Preserving Nature and our Quality of Life...
Our issues
Innovating at the Heart of Major Planet Issues
Planet issues now transcend economic priorities that dominated the world until the beginning of this millennium. Providing quality water for all, saving and recycling raw materials, developing alternative sources of energy, optimizing public transport, these imperatives require inventiveness, commitment, anticipation, responsibility and mobilization.
The role of Veolia Environnement research teams is to put forward, in specific areas, concrete and innovative answers to major issues pinpointed by the Group
Managing and Preserving Natural Resources
The air we breathe, life-sustaining water, fossil fuel that we rely on to build, create, progress, are limited.
Our research programs aim to address increasing water needs, via desalination for instance, improve end-of-product-life sorting and recycling, re-use beneficially the raw-material content of waste or cap energy consumption.
Illustration: Closing the Wastewater Loop.
Climate change and urban sprawl require a new approach to water resources. This is where re-using wastewater becomes an attractive idea, purifying industrial and domestic effluent in order to recharge groundwater.
The aim is to supply water to a guaranteed standard for farming, gardening, domestic use and eventually even drinking.
This form of sustainable development is already well underway in countries such as Israel, Australia and Spain.
Controlling Impact on Natural Environments
Fighting pollution is one of the major aims of the research we undertake. In order to preserve biodiversity and protect human health, we're applying now tomorrow's solutions for reducing pollutants and otherwise hazardous products in the atmosphere, water and ground.
Controlling greenhouse-gas emissions is of course one of the priorities of the Veolia Environnement Group.
Caring for Health and Living Environment
Current research focuses on the two areas of reducing threats to health and enhancing quality of life.
Solutions are being developed to combat disease associated with water contamination, e.g. gastroenteritis and legionellosis, with air-pollution, causing respiratory illness, and with public transport emissions. Concurrently, Veolia Environnement is looking into passenger comfort and travel information systems, alongside issues such as bathing-water quality.
Developing Alternative Energy Sources
In the fight against global warming, and also given the impending scarcity of fossil fuels, Veolia Environnement R & D is actively pursuing the alternative energy route. As the post-oil era dawns, investigation is vital into areas such as biomass re-use, biofuel and energy from waste, in order to be operational on a worldwide scale.
