costs are managed and their impact on the cost of desalinated water production? Specifically, are these costs hedged or are they passed through to customers? And is it the same strategy that is applied on the energy segment? Thank you.
Globally, energy prices are pass-through for Veolia. Not only we've said it for a few years, but we've demonstrated in our figures over the last few years. Why do I say the last few years? Because, of course, we've started to have this type of question in 2022 when the war in Ukraine started, and we've seen the spike of energy price in Europe in particular. It's globally pass-through for us overall in district heating, in all the activities we have. In the Middle East, in desalination, to answer specifically to your question, it is really pass-through, so we don't pay directly, if you want, the energy cost. Our customers do. We operate the plants with an incentivization of being more efficient in terms of our consumption of energy.
This will not impact, you know, our P&L.
Thank you. Actually, I have a question from Olly Jeffery that is quite on the same line. Diesel costs are passed through, but with a lag for Veolia, so this could be an H2 EBITDA headwind. However, the energy business should have offsets. How should I think about the net effect of this for 2026 earnings if commodities stays where they are?
Thanks, Olly, for your question. You know that fuel, for us, it's mainly diesel that we buy for our waste activity, for the trucks. It's limited. We are speaking about EUR 270 million, which are fully pass-through. Just a personal comment. I started Veolia working in the solid waste business, spent hours and hours on the potential upside of hedging diesel. As we have fully pass-through formula to our clients, it doesn't make sense. You're right, we may have a small tail end, but it's limited. It's a question of months, because you may have seen that in 2022, we were able to make for solid waste or hazardous waste, sometime in some geography, price increase three times per year.
We have communicated on the impact of the negative commodity energy price in 2026. It's roughly EUR 30 million, which has been communicated. All the assumption and the calculation we redid in the last few weeks with Estelle are confirming the number so far. We'll see what will happen with the evolution on Middle East. So far, as mentioned by Estelle, it is pass-through. Even as in 2022, when it's going slightly up, we may have some one-off opportunity, as we have been able to demonstrate to you in 2022 and 2023.
You know, on all these questions about risks, I would encourage you to look back at, you know, a slide we've published when we released our yearly results about, you know, the various factors where we have some proven resilience in our results, which have gone up in the last five years, you know, quarter after quarter after quarter, irrespective of a lot of things which have happened in these years. You can go through the full list, you know. Like, our business model is very protective because we are very global when it comes to innovation and, you know, scale of R&D, but very local when it comes to delivery, therefore tariff not a question for us. Inflation, you know we are well protected, and we've demonstrated it. You know, as Emmanuelle said, commodities is exactly the same.
We don't rely on specific one or two customers. It's very varied, the portfolio of customer, with long-term contract, and I could go on with a list. We'll be very happy to answer those questions, but, you know, have a look at, you know, the proof that we've demonstrated over the last few years.
Thank you. I have now a more general question from Lauriane Gilliéron. Are you considering revising and increasing the objectives of GreenUp so that you can keep a continuous improvement dynamic considering that 2/3 of the initial objectives have already been achieved?
2/3 of the initial objective, you're talking about the three environmental one. As you know, Multifaceted Performance is environment, it's HR as in employees. You know, we're talking about our customers and Net Promoter Scores and so on and so forth. We are very happy we've achieved very great results on the non-financial as well as financial in 2025. But I can tell you we never rest on our laurels at Veolia. You know, we have to keep on focusing the attention on delivering again in 2026 and 2027 as we've done in 2024 and 2025 for the first part of GreenUp. Priority is to delivering. Of course, if we can increase and keep on increasing, we will, don't worry.
You know, the specific targets of all the managers are very clear, and they all have a plus. Even if we overachieved in 2025, it goes on with improving in 2026 and 2027. Maybe, Isabelle, you want to elaborate on the non-financial, which are not necessarily only, you know, like, environmental items, and how in 2026 and 2027 you have specific things you want to achieve.
Yeah. Well, we have specific goals on health and safety, of course, but the target is already very demanding. We're getting there, though. We have also specific objectives, for example, on diversity and inclusion. We have revised this one, by the way. It's on the way, let's say. It's work in progress. Believe me, it takes a lot to get there, for all of our executive, but also for all our people within Veolia. It takes a lot. It does.
I think, you know, when I say all our people in both Veolia, you realize that we are only five presenting those results to you today. There are 15,000 managers at Veolia who have part of their incentive yearly which has to do with the results that were presented to you today and objectives in 2026 and 2027. It has an impact on many, many people, and you can count on us to go on, you know, always trying to be better.
Thank you. I have now a question from Amira Sajari from Oddo BHF. Thanks for the presentation. How do you see prospects for services linked to the circular economy overall, and what are the fastest-growing segments? Do you expect positive drivers from EU regulations, such as the Circular Economy Act expected this year?
In a way, that's a question I've partially answered already. Circular economy is not only good, as I said, for the environment, but as well for securing supply chain because you can find into waste new sources of, you know, minerals or strategic elements or even, you know, heat. The EU legislation is relatively ambitious there, with a few layers. We can talk about the plastic regulation. There is a Critical Raw Materials Act which was launched by the EU last year, if I remember well, and it's constantly evolving, you know, to have even better ambition. What we know works well is the incentive to make compulsory to have within the supply chain in a few years' time X percent of recycled content into it.
We know that's a tool which doesn't imply a lot of public money. Nevertheless, it's quite efficient. You have to keep, you know, like, moving this type of target in a very specific way. Regulation is nice. I always hoping for more pace in the implementation of the regulation in the various different countries, and at times, devil is in the detail. You know, from a big ambition to, okay, how do you count this percentage? What counts in, what doesn't? What are the dates of these obligations? In a way, the ambition is there. I think there is a big plus potentially in the EU, but we'll see if it translate into real things, depending on the all details of the way it's implemented and the speed of implementation in every single country.
Jury's out for me.
Thank you, Estelle. We still have many questions coming, but cautious of time, maybe what I'll do is I'll take one last question, and then for all the other questions, please do not hesitate to refer to our investor relations team. They'll be very happy to provide you with all the answers. The last question, still from Amira Sajari. Biomass is one of the alternative energy sources in your decarbonization efforts. How do you ensure the sustainability of the sourcing?
Maybe Sébastien?
Yeah. Thank you, Estelle. The biomass is used for district heat production, and it is supported by the European Union and member states in Europe, of course. But it's not only the support from the state which is important, but of course the origin of the biomass. We are working with the national forest offices in different countries in order to trace the biomass product. Today, 100% of our wood biomass is traced, and 90% is certified sustainable, and the objective is to be 100% in 2027, Francisco.
Plus we as well find a lot of biomass in waste stuff. In addition to what Sébastien said, of course it's a used biomass, if you want, as opposed to virgin one. I don't know if you want to have your experience in Asia maybe on biomass. How do you source biomass?
The biomass we are getting from Asia and in the Harbin project, for which we are doing the study right now, is coming. It is a residue from the industry business. We are not speaking about virgin wood biomass. We are speaking about residue, which is very important to be able to decarbonize a project.
Important point.
Thank you very much. Thank you to all our speakers, and thank you for following us. I think we're more than 500 across almost 50 countries. It was a pleasure to be with you this morning. Thank you and goodbye.