This case study demonstrates a practical, scalable framework for advancing corporate environmental performance and commitment to ecological transformation.

About Veolia

Veolia is Northern Ireland’s leading environmental services company (and is part of the wider Veolia Group, which provides similar services across the world). The Group provides a comprehensive range of energy, waste, and water solutions, which are dedicated to a reduction in carbon, protecting the environment, and building the circular economy.

Through the expertise of operations, engineering and technology staff, Veolia in NI reduces the environmental impact of our customers’ activities while helping industrial companies, services organisations and the public sector to operate in a more efficient manner.

The issue

In Northern Ireland, our Veolia teams work directly on or manage customer sites. While our operational scope on customer sites limits our ability to undertake large-scale biodiversity initiatives, we were committed to optimising the management of existing green spaces and actively promoting environmental stewardship among site staff, customers and suppliers.

What Veolia did

In 2022 Veolia launched a new initiative in Ireland & Northern Ireland called “Biodiversity in Action” to showcase its environmental performance ambitions and commitment to ecological transformation. This project is part of Veolia’s commitment to delivering value for our five key stakeholder groups – known as Multifaceted Performance (MFP). These groups include Planet, Customers and Society.

The project’s key objective was to: Transform sites, one Biodiversity Action at a time.

To achieve this goal, Veolia site teams were initially asked to undertake two main steps:

• Develop a Biodiversity Baseline audit: This involved creating a site map, a description of the site and its operations, a review of its habitats, and detail of the current management of those areas.
• Implement a “Year 1” biodiversity action: Sites committed to one action in the first year, such as:
  • displaying a Biodiversity Board with local Biodiversity information,
  • nominating a site representative to join a Veolia NI&I Biodiversity Group, or
  • creating a new biodiversity feature. Examples of features included reducing mowing frequency on larger green spaces, participation in ‘No Mow May’, installing bat/bird boxes, reducing the use of pesticides, or planting pollinator-friendly planters to create ecological corridors.

The Biodiversity Baseline for each site is reviewed annually, and each year we add a new feature or action.

Since 2022, we have introduced Biodiversity training for all our teams and mark World Environment Day with a Biodiversity Initiative.  We hold an annual ‘Biodiversity Sustainability Sessions’ for our Team where we invite internal and external speakers to talk about Biodiversity

A core mandate is the development and execution of Ecological Management Plans for Veolia-managed sites to safeguard biodiversity, eliminate the use of pesticides, and regenerate local resources.

Our teams have advanced their work through our dedication to both the BITCNI Business and Biodiversity Charter and the NI Environmental Benchmarking Survey.

Our consistent, incremental efforts have fostered increased Nature and Biodiversity awareness within our teams year after year, empowering them to take ownership and proactive measures to preserve and promote biodiversity.

By utilising the Biodiversity Baselines, we successfully progressed a number of our sites toward the more ambitious Veolia Green Spaces Charter. This internal operational framework, created in partnership with the French IUCN Committee, formalises sustainable and environmentally responsible land management.

“Veolia’s team in Northern Ireland is leading the way in terms of biodiversity. We regularly draw on their experience to support Veolia teams in Britain and Ireland” – Phil Farrow, Environmental Manager, Veolia Northern Europe