Every year, since 2012, the LH Forum - Global Positive Forum - attracts five thousand people ready to undertake the positive transition of regions. The positive economy includes ecology, health, education, justice, and good governance. On 24 September, during a round table on ‘Innovation, a new dynamic for regions’, Olivier Brousse, Strategy and Innovation Director at Veolia, explained how the Group is innovating thanks to the circular economy in regions.
Climate change, pollution, the collapse of biodiversity, and the scarcity of natural resources are now a reality experienced by a growing part of the population. The COVID-19 health crisis has accelerated awareness of the fragility of living things and the disasters that threaten us. Now is the time to find concrete solutions and their implementation in regions, taking into account social and societal imperatives.
The link between innovation and regions is a necessity and an opportunity
Olivier Brousse reaffirmed that ecological transformation is cause of hope for future generations and for regions. Since its creation in 1853 to stem a cholera epidemic in Lyon, Veolia has developed the Ecole Française de l’Eau (French water school) model throughout the world: this essentially local expertise has become that of ecological transformation today. For Veolia, the link between innovation and regions is a necessity and an opportunity.
The mines of the 21st century will create many jobs that cannot be relocated
Landfills are set to disappear, and to recycle our waste and transform it into secondary raw material locally, seven to eight times more skilled jobs are needed compared to landfills.
We need to invent new techniques to recycle plastics that we do not yet know how to treat, such as shampoo bottles, or to breed insects from our organic waste and transform them into animal protein by providing them to livestock farms’, he continued. ‘Inventing these new occupations represents a pool of jobs for the young people of tomorrow as well as skilled jobs that cannot be relocated!’
The circular economy of regions calls for regulation
Olivier Brousse recalled that with the implementation of a polluter pays principle, polluters will have to bear the cost of their pollution. This principle has existed in France for fifty years as everyone pays for the treatment of their wastewater. At the same time, to convince future generations to join ecological transformation occupations, new training courses must be offered.
We also need the creativity and risk-taking of start-ups to invent applications that don't yet exist, such as knowing the carbon footprint of products before buying them. In return, Veolia allows them to benefit from its international network by creating a dissemination ecosystem for ecological transformation innovations.’
Environmental occupations are social mobility
According to Olivier Brousse, the driving force behind environmental services companies like Veoliare is their employees.
According to Olivier Brousse, the driving force behind environmental services companies like Veoliare is their employees.
The Group also applies gender diversity in all positions of responsibility in its organisation in order to disseminate and spread this proactive policy on all its sites worldwide.
