At Veolia’s Combined Shareholders’ Meeting, held yesterday at the Maison de la Mutualité in Paris, Antoine Frérot announced the Group had officially given itself a Purpose. Drawn up in consultation with its various stakeholders and approved by the Board of Directors, the Purpose articulates why Veolia exists and what it does and how, for the benefit of all its stakeholders.
The result of 160 years of history, Veolia's Purpose is in line with its “Resourcing the World” mission statement. It states the fundamental way in which Veolia will act. It is both the direction in which the Group is heading and a means to give its actions a firmer long-term foundation.
All Veolia’s stakeholders are being informed of its Purpose – whether employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders, partners or the territories where it operates – so that they know what it means and can contribute to its practical application.
Veolia’s “Purpose”
Veolia’s purpose is to contribute to human progress by firmly committing to the Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. It is with this aim in mind that Veolia sets itself the task of “Resourcing the world” through its environmental services business.
At Veolia, we are convinced that continuing human development is only possible if economic, social and environmental issues are addressed as an indivisible whole. This belief is embedded in the history of the company, which as soon as it was created in 1853, showed the way by making access to drinking water an essential element of public health and quality of life.
In the conduct of our current businesses in water, waste and energy, we provide our public and private customers worldwide with solutions that facilitate access to essential services and natural resources, and that efficiently conserve, use and recycle those natural resources. Improvement of our environmental footprint and that of our customers is central to our business and its economic model.
We are a company that is both local and global with a high level of technical know-how and labor, and which commits for long periods of time. We guarantee long-term results for our customers by leveraging our long experience, the quality of our services and our high capacity for innovation.
We are a working community where, in addition to an income and respect for their health and safety, everyone can find a sense of purpose in what they do, commitment to rewarding collective action and personal fulfillment.
Through training, Veolia ensures that its employees, the vast majority of whom are manual workers and technicians, develop their skills. The company relies on their responsibility and autonomy at all levels and in all countries, and promotes professional equality between men and women. Veolia also promotes, particularly on staff representative bodies, social dialogue, which encourages employees to adopt our collective project as their own.
Wherever it operates, Veolia complies with applicable laws and regulations. It also applies widely-distributed ethical rules consistent with its values of responsibility, community spirit, respect, innovation and customer focus.
Veolia’s prosperity is founded upon its usefulness to all its stakeholders in the various regions where it operates – whether customers, shareholders, employees, suppliers, current populations or future generations.
Its performance must therefore be assessed in various dimensions corresponding to those different communities concerned. The company pays the same degree of attention and requires the same high standards in each of these dimensions. In this way, Veolia prepares for the future, protecting the environment and responding to humanity’s vital needs.
Veolia reports annually on its multi-dimensional performance through a dashboard that aggregates relevant indicators on the sustainability of its model.
These indicators are used to assess: economic and financial performance; environmental performance; social performance; performance in terms of customer satisfaction; performance in terms of ethics and compliance. These indicators are chosen when each new stage of the strategy is devised, and are consistent with the targets set.
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Veolia shareholders’ meeting on 18 April
The Veolia group is giving itself a Purpose - Press release