Veolia

With three business segments water, waste & energy Veolia is a key player in the circular economy. The Circular Economy Act represents a major opportunity to enhance the existing regulatory framework for waste, creating a genuine market for recycled materials and ensuring fair competition with virgin and fossil-based materials.

Filed in French · English published by the European Commission

Europe needs an industrial policy that simultaneously delivers decarbonisation, resilience and strategic autonomy. In this context, Veolia welcomes the presentation of the Industrial Accelerator Act. Veolia supports in particular the Commissions choice to include local content and/or low-carbon criteria in public procurement and public support schemes, for some strategic sectors.

Veolia welcomes the European Commission's initiative to review the EU Taxonomy Environmental Delegated Act. We share the goal of reducing the reporting burden and associated administrative costs stemming from EU regulations, while fully supporting the overall direction of the Green Deal.

Veolia welcomes the Commissions intent to review the EU taxonomy environmental delegated act, and our company shares the ambition to reduce the burden and the administrative costs associated with reporting obligations derived from EU rules, while not changing course with the direction of travel as set out in the Green Deal.

Veolia welcomes the Commissions intent to review the EU taxonomy climate delegated act, and our company shares the ambition to reduce the burden and the administrative costs associated with reporting obligations derived from EU rules, while not changing course with the direction of travel as set out in the Green Deal.

The heating and cooling sector represents significant decarbonization potential in Europe, accounting for 50% of energy consumption and 27% of CO emissions. District heating and cooling (DHC) networks currently serve over 7 million Europeans, with 42.6% of energy sourced from renewables and waste heat.

To enhance Eu independence from fossil fuels and geopolitical tensions, the European Union should accelerate the deployment of energy sources as well as energy efficiency. Veolia is the global champion of ecological transformation with a strong footprint in Europe providing flexibility solutions to district heating and cooling networks, manages energy efficiency projects for buildings and industries, operates…

Veolia welcomes the Commissions initiative to review the EU taxonomy climate delegated act, and our company shares the ambition to reduce the burden and the administrative costs associated with reporting obligations derived from EU rules, while not changing course with the direction of travel as set out in the Green Deal. You will find our contribution attached.

In December 2025, the European Commission presented a Communication on Accelerating Europe's transition to a circular economy to boost plastic circularity (the 'Winter Package') as the EU response to the crisis faced by plastics recyclers.

Veolia is firmly opposed to the proposed fuel exempt accounting methodology, which jeopardizes the credibility of recycling industry The Single Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) is targeting the implementation of a circular economy for plastics, based on a robust traceability, driven by the effective implementation of circular polymers back in the PET and beverage bottles offered to the European consumers.

The heating and cooling sector represents enormous decarbonisation potential, accounting for half of Europe's energy consumption and 27% of CO emissions. District heating and cooling networks already deliver clean energy to over 77 million Europeans, with 42.6% of their energy sourced from renewables and waste heat (Source EHP).

Veolia recommends that the future EU Water Resilience Research and Innovation Strategy focus on two priorities: accelerating the transition from innovation to commercial deployment, and targeting strategic needs for a resilient, circular and sovereign water economy.

The European Digital Action Plan for the water sector presents a strategic opportunity to enhance EU competitiveness. As the digital share of the value chain grows, Europe faces both unprecedented opportunity and critical challenge: greater dependence on foreign technologies could lead to value leakage outside Europe and weaken the EU's industrial base, sovereignty and long-term economic performance.

Ensuring environmental security has become critical for resilience and sovereignty at all territorial levels. In this volatile international context, protecting the European common market from energy disruptions is a prerequisite for maintaining industrial competitiveness.

In February 2025, the Clean Industrial Deal set rules to enhance decarbonisation and competitiveness of the EU Common Market, aiming to position Europe as the leader of the circular economy by 2030. With a presence in 17 Member States and more than 131,000 employees within the European Union, Veolia, the world leader in environmental services across water, waste and energy, is a key European player in this…