Real sustainability goals for SUEZ

The water industry faces sustainability, affordability, and infrastructure development challenges today. SUEZ Australia and New Zealand is here to support utilities and councils as they become more sustainable.

“WE ARE TARGETING practical actions, which benefit the planet and future generations,” said Eric Garcin, Innovation and Performance General Manager at SUEZ Australia and New Zealand (ANZ).

The SUEZ Group unveiled its sustainable development goals for 2027 and beyond earlier this year. As part of that, the company has 24 commitments and 43 key performance indicators (KPIs) that

“Having discrete KPIs around energy and emission impacts is important for us to move forward,” said Garcin. “We are focusing on our sustainability roadmap and activities as well as assessing plans, actions, and measurements. It all starts from properly measuring the impacts of our activities.”

Garcin has been with SUEZ for decades, starting from his original work experience position at the

SUEZ’s sustainability roadmap aims to rejuvenate the Australian landscape, fostering a thriving ecosystem understanding of the technologies SUEZ uses around the world.

“Utilities and wastewater treatment plants worldwide face a range of challenges, each with different circumstances and solutions,” he said. “SUEZ has to consider the economic and regulatory drivers that will impact each project. Australia, for example, has a unique environment with a population spread out over large distances and a regulatory system changing across multiple jurisdictions.

Built into structure

The roadmap’s success hinges on SUEZ’s ability to structure its actions around a strong common ambition. The company can forge partnerships and collaborations that transcend geographical boundaries to achieve actionable outcomes by aligning its initiatives with this collective vision. Through these alliances, SUEZ seeks to maximise the impact of its sustainable practices, contributing to a more sustainable future on a global scale.

“We have three main pillars in our sustainability roadmap,” said Garcin. “Climate is the first one.

Nature is the second one – nature in the sense of biodiversity. The third is social or community. It looks at what we would have qualified under corporate social responsibility for communities.”

One of SUEZ’s biggest challenges is navigating the fine line between affordability and outcomes. Garcin and the teams in SUEZ are seeking the right tools and approach to deliver the right solutions in an affordable way. Despite this test, everyone across SUEZ is looking to reduce the impact of its clients’ activities on the environment.

“For us, being carbon neutral is not the goal,” said Garcin. “There are plenty of companies out there that are approaching carbon neutrality, but they are achieving it through offsets and certificates. They are not making real efforts to reduce their carbon footprint. SUEZ wants to work in a way that contributes to carbon neutrality while providing a positive impact. That means switching to green sources of energy, for example. It’s not about spending money on offsets and certificates. Hopefully, this action will be a positive step forward for moving into a true carbon-neutral society and economy.”

Green infrastructure

SUEZ has been at the forefront of green infrastructure in Australia for several years. One example is the Boneo wastewater treatment plant, one of the most advanced treatment plants in the world.

“SUEZ has a range of new technologies targeting carbon neutrality within the plant,” said Garcin. “By working on methods to minimise the negative externalities, SUEZ is at the cutting-edge of technology for the circular economy.

The goal is to reduce the plant’s energy use while finding value from the products generated from the treatment process.”

Boneo has advanced technology for wastewater treatment and biosolids.

Garcin pointed to the work being done on sidestream anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) that will reduce the plant’s energy footprint.

Another aspect of green infrastructure is the location of wastewater treatment plants. Garcin spoke about the different situations facing Australia and Europe.

“Australia has a lower population density than most cities in Europe. As a result, most of the wastewater of cities and suburban areas,” he said. “However, that’s not the case in Europe. European cities tend to be denser, so wastewater treatment plants can be found throughout the city or even the CBD. As a result, SUEZ must spend more time and effort ensuring that the wastewater treatment plants are well-integrated into the landscape.”

When integrating a wastewater treatment plant into an urban environment, SUEZ must consider reduced emissions, odour, and noise. Another method involves incorporating vegetation into the surroundings to expand its natural appearance. In some cases, the plants have been installed underground.

Recovering by-products

“The third driver SUEZ considers when it comes to green infrastructure would be the circular economy,” he said. “We need to look at all the waste and consider them as by-products. By-products have value, so we want to find how to return those valuable resources to the economy. Ideally, we can generate value both economically and environmentally.”

Garcin pointed to the recovery of phosphorus that is taking place around Australia. With imported phosphorus doubling in price over the past 18 months, a new approach was needed.

“SUEZ is running successful trials of the technology in Australia that it has deployed in Europe,” said Garcin. “The trials show that providing recycled phosphorus will be more economical than mining the product. Right now, the quantities extracted from wastewater treatment plants are insufficient for Australia’s fertiliser industry. However, it’s one way to reduce the volume imported and the associated emissions associated with importation.”

Smart metering and IoT

SUEZ has embraced smart metering, helping water authorities revolutionise monitoring and managing resources. The company empowers clients to gain real-time insights into their consumption patterns by deploying digital water solutions. This enables informed decisions and fosters a culture of responsible resource usage; a fundamental component of its sustainability outcomes.

“The main driver of smart metering technologies is to support reductions in consumption,” he said. “It helps utilities and end-users by reducing leaks and non-revenue water. It also helps utilities to get a better view of the network by picking up leaks. Giving consumers access to their consumption data in a near real-time fashion is driving changes in consumption.”

Garcin pointed to the apps created for Singapore’s Public Utilities Board (PUB) with the support of SUEZ. Gamification is adding game mechanics into non-game environments to engage with consumers, employees, and partners to inspire, collaborate, share, and interact.

The objective of WaterGoWhere was to give insights into households’ water use patterns, habits, and motivations behind water-saving. This would help and reward users for improving water usage.

It is driven by the “Vision for a Smart Nation where people are empowered by technology to improve living” from Singapore’s Smart Nation program. The WaterGoWhere platform uses smart metering to measure the water consumed, also known as advanced metering infrastructure. This infrastructure analysing the data provides personalised challenges and tries to change the user’s behaviour to help preserve the region’s water resources.

“We use apps like WaterGoWhere for residents to measure their water consumption,” said Garcin. “They can compare their water use to their neighbours, block, street, or even suburb. There are different ways to drive consumer behaviour, but adapting to the different culture and needs of the utilities are key. Finding a way to leverage the data is vital, and this is a virtuous approach. It can be applied to commercial, industrial and residential customers.”

Sustainable Development Roadmap at SUEZ

SUEZ ANZ is looking at multiple ways to expand its sustainability development roadmap. The company is dedicated to providing essential water and wastewater services while protecting the environment. The common ambition guides its actions while avoiding some “traditional” methods of assessing progress.

“We’re not looking at using market mechanisms,” said Garcin. “When we look at our emissions KPIs, we focus on more precise objectives like using green energy. SUEZ also has KPIs around energy production within its wastewater treatment and waste-to-energy plants. While it’s not a big focus in Australia, it is in Europe and South Africa. It means that we need to find a balance between the energy the treatment plants produce and use. It’s why SUEZ is looking at the net benefit of emissions.”

By increasing the portion of green electricity outside of certificates and market mechanisms, SUEZ works across multiple aspects within the three pillars of its Sustainability Development Roadmap.

“What SUEZ does when it comes to climate is clear. However, what SUEZ does under the nature pillar is not as obvious as people may first consider. We have objectives and precise measurements for the renaturalisation of soil within our sites, both new and existing. There’s also an objective around artificialised environments. That means developing a natural environment that allows water to permeate the ground. Concrete needs to be removed, and roads need to be permeable,” said Garcin.

Other objectives under the nature pillar involve light pollution and fugitive emissions. Some facilities managed by SUEZ must deal with scope one emissions, primarily methane and nitrous oxide. Specific actions to reduce these emissions can also be found in the waste industry.

“When it comes to the nature pillar at the Victorian Desalination Plant, SUEZ has significant commitments to maintain and expand the reserve’s ecology around the site,” he said.

“It’s an extensive site that is open to the public, so SUEZ has significant objectives for planting native trees and vegetation while also maintaining the grounds. The idea is to encourage more biodiversity through the site.

When it comes to looking after people, SUEZ requires its facilities to engage with the local communities. That can incorporate business and work opportunities for the local community and increased proportions of local procurement. Other objectives consider training for diversity and inclusion in its workforce.

“It’s about trying to find real actions that bring real benefits. SUEZ is developing solutions and making them available to all its clients and all utilities, after it has tried and validated them. We want to be satisfied in year one, but we still want to be satisfied in year 20. When these solutions have demonstrated value, we are happy to present them to other clients.”

For more information, visit www.suez.com/en/australia-newzealand