Who is a Suez veteran? Who was at Veolia? Almost three years after the acquisition of the number two environmental services company by the number one, consummated on January 18, 2022 at the end of an epic stock market battle, these questions seem incongruous. “We don’t talk about that anymore.”destroys Daniel Smid, a Hungarian engineer from Suez. “Suez or Veolia, that is no longer the issue. Now the job is to get the best out of each one”underlines Annabelle Mouquet, ex-Veolia.
Certainly, integration was facilitated by the fact that Suez retained its independence in France, where the two brothers who are enemies of water and waste still cultivate a healthy hatred. Abroad, these susceptibilities were less common. This is especially true in the water technology sector, where Veolia has especially found in its wedding basket GE Waters, the subsidiary of General Electric that its rival had acquired in 2017 for 3.4 billion dollars (3.1 billion euros). .
At the time, Antoine Frérot, then CEO of Veolia, did not want to participate in the auction to acquire the king of filtration membranes because he considered that the price was too high: now the nugget is at the center of the champion of the ecological transition. because it is “new solutions”Combined with Veolia’s know-how, particularly in managing complex projects, it responds to growing needs around the world. “When we talk about adaptation to climate change, the first question is water: if there is too much, if it is not enough, if it is not at the right time, if it is not of the right quality”says Estelle Brachlianoff, who took over as CEO of Veolia in July 2022, while Frérot will retain the presidency.
“A data center consumes more water than six Olympic swimming pools a day”
In response to the scarcity of this resource, innovative treatment techniques, based on membrane filtration and other disinfections, aim to reuse or desalinize it at an affordable energy cost. The clients are local authorities, including States such as Morocco, which signed with Veolia, on Tuesday, October 29, during Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Rabat, a contract to “Develop a seawater desalination project that will be the second largest in the world” while the kingdom suffers its worst drought in forty years.
But three-quarters of sales are made to manufacturers who want to optimize their use of water, whether in a lithium mine or a petrochemical complex. Not to mention pharmacies or microelectronics, which have a vital need for ultrapure water for their production. “A data center consumes more water than the equivalent of six Olympic swimming pools a day”specifies Anne Le Guennec, who took over the management of Veolia Water Technologies in April 2023. And to add: “No industry works without water. »
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