We are committed to reducing our own carbon footprint, while also delivering practical, scalable solutions for our commercial, industrial and municipal customers.
Performance Metrics
Metric | UN Sustainable Development Goal | 2023 North America Result | 2024 North America Result | 2025 North America Result | 2025 North America Target |
% Reduction in Scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions vs prior year | 13: Climate Action | New for 2024 | 5% | 11%* | ≥ 5% |
CAPEX spent on decarbonization | 13: Climate Action | New for 2024 | $11M | $0.7M | $1.4M |
Biodiversity action plan progress | 14: Life Below Water 15: Life on Land | 82% | 55% | 71% | ≥ 68% |
% efficiency of drinking water networks | 6. Clean Water and Sanitation | 76% | 84% | 83% | ≥ 80% |
*Before operational control methodology change
Our Climate Commitment
In August 2025, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) revalidated Veolia Group’s short-term emissions reduction targets for 2032 (50% reduction for scopes 1 and 2 and 30% reduction for at least 67% of scope 3 by 2032 compared to 2021) and recorded the Group’s commitment to reduce its long-term emissions to at least 90% by 2050. This validation is part of a broader approach, with Veolia’s climate action plan that aligns with an ‘Advanced’ rating from Moody’s in June 2024. The Veolia Group thus demonstrates its ongoing commitment, with an investment of €650 million in its climate strategy between 2018 and 2024, and an additional commitment of €950 million by 2030.
Governance and Reduction Roadmap
Our decarbonization efforts are directed by a steering committee composed of leaders from strategy, technical, finance and business divisions. This committee leverages expertise from the global Veolia Group, maintains direct accountability to our regional CEO and strives to make principle-based decisions that reflect scientific accuracy and transparency.
We calculate our reported emissions with field data where possible, rather than on estimates or emission factors. As part of our continuous improvement in our monitoring and reporting, this year we have moved to observed stack data for our incinerators, bringing increased accuracy to our emissions database.
Our execution plans for the region’s scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction roadmap focuses on three key pillars that guide our current strategy and future focus:
Operational Efficiency and Employee Engagement
Renewable Energy
Carbon Capture
Scope 1 and 2 Greenhouse Gas Emissions
2025 marks the third year Veolia’s North America region is reporting its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the zone level. Veolia Group has quantified and reported global scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions for decades. We are committed to transparency in how we report emissions changes, and distinguish between reductions from portfolio decisions and those driven by operational changes. Both will continue to be relevant to our footprint over time.
In 2025, our absolute emissions decreased compared to the prior year. A significant portion of this reduction is from a divestiture of assets that, by the nature of their operations, carried a high emissions profile. We anticipate our emissions will increase in 2026 as we integrate acquired businesses into our portfolio. This growth will naturally increase our number of sites, employees and emissions, however we also anticipate that it will improve the nature of our business and allow us to provide more sustainable solutions for waste management.
At the beginning of 2026, the steering team refined how we report our CAPEX spending on decarbonization projects to better reflect our commitment to decarbonization efforts. Many of these projects are financed through other means, so for our 2026 report we will expand this number to highlight all decarbonization investment.
Actual Scope 1 and 2 Emissions in CO2e for 2023, 2024 and 2025 (kT)
Scope 3 Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Indirect Emissions
Scope 3 emissions — those generated outside our direct operations — are included in Veolia Group’s global commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 and represent one of the most complex frontiers in corporate climate accounting. In 2025, we made progress on three fronts, outlined below.
All three programs were chosen deliberately: they operate where we have reliable data and real influence. We believe that credible scope 3 action starts with measurement you can stand behind, and we are building toward broader Scope 3 commitments from that foundation.
Scope 3, Category 4: Upstream Transportation and Distribution
We have taken significant strides to substitute rail for truck transport when feasible and will continue that progress. In 2025, we earned a BNSF Railway Sustainability Award for our efforts to increase transport of customer waste to our incineration facilities by rail.
Scope 3, Category 5: Waste Generated in Operations:
We launched a pilot program to calculate the Scope 3 disposal emissions of a client’s waste streams — work that, if successful, will allow us and our clients to make genuinely better decisions about waste disposal together.
Scope 3, Category 6: Business Travel
We completed a rigorous analysis of our Category 6 business travel emissions, establishing a replicable baseline that allows us to track and optimize travel-related emissions year over year. This work directly compliments our reforestation program at Gum Springs, and is already underway.
Scope 4 Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Avoided Emissions
Scope 4 emissions, or avoided emissions, represent the emissions savings a business makes for other emissions not currently accounted for under scopes 1, 2 or 3. For environmental service companies, scope 4 emissions create a paradox. Their scope 1 and 2 emissions footprint may increase as they help clients reduce their emissions and create a net reduction in total emissions across an operation.
This topic will become more relevant as the cost of carbon increases, and companies implement more expansive emissions reduction projects. Scope 4 emissions reductions are included in the Customers section of our report.
Globally, Veolia continues to advocate for a formal standard for scope 4 emissions reporting. Scope 4 emissions are essential to help us measure the impact we have for our customers through providing operations and maintenance services for their facilities.
Climate Risk Management and Adaptation
We must also recognize that climate change creates physical risks like flooding, droughts, heat waves, sea level rise and water stress that can disrupt service, damage infrastructure, reduce quality, increase costs and affect working conditions. Managing these challenges, including the transition risks associated with climate mitigation and the physical impacts of climate change, is at the very core of our mission and strategic plan.
To directly address these physical impacts, in 2025 we conducted a Climate Resiliency Pilot Study for Stonington’s wastewater infrastructure in Connecticut. Using the internationally recognized OCARA methodology (aligned with ISO 14090:2019 and ISO 14091:2021), we evaluated the system’s vulnerability to six priority hazards, including critical threats such as sea level rise and severe coastal flooding. Strengthened by collaborative partnerships with the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation (CIRCA) and the Stonington Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA), the study provided the town with targeted, cost-estimated adaptation actions.
Climate adaptation is essential to maintaining reliable, affordable and safe service for our customers and communities, and this report is a foundational step in strengthening understanding and long-term resilience.
Our Environmental Management System
We seek to meet and exceed all regulatory requirements for environmental performance through our robust environmental management system. Deployed across our operating sites, the system ensures a holistic approach to environmental management and documentation. It is closely aligned with the ISO 14001 environmental management standards. Four of our hazardous waste facilities in the United States, and one in Canada, are ISO 14001 certified, meaning that their facility management system has been validated by a third-party auditor.
The main principles of the VNA environmental management system are:
Creating, reviewing and implementing action plans to achieve environmental objectives and reduce environmental and operational risk
Analyses of operational environmental impacts
Company wide environmental awareness and competence
Regular auditing of the environmental management system
Regular management review
A core focus for the years 2025 and 2026 is continuously improving the environmental auditing program across the region by setting up working groups for our compliance calendar, auditing, Water Information Management System (WIMS) software and global reporting. Over 70 qualified environmental, health and safety auditors in North America continually assess and recommend improvements to the region’s environmental performance.
Another important part of the company’s environmental system is the management and corrective action for high-risk incidents. The company’s management system emphasizes the importance of reporting and learning from potential incidents, as well as active incidents, using the Root Cause Failure Analysis (RCFA) methodology. During 2025, 84% of level 3 and higher incidents were analyzed with RCFAs, and corrective action recommendations were communicated across the region.
Water Conservation
In 2025, our efforts focused on modernizing our water treatment facilities to better address emerging contaminants like PFAS, expanding our use of artificial intelligence (AI) and our Hubgrade digital solutions to make operations more efficient and sustainable, and strengthening our partnerships with national and state organizations to directly meet the needs of our communities.
We also invested heavily in the development of the water industry’s workforce, providing opportunities for employees and future employees to obtain necessary skills to keep these essential services running.
Biodiversity
As an environmental services company, we recognize that our activities depend on healthy, functioning ecosystems, and that protecting and restoring nature is both a responsibility and a foundation for the communities we serve. Our biodiversity strategy is managed in all of our business units through three programs:
- The Sensitive Sites program improves biodiversity through targeted interventions recommended by ecologists.
- The Ecological Management program transitions sites toward environmentally respectful practices, including green infrastructure solutions tailored to each site.
- The Zero Phytosanitary Products program eliminates chemical pesticide and herbicide use in outdoor company-managed green spaces.
Some of these programs overlap: The 15 Sensitive Sites are included within the 48 Ecological Management Sites, which are included in the 64 Zero Phytosanitary Products Sites. We track site-level progress and action plans centrally through our Biodiversity Dashboard.
In 2025, our Sensitive Sites program achieved 71% progress, exceeding the ≥68% target and improving from 55% in 2024.
Hazardous Waste Management
2025 marked a year of rapid growth for Veolia in North America, especially in our hazardous waste business with key acquisitions to support the Group’s goal to double the size of our business in North America by 2030. With each of these acquisitions, we bring our services closer to our customers with more supply chain flexibility and sustainable transportation. They also generate new opportunities to provide beneficial reuse of wastes, like chemical reuse and e-waste, building upon our knowledge, experience and technology to deliver services that protect people and the environment.
