Water Company of the Year
Aqualia
What is it?
A Spanish water operator, contractor, project developer and technology company with a global reach spanning Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Latin America.
What has it done?
It increased the number of people it served by 10 million in 2022, showing a dynamism and creativity that none of its competitors were able to match.
What makes it special?
Aqualia offers something different that its customers clearly love. In 2022 it renewed nearly 100% of its domestic concessions, while winning new contracts both at home and in France – the most competitive water market in the world.
Aqualia innovates in every direction: technological, financial, environmental, and social. It has long been the European Union’s biggest partner in water research; in 2022 it secured a ground-breaking €1.1 billion green corporate loan; it delivered impressive emissions reductions through its sustainability plan; and it developed new pricing structures to guarantee access to water and sanitation for all.
In 2022, the world could not get enough of Aqualia. Its ability to deploy capital at scale, its action-oriented devotion to sustainability, its cutting-edge expertise across the entire water cycle, and its willingness to listen proved irresistible to customers and partners across the world. Together, they helped Aqualia seize some of the most sought-after opportunities in the global water market, including the north and south cluster contracts in Saudi Arabia, and the purchase of utility interests in Georgia and Colombia.
Distinction
Veolia
What is it?
A giant French company which has placed itself at the front line of the ecological transition.
What has it done?
In 2022 it united 250,000 people who were once bitter competitors behind a single cause: creating a more sustainable future for the world. Thanks to the personal engagement of every one of them, the company was able to deliver 14.1% organic revenue growth over the year, while exceeding its social and environmental goals.
What makes it special?
No one at Veolia took their eye off the ball in 2022. The company delivered some great contract wins which show the true breadth and versatility of its expertise. Veolia secured deals for a water reclamation plant serving a Samsung semiconductor fab in Texas; an energy-from-waste plant for a dairy in Turkey; a brine management complex for Neom in Saudi Arabia; and a biorefinery in Montpellier that produces twice as much energy as it consumes.
Veolia isn’t a normal company any more. It is a group of talented people who are driven by a passion for what they do: decarbonising, depolluting, and regenerating. Employee commitment grew from 84% before the merger to 89% afterwards, according to an independent survey. Furthermore, employee share ownership has increased from 1.8% to 6.5%. And customers are noticing: Veolia’s net promoter score rose from 41 to 44 over the period of the merger.
Before the merger, Veolia chairman Antoine Frérot said: “A business is prosperous because it is useful, and not the other way around”. This very simple concept of being useful to the world as we confront the realities of climate change, water scarcity, and environmental degradation remains at the heart of what it means to be Veolia. And it is essential to our future.