Veolia Environnement SA (VIE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Presentation] Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, hello. It is a pleasure to being here to meet with you once again for our Annual Shareholders' Meeting at the Maison de la Mutualité. I would like to thank our shareholders very warmly, those of you present in the room and also all of you who voted online. I'd also like to thank you if you are following us online for our Annual Shareholders' Meeting. I have here with me Maryse Aulagnon. She is the referent of our Board of Directors and President of her Committee on Remuneration; Estelle K. Brachlianoff, our Director General and Administrator of Veolia; Mr. Claude Laruelle, who is Deputy General Director in charge of Finance, Digital and Purchasing; and Helman le Pas de Sécheval, Secretary General and Secretary of the Board of Directors. Why don't we jump right in with our Shareholders' Meeting, and I will ask Helman le Pas de Sécheval to expose the legal formalities for opening our Shareholders' Meeting.

Willingly. Dear shareholders, hello. Our Shareholders' Meeting is chaired by Antoine Frerot. The general assembly was convened today, the 25th of April 2024, in keeping with Article 22 of our bylaws. It has been published in the official gazette on the 20th of March 2024. An invitation was published on the 8th of March 2024 as well as a personal letter sent out to all shareholders. So we have an example here of our bylaws of the official gazette, the convocation that was sent out to shareholders and the account auditor, our presence sheet, which will be certified by the bureau, and shareholders can still join the general assembly up until 4:00 pm, all the various reports to our shareholders as well as a copy of the documents made available to shareholders at the headquarters of our company. So all of this is made available in keeping with the official times, namely through the website of Veolia under the heading of General Assembly. So we will not read all of these reports. And I will now read our agenda. We will begin with resolutions coming under the remit of the Shareholders' Meetings 1 to 16 on approving accounts for 2023: approve the consolidated accounts; affecting the results of the exercise and paying of dividends; approving the conventions and regulated affairs; renewing the mandate of Isabelle Courville, the Board of Directors; the renewal of Mr. Guillaume Texier; the appointment of Madame Julia Marton-Lefèvre as a director; the appointment of KPMG as auditor for sustainability information; the appointment of Ernst & Young as auditors in terms of sustainability; the remuneration paid out in 2023 to Antoine Frerot, President of the Board of Directors; remuneration paid out in 2023 to Estelle Brachlianoff, Director General; the remuneration in 2023 of the members of the Board of Directors apart from the Chairman and Director General; the remuneration policy in 2024 for the Chair of the Board of Directors; the remuneration policy for the Director General; the remuneration policy of the Board of Directors for 2024; and the authorization to be given to the Board of Directors to operate. Concerning resolutions coming under the remit of the extraordinary general assembly, which must be approved by a qualified majority, so resolution 17 to 19: to delegate to the Board of Directors all necessary powers to increase the capital of our company or one of its affiliates by issuing bonds or selling real estate or maintaining the preferential voting rights; emitting shares without preferential voting rights by public offer; emitting shares without preferential subscription rights to the public but with the restricted circle of investors. Resolution 20, which would authorize the Board of Directors to issue shares, giving access to capital without any special voting rights by way of payment in nature; also a capital increase with or without preferential voting rights, preferential subscription rights. This is the green shoe in financial language. We've also requested for resolution 22 to 26 to delegate to your Board of Directors the necessary powers to increase the capital through the resolution 22 and increase the capital by giving access to your capital for those who have company savings plans; increase the capital of our company, giving access to the capital to categories of people with no special issuing rights. These are for our employees who were not able to subscribe to the employee shareholder plan, providing shares to people who have earned them in one way or another. This is for performance-based bonuses and to reduce the capital by self-owned shares, modifying Article 10 of our bylaws on the rights and obligations of shareholders. And lastly, resolution 28 aims to delegate the powers to undertake all legal formalities. Now for the appointment of the bureau, in accordance with the bylaws, we are here to -- we have Mr. [ Charlie Dubreuil ], who will be our scrutator representing Amundi; Jean-Yves Auzeby, representing the shareholder employees. And they have the most votes, and this gentleman has also expressed his agreement to check the votes. I will be the Secretary of the Bureau of the General Assembly. And let me say all the debates of our general assembly are public and that we will be recorded. And the recording will be retransmitted on the website of our company. And there are also a number of non-shareholders such as journalists and a ministerial officer in charge of ensuring that everything is done in accordance with the law. The regular Shareholders' Meeting is considered legal when we have at least 1/4 of the shareholders with the voting rights, so 170 million shares, present shareholders or those who are represented or voted by post. 504,703,685 shares have been voted for 9,857 shareholders. So this is a quorum of 70.79%. Therefore, our general assembly is legally constituted and can deliberate on the business of the day, both for the general assembly and for the extraordinary general assembly. And that is it for our formalities.

Thank you very much. And thank you, Helman. So let's look at the second video. [Presentation]

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, as I said by way of introduction, it is always a pleasure to see you every year at our general meeting, first, because every year makes me even prouder to be part of the Veolia adventure, and this is something I can say ever more freely now because I no longer occupy an executive role; and second, because I'm very happy to meet with you so that all together, we can look back over the past year and look to the future in the coming years; and lastly, because we live in a world filled with uncertainty and the regularity of our annual get-together is an anchor that gives meaning to the journey we share, and it's safe to say that the world we live in appears with each passing year to be sinking even further into uncertainty. So first of all, geopolitical uncertainty. The return of high-intensity arm conflict on European soil, something my generation thought we would never see, sounded the death toll of what was turned at the end of history. The reactivation of the conflict between Israel and Palestine will doubtlessly have far-reaching effects on the region and therefore on the rest of the world. And increasing tensions in Asia, also a few concerns that the walls may be breached in that part of the world, too. And we don't know where the next fire will break out. But there is a very good chance that the flames will not be distinguished anytime soon. There's also political uncertainty. Almost 10 years ago now, Brexit opened a floodgate in the universe of possibilities, and populist leaders have poured through. What appeared impossible just a few years ago is no longer impossible. Certainties no longer actually have a place in the world. This alone is a paradigm shift. There's also economic uncertainty. The COVID pandemic had a devastating effect on the decades-long move toward globalized trade. Borders have come back into force, and blocks have formed, waging economic warfare almost openly. Okay. There is enthusiasm created by the dizzying speed of technological advances, particularly those driven by the artificial intelligence revolution. And on the other hand, we see the emerging economies, which are destabilized by fragmented logistics change and the return of inflation. What these different forms of uncertainty you have in common is the fragmentation they cause. They combine and they feed into each other. Populists build their demagogy on economic hardship. Nationalists warm themselves on the fire of conflict. Economies are hard hit by what experts term asymmetric shocks geographically and also in specific sectors. One country's loss paradoxically is another country's gain. The heightened energy prices, for example, which causes problems for some parts of the German production model also allows United States to increase their energy exports. And longer lead times and increasing complexity in supply chains means that highly specialized sectors, actors suffer, but global logistics businesses thrive. From all of these upheavals, I draw 3 main conclusions. The first is that the context I'm describing is a breeding ground for the resurgence of mistrust, people looking for the easy way out and even cynical speculation. And we need to respond to all of this with perseverance and stability and growth. The second lesson I would draw from this is related to environmental uncertainty because paradoxically, it's actually a unifying force in a sea of swirling currents. The question isn't to know whether it will or not materialize, this ecological disaster, but rather how quickly and where. Every country is concerned, whether by flooding or storms or fires or the 3 at once. There are no borders here. The air we breathe is the same for everyone. Pollution of the oceans affects the entire planet. Declining biodiversity represents a long-term threat to the balance of all of our ecosystems. Fortunately, and this is my -- the third lesson that I wish to share with you. Luckily, Veolia is perfectly equipped to navigate the choppy waters of these changing times. First, because we have solid foundations, 170 years. 170 years, ladies and gentlemen, of struggle and development have forged a strong identity, anchoring each and every one of our employees in a sense of belonging and engagement. And this is of a particular residence in a period when the search for a meeting has become a necessity. Thanks to many years of hard work, our business has become the global champion of the ecological transformation. This is a position which has been strengthened by our merger with Suez. And I am particularly happy to be able to say that this has fulfilled all of the promises that I made at the time. Our economic profile seems to have been invented specifically to adapt to the asymmetric effect I mentioned. On the one hand, our public service activities on behalf of the local authorities are long term in nature, marked by stability and controlled profitability that allows us to absorb inflation and protects us from nasty surprises that the economy can spring. And on the other hand, the position we've taken in new and highly technical activities such as hazardous waste processing, recycling electric batteries, trading micro-pollutants in the water provides us with true growth drivers in fields where barriers to entry are very real. This means that we can make rapid progress even when the economic outlook is gloomy, and it's the same well-balanced profile that comes into play regarding our geographic footprint. While one part of the world slows down, we can benefit from acceleration in a different region. When the wind drops here, we have our sails out to catch it somewhere else. And secondly, because we're useful, and the usefulness of our role has never been decisive. Every gram of carbon that we prevent from being emitted, each liter of water that we reuse, each ton of waste that we recycle is an element of stability that we bring to the challenging environment that I've described. Our customers know this. They feel its effect every day, from major corporations that task us with processing hazardous waste to small municipalities we provide with an essential water distribution service. And this is also what explains the very high level of engagement displayed by Veolia's resources. And lastly, because we are one of the only businesses capable of tackling the flood of contradictory injunctions that swamp public and private actors, improve living standards, but reduce pollution, especially emission, reduce prices but ramp up investments, maintain economic profitability but simultaneously drive the ecological transformation. All of these injunctions lie at the heart of our expertise. Where many see difficulties, we see opportunities. Where the world is divided, we bring unity. And this is why, ladies and gentlemen, the message I would like to share with you today is one of clear-sighted optimism. It would be irresponsible to close our eyes to current and future upheavals, but it would be wrong to give up when our business has so much to offer. Veolia is unquestionably a business like no other, and your continued faith and our collective adventure demonstrates that you already know this. Yes, we will have more battles to fight and victories to win, but we've never been as well positioned as we are today to tackle the tasks ahead of us. So thank you, Estelle Brachlianoff. You have already proven that you are exactly the right leader for Veolia in these stormy times, where we need to forge ahead armed with belief and determination. I would also like to thank all of the employees of our group. They give our adventure meaning, an impact, and they give Veolia its uniqueness. And most importantly, I would like to thank you, our loyal shareholders, who ensure that our group has the resources to develop, to fight, to grow and to be useful to the greatest possible number of people. Thank you for your attention.

Ladies and gentlemen, hello. I'm Frédérique Bedos. I'm a journalist, and I have the great pleasure to present a very long sequence on 2 topics which are at the heart of the strategy and the reason that Veolia and -- which combined together. This is the multifaceted performance in relation with stakeholders. I'm very happy to announce that on this topic, the stakeholders, we will be having a person who will allow us to look at things from afar and to explore all of the ins and the outs of the multifaceted performance because it is undertaken so seriously. It has already shown its fruits. But we will now be able to look at it in a new way and enrich our vision. I will say a little bit more in a minute. So what is multifaceted performance? You know it's ensuring that all stakeholders of the company benefit in one way or another from the various activities of the group. In creating and sharing value, you also have to ensure that the benefits and the usefulness is clearly identified and clearly perceived by everyone, the employees, the clients, shareholders, representatives of civil society and also for the planet and future generations. This ambition translates into a search for equilibrium before -- between 5 areas of performance, economic and financial, commercial, social, societal and environmental benefits. This multifaceted performance was a steering tool for the Impact 2023 program, and a perspective for acceleration will be even more so for the strategic program, GreenUp 2024, 2027. Without further ado, let's jump right in with Helman le de Sécheval, who will be presenting our results and perspectives for the multifaceted performance.

Dear shareholders, it's not given to all companies to be able to make history and inspire our people to make history. This ability to inspire is intimately linked to the ability to be prosperous and sustainable. To paraphrase our Chairman, Veolia will only be successful if it seeks to be as useful as possible for everyone wherever we operate. This desire to be useful is at the heart of our purpose, which we adopted 5 years ago now, a purpose that we bring to life on a daily basis in all our activities with all our stakeholders. Our multifaceted performance is the most concrete embodiment of our purpose. Veolia is committed to performing well in all areas of interest to our stakeholders: environmental, social, labor, commercial, societal, economic and financial. Our level of attention and requirements is identical for all of these 5 dimensions. With Impact 2023, our previous strategic program, we tracked our multifaceted performance based on 18 objectives and 19 related indicators with one of the objectives having 2 indicators. All financial indicators, all 4 of them were met and exceeded, and 13 of the 15 nonfinancial indicators were also met. Only 2 indicators, one on the volume of recycled plastic and one on gender equity, were not met or just barely met. This near full success illustrates the strong ambition we set ourselves in 2020 and as a result of the intense efforts that our teams have made throughout the Impact 2023 program. These efforts will continue with GreenUp, our new strategic program, which confirms Veolia's commitments to multifaceted performance. As a result of new strategic orientations and changes in the context, your Board of Directors has reviewed the objectives of multifaceted performance, the number of which has been reduced. The new road map is now made up of 15 objectives and 15 related indicators. Some stakeholders were concerned that the multiplication of targets and indicators would dilute our actions and ambition. To address their concerns and based on their suggestions, the Board of Directors simplified the multifaceted performance framework within an initial intention to reduce each of the 5 dimensions by one indicator. The overall decrease is ultimately 4 indicators, one for each performance category with the exception of commercial performance. Although the environmental performance is reduced from 5 to 4 indicators, you may notice that the total number of climate indicators does not change. With GreenUp's ambition accelerate decarbonization and amplify ecological transformation, these indicators remain 5 in number, 4 within environmental performance and one within commercial performance, one on scope for greenhouse gas emissions erased. These environmental indicators are aligned with our new demanding carbon trajectory, which Claude Laruelle will tell you about in a few moments. Out of the 15 indicators selected by your Board, which you can look at on the screen, some defined in 2020 are maintained such as those on the financial dimension, the one for employee engagement or the one on customer satisfaction, and others are new and correspond to GreenUp's main strategic orientations. For example, you will find our 3 growth accelerators, energy, water, technology and hazardous waste, of which the tracking of respective revenues is 1 of the 3 business indicators. Veolia's teams are fully mobilized and motivated to make our multifaceted performance a reality. Two mechanisms allow us to support its deployment and successful implementation. As with the performance during Impact 2023, each indicator is monitored by a member of the executive committee, who ensures that everything is done to achieve the defined objectives. These multifaceted performance objectives are also the basis for the annual and multiyear variable compensation of some 16,000 of the group's employees. 50% of the results are the financial objectives and 50% of those are the nonfinancial objectives, as the lead director, chair of the Remuneration Committee, Maryse Aulagnon, will explain to you later. As you can see, after Impact 2023 and its more than positive results, Veolia is continuing with GreenUp. It's on its path to advance society, to improve people's living conditions and to protect our planet. By renewing our multifaceted performance with concrete and ambitious objectives, we assume our role as a champion of ecological transformation, guaranteeing a prosperity for your company. I will now give the floor to Claude.

Thank you. Thank you, Helman le de Sécheval. Let's continue on multifaceted performance with a focus on your group's financial performance. And for this, let me give over to your Assistant Director for Finance and Purchasing, Claude Laruelle.

Thank you, Frédérique, and good afternoon, dear stakeholders. I'm very glad to present the 2023 financial results of your company, which are excellent. Those are results that are better than our annual expectations and allow us to look at 2024, 2025 in the spirit of trust. Our net sales have reached EUR 45 million (sic) [ EUR 45 billion ]. You have seen a lot of dynamics in water, energy, in all of our businesses. All of our regions have progressed, our technology, water. Our EBITDA reached EUR 6.5 million (sic) [ EUR 6.5 billion ]. That's an organic growth of 7.8%, thanks to the growth of our businesses and the synergies that ended up being faster than we thought and to the fact that we maintained a very high level of efficiencies, which means that our net results reached EUR 1.3 million (sic) [ EUR 1.3 billion ], an increase of 15% and much better than what we expected. In terms of our geographies, as Antoine has said, we have a balanced presence on all 3 businesses, and more than 40% of our net sales come from Europe. It is also 1 of the top 3 players of its business in each of the key countries that it's present in. So international group, successful, geographically balanced, more attractive and more in a position of leadership than ever. These very good 2023 results are the result of a value creation model that is based on 3 pillars. The solid growth of our net sales on our strongholds, which has accelerated by our 3 growth boosters, which Estelle will tell you about a little later. Then our operational excellence with over EUR 350 million and further efficiencies every year and rigorous choices in terms of organic and external growth as well as portfolio review that's done systematically to target the mature assets that we might want to sell. All this allows us to generate more free cash flow, increase our yield on invested CapEx and grow net sales and EBITDA year after year. We've already reached ROCE of over 9% of -- high level of ROCE, and we are targeting 9% by 2029. Now water has grown by 7.5%, [ EUR 5.3 billion ] in new orders. Amongst our successes, the desalination [ Mirfa ] factory in Abu Dhabi and the successful renewal of the Lille distribution contracts and the SEDIF in the Île-de-France. The waste activities have progressed by 3.5% to EUR 14.7 billion or 5.9% if you exclude the impact of recycled [ matter ]. The strong commercial dynamic continues with the first integrated waste management contract in Gold Coast Australia and the Istanbul incinerator management. We have also been able to raise our prices at least at the rate of inflation. The energy has seen rapid growth over, about 20% to EUR 12.3 billion, mainly through strong price hike, also with the development of our energy efficiency and electrical flexibility activities. In terms of operational excellence, the group has been very effective. Again, it has done much better than its objective of EUR 350 million in cost savings. Now it is 10% of our operating savings that come from our digital and AI tools, and our objective is to double this amount by the end of GreenUp 2027. In terms of the synergies due to our merger with Suez, we have delivered EUR 315 million synergies in 2 years ahead of our plan, which is a remarkable achievement. In 2023, we also kept increasing our discretionary CapEx at EUR 540 million, including a lot on the decarbonation and also through our growth boosters, including dangerous waste. Growing our EBITDA and having our CapEx under control, together with the initiatives that we have started to generate cash, all that has allowed us to generate free cash flow of EUR 1.1 billion, very high figure and up 12% compared with 2022, which has led us to further reduce debt at the end of 2023 with a lever of only -- leverage of only 2.7 and financial debt -- net debt of EUR 17.9 billion. The group's finance is very solid. We also have very solid cash position with EUR 5.9 billion of net cash at the end of 2023. And our notation remains solid investment grade. It's just been confirmed by S&P and Moody's. So that's what we've been able to achieve in 5 years, which is remarkable. And our dividend policy is to continue to grow our dividends year after year as our current net results per share increases. In light of the excellent 2023 results, the Board suggests to this general assembly paying a dividend of EUR 1.25, up 12% compared with last year, ramp up with our stock performance, which is great in 2023 with our share going up 26.5% against an average of 22% for [indiscernible]. Let's look at 2024. As I told you, we trust that 2024, we'll also see excellent results. All the things that I've stated leads us to believe that we will see a solid growth of our net sales, outside -- except the price of energy, organic growth of EBITDA between 5% and 6%. So a net result higher than EUR 1.5 billion and a lever lower than 3 and the dividend growth in line with our net result per share. Now you have the main objectives of our GreenUp strategies presented by Estelle. On the nonfinancing plan, I will tell you a little bit later the details of our decarbonation plan to reach 50% less emissions in 2033. And on the financial plan, we are looking at pursuing our solid business growth and acceleration on all 3 boosters and EBITDA higher than EUR 8 billion in 2027 and net current result that would go up 10% on average per year and a dividend payout that would be in line with the current result. Thank you for your attention. Now Mr. Frerot, you have the floor.

Thank you. Yes. Now we've heard the financial results, and it's now the turn of Baudouin Griton of KPMG and Jean-Yves Jégourel of Ernst & Young to show us the report on annual accounts, the conventions and regulated agreements as well as resolutions on financial aspects. You have the floor.

Thank you. On behalf of the auditors, we'll now report on our 2023 mission and tell you about the report that we have issued for this general assembly. All of these documents have been made available to you as part of the so-called universal document file. I will just summarize those reports, whilst my colleague will tell you about the nonfinancial performance and capital transactions. The report expresses our opinion on main risks, which we call main points of the audit, and the responses that we suggest. We remind you that consolidated accounts established under IFRS was the social accounts created under the French system. We need to give you reasonable assurance that those accounts do not present any anomalies and that the laws have been respected. We have adopted our approach to the various businesses that Veolia is engaged in and made sure to cover all aspects. The accounts and Auditing Committee and the Board of your company have been regularly informed of the advance and results of our work. In 2023, the key points of our audit are about risks and significant anomalies that we've identified. Those are 2 auditing points to the consolidated accounts, the consolidation of recoverable operational. And second one is to do with what's happening in Lithuania and the U.S. Only one key point of the audit is about the shares. We have also done the specific controls under the law and made sure that the electronic format for those documents was correct. On that basis, I can tell you that both the consolidated accounts and social accounts are being certified without any reservations, and those are resolutions 1 and 2 of your general assembly.

Now it is my job to report on the regulated conventions. Let me remind you that your auditors are supposed to report the characteristics, main features and motivations behind the regulated conventions that they have been apprised of or may have learned about during their work without having to judge, just get justification. In summary for this year, you have approved conventions with Terra Academia, 2 [ writers ] on the brand license agreements between your company and some of its subsidiaries and conventions that are ongoing in 2023 for the brand license and other conventions to do with guarantees given by your company to some of its subsidiaries. As regards to our report on the nonfinancial consolidated accounts which we find on Pages 318 to 320, you should note that beyond the existing regulations, your group also wanted us to give a conclusion of reasonable assurance on the points that are being identified with a tick mark on the documents. Chapter 4 information seemed to us to have been presented sincerely and in compliance with the referential. As for the extraordinary part of your GM, we have looked at 3 points on delegations of competencies to the Board to decide on the real estate titles without canceling of preferential subscription rights, all assignment of free shares. For all these operations, we have professionally looked at the situation and draw your attention to resolutions 18, 19, 20, suggesting to cancel preferential subscription rights. We have also written a report on resolution 26 for us to do capital reductions by cancellation of treasury shares. Now your auditors have also produced a complementary report in light of the fact that free shares were distributed last year. On to resolutions 19 and 20, we have no observations to make to you in terms of the respect for the modalities as far as the decisions that you took on the late April decision that you took last year.

Thank you, gentlemen. Frédérique, you have the floor again.

Thank you. This is still our segment on multifaceted performance. And so we'll continue with environmental performance. In the context of climate emergency that we are living through, there's a lot of attention on carbon. Veolia as a champion of the ecological transition is an actor that everybody is looking at. Claude Laruelle will now tell you about that as a sponsor of the Carbon Committee.

Frédérique, it's been 10 years now since your company has taken very concrete climate commitments. In 2019, in particular, we made a commitment to reduce our carbon emissions by 22%. But today, we are taking a key step forward with the acceleration of our emissions reduction strategy in line with the Paris Agreement, i.e., a 50% reduction in our emissions in 10 years. This trajectory is very ambitious, but it is also robust and pragmatic. You can find more detail about this in the climate report that was distributed at the entrance of this room, which is also accessible on our group's website. The alignment with the 1.5 degree centigrade trajectory means that the group aims to reduce its direct and indirect emissions, i.e., our Scope 1 and 2 by 90% by 2050 to achieve net 0 carbon with a very ambitious first step of minus 50% in 2032. We also plan to reduce our other upstream and downstream indirect emissions known as Scope 3 by 30% in 10 years by aligning our main suppliers with our decarbonization ambition. For example, these targets were submitted to the Science Based Target initiative, a third-party organization with global recognition for assessing the adequacy of climate targets set by companies. In parallel with the reduction of its own emissions, the group aims to increase its customers' carbon emissions by 50% by 2030, thanks to the solutions we sell them. That's what we call Scope 4, and I'll give you more detail about it at the end of this presentation. To meet this challenge, we are implementing concrete projects and accelerating the deployment of solutions that the group masters by devoting increased resources to them to enable rapid reduction in carbon emissions. We will devote EUR 6 billion to this as part of the GreenUp plan, including the continuation of our plan to phase out coal in Europe by 2030. In addition to this decarbonization plan, Veolia is investing massively in all components of the ecological transformation. This is confirmed by the European Taxonomy, which selects investments by companies that are environmentally friendly. Indeed, 3/4 of the group's investment in 2023 are already eligible for this Taxonomy. Coming back to carbon, we're confident in our ability to drive this trajectory to reduce our emissions because we've managed to reduce the carbon intensity of our turnover in 4 years by 30%, but we plan to go further by reducing the absolute amount of our emissions. Where do we start from? On the graph on the left, you have the breakdown of our direct emissions or Scope 1 by type of activity. As you can see, our activities in energy, that's yellow and green, and waste, which is in green, are the biggest contributors. On the diagram on the right, you have the breakdown of our indirect Scope 2 emissions related to our energy purchases. Our water and energy activities are the most affected. As we will see, we're going to decarbonize all our activities by focusing as a priority on the businesses that contribute the most globally. That's energy and waste. The graph you see on the screen shows the trajectory of 1.5 degrees by 2050 with an acceleration between 2021 and 2032. You can see the contributions of each activity to achieve this. And I'll be coming back to that in a moment. But you'll notice that part of the decarbonization happening after 2032 is the result of the deployment of the innovations that are currently in the testing phase such as carbon capture for which we have planned pilot projects as part of the GreenUp plan. So let's review the main decarbonization levers by business, and I'll start with energy. In the energy sector, the main lever is the continuation of our plan to phase out coal in Europe to supply district heating networks. As a reminder, it's a plan of EUR 1.6 billion between 2019 and 2030, including more than EUR 500 million as part of the GreenUp plan. These are profitable investments with return rates of over 10%. The main projects have been launched. All are under study, and we've already commissioned 3 plants in Germany in Braunschweig and in the Czech Republic in Kolin and Prerov. Finally, operational efficiency and our intelligence management solutions lead to reductions in energy consumption, therefore, CO2 emissions. In total, we plan to halve emissions from our energy activity by 2032, i.e., a reduction of almost 9 million tonnes of CO2. For the waste business, the main lever is the capture of biogas from our landfills. Capturing this biogas allows us to do a double whammy by reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere and producing [ local ] carbon-free energy. The average capture rate at the group level was 57% in 2023 and is expected to reach over 80% in 2032, representing a reduction of 5 million tonnes of carbon compared with 2021. The success of our approach in Latin America, particularly in Colombia, where in just 4 years, we've grown from 10% to 40%, is a great example of what we will replicate in Australia and Asia with a dedicated investment plan of EUR 85 million as part of GreenUp. The further remains implemented to decarbonate our waste activities, bring together a fleet of vehicles which are cleaner and also the reduction of the amount of plastic that we put into our incinerators. All of these actions must lead to a reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 50% for our waste activities by 2032. This would be a reduction of nearly 8 million tonnes. In water, the main levers of [ massification ] are energy efficiency efforts and a supply or the production of renewable energy on site. By way of an example, more than 30% of the energy needs of the desalinization plant called Sur in Oman are covered by solar panels. And therefore, they contribute to reducing by 300,000 tonnes of CO2 the site emissions. Overall, this is a reduction of 67% of carbon emissions that the group will expect for 2032 for water, which is a decrease of over 2 million tonnes. But Veolia's engagement goes much further since the very activities of the group consists in accompanying its clients in their own decarbonization. We will increase by 30% by 2027 and then 50% by 2030 the erased emissions for our clients. This is what we have called Scope 4. So thanks to our solutions such as the production of biogas, waste recycling or the production of renewable energy. This contribution to the decarbonization of our clients, so again our Scope 4, allows us to highlight the benefits of our action not only for our and for Veolia but also for the planet. By way of conclusion, all of these commitments can be summed up in 4 words. First of all, acceleration, a drop in 50% of our direct and indirect emissions as early as 2032, aiming for net 0 by 2050 and then more than 50% of emissions erased from our clients by 2030; innovation, we're already preparing our solutions for after 2032 to reach net 0; responsibility, we devote about EUR 600 million to decarbonize our group and our clients within the framework of our GreenUp program; and then exemplarity, we walk the talk. We will decarbonize our activities, and we will help our clients do the same even when it's difficult. Thank you for your attention.

Thank you very much, Claude Laruelle. Let's continue. Turning now to the relations that Veolia has been building with their stakeholders. So this is the key to the implementation of the group strategy. And the implementation is based on a pioneering mechanism, which is very original and very effective, and this is the collective +1. It should be noted that in the framework of preparing the GreenUp program, this undertaking was activated in all of the group's zones. To understand collective +1, let's discover it in a few images. [Presentation]

In continuity of this dynamic collective +1, we are happy to welcome a stakeholder of Veolia. I mentioned him briefly by way of introduction. So a great witness at a high level personnel, [ deserves ] the pleasure of being here with us today as a former Minister and a local elected official, functioning to dialogue with all actors in society. The necessity of dialogue and consensus is something he's well aware of. Let us give a warm welcome to Stéphane Le Foll. Thank you, Minister, for having accepted our invitation. As a politician, you have had a number of appointments at local and national level. You're currently mayor of Le Mans and President of the Metropole, but it's certainly as the Minister of Agriculture that has marked people's minds because you have the record of longevity in this position, even more than Edgar Pisani. Yes, you will have understood that for many years within the strategy of the Veolia's group is the wish to bring together very closely various stakeholders, so for all of their activities, and it makes all the more sense when you talk about the climate because this is a challenge that is planet-wide. We all have a shared destiny. And so it's altogether that we have to carry out this battle for the climate. So do you share this conviction and this necessity to unify our strengths above and beyond potential diverging interests?

First of all, thank you very much for the invitation. I salute the Chairman and the Director General and all the leaders who have presented group results to the shareholders. And of course, I salute the shareholders as well. And here at the Mutualité, I have a lot of fun memories of this place. The Socialist Party used to meet here, but now the rooms are much smaller. So now to answer the question you asked, yes, of course, we're all linked. This is what was mentioned in the Chairman's speech. So the general interest of humanity and the planet have to be taken into account by citizens as well as by economic actors. That's the topic here. Citizens are often consumers, employees, and they can each and everyone have to see their own paradoxes and their own choices they have to make in their daily lives with their hopes to how they see the future. This is what's at the heart of the debate today. Companies have objectives. And for what I've seen here very clearly, with your 3 main areas of activity, your ambition to have your carbon emissions. Every company today -- well, some more than others are fully committed to the full respect of the Paris Agreement. So then why should the stakeholders and companies -- well, they do have a relation with investments, both. You cannot change our development model in our society without very strong capacity to invest. And that's really the topic here today above and beyond the debt ratio. We can see the level of the European Union. It's are we able to invest. Maybe the United States have invested more than us. And are we really lagging behind? That's the real question. And investments have to be oriented. You shouldn't invest just to invest. You have to invest to decarbonate, to pull out of fossil fuels and to be much more energy efficient. These are the 3 pillars of what investments should be everywhere. This is true for local authorities and for all companies. And it will be these well-targeted investments and people's understanding which will allow us to change our production model because what we share, all of us, is this planet. And our responsibility is to build on our investments. States, Europe, collectivities and companies. And for me, this is -- this partnership, as you call it, the partnership with the stakeholders, this is in everybody's best interest. And of course, we have to remember how the industrial model in the 19th century was designed and then developed. They had outlooks. They wanted to make profits. They wanted to develop. They wanted to increase production volumes. But what's paradoxical today is that now we're tending towards sobriety, towards efficiency, towards reducing waste to having the best return on investment. But I think what's most important is the sharing that then happens because the environment, it's something that's very difficult to put figures on. So we do have -- we heard a very brilliant economic report. But the thing is that there are no amortizations on the environment. You can't renew the environment by amortizing it. You renew it because you maintain it. And this is where private and public investment is very important for the future. It has a specific task to do. So what we'll be taking into account in the environment, It has to be integrated into strategies to ensure that the strategies are win-win. I was looking at the investments. You were saying that the waste, the share of waste, which, of course, emits a lot of methane. But you're going to be able to build on this and to actually create value out of it. And because you're going to be getting this methane and not emitting it into the universe, then you're going to turn it into energy. What do you think about the energy we waste today just by letting this methane escape, by not also covering the entire services with solar panels, which again could produce energy, as you said, for your desalinization plant. We know that there are colossal gains to be made. The share of the environment is also a productive share. And the debate between constraints and investments, what people have to understand is that investments in the environment is a share of tomorrow's production that will be for the benefit of all. So that's what I could say by way of introduction, which is actually quite a lot.

Yes, excellent introduction. There's already quite a lot of food for thought. We'll be coming back to a number of these ideas. So let's illustrate very concretely how we can make progress altogether for the climate. And I would like you to talk about an initiative that you launched on behalf of France during the COP21 on behalf of France. So 4 per 1,000. So you're the current Chairman. Could you explain what this is? It's a very innovative initiative and which is not recognized internationally.

So more than the 90 countries, 450 NGOs and associations are taking part of this initiative, one of the only ones that was launched during the COP21 in Paris, and that continues to exist today. So the principle was that so it was just before COP15, COP21 in 2015. And there is a debate on agriculture, which was quite simple. Livestock pollutes through methane. So you have to reduce the share of meat and reduce the quantities of livestock. And then for the U.S. as well as Northern Europe, there is this idea that to success in the ecological transition, we had to massively invest in new technology to ensure the efficiencies that I mentioned earlier. But in that debate, so on one hand, the NGOs that agriculture is polluting and then technology that will provide us with solutions. But agriculture as such wasn't at the heart of the debate. It was actually left out of the debate. And when I went to Montpellier for a meeting with CIRAD, INRAE and French researchers just before the COP21, I was trying to see how we could bring agriculture into the COP21 in Paris. And in a note, this is going to be for one of my advisers, I said, I don't need a speech but just 10 points that we could use to be able to commit to this debate at the COP21. And I landed on this 4 per 1,000. And so this is actually the storage of carbon in the soil. And this is a calculation that was carried out by INRAE saying that if all carbon in the soil that's being stored in the soil, depending on the calculations, so how much carbon would be emitted yearly in the planet. So in farming land, if you add 4 grams to the 1,000 grams already in the soil to absorb all of the carbon emissions in the planet. So that's why the 4 per 1,000. And I'm sure you've heard of this often. So the IPCC talks about forest and agriculture as potentially as a way of storing carbon, and there is no neutrality objective without the share that will be absorbed by farmland and by forests. And it's interesting for another point for those of you who love agronomics. Carbon in the soil, this is organic matter. An organic matter in soil is fertility. So as we're storing carbon in the soil, we are making the soil more fertile. So that's actually a second objective. Not only are we participating to fight against global warming and reaching carbon neutrality. We're also making soil more fertile. So this is a strategy to solve the problem of food as well at a planetary level. And that's why this initiative that I'm still sharing is very important for me. And I launched this initiative to say that agriculture isn't just a problem. It can be a part of the solution.

So listening to you from the very beginning, what you're advancing is the necessity to set up virtuous cycles.

Yes, like I was saying earlier, the share that will be linked to defending the planet should be considered something positive in trying to meet the objectives we have set. You take carbon, soil, carbon storage. I don't just want to store carbon because I like to store carbon. It will make my soil more fertile, and I'll be able to produce more. So now what we have to do is that. We have to -- we have what's often called the punitive ecology or very moralizing saying, oh, okay, since we -- so you dance to summer and now you're going to be hungry. No, we'll just roll up our sleeves. We'll invest, but we'll try to change our approach. It's not a counter model to the existing model. It's a new model altogether that will show what we're able to offer in terms of wealth as well as the absolute necessity to protect the environment and the planet.

So with this initiative, 4 per 1,000, you bring together a whole array of public and private actors, companies, professional organizations, NGOs, research organizations. So to be able to mobilize so many actors, it's crucial to show that you're effective, that you're credible, that you're transparent. And so you need governance. And you managed to do this, and you encouraged local stakeholders and public and private investors to work hand in hand. And yet one feels that generally speaking, regulations are less and less well supported. We saw the recent crisis in agriculture. And this is a very thorny question because it's just a few weeks before European elections. So what is your view of what could be seen as a regulatory inflation? And what's your advice?

Yes, I do think there is regulatory inflation because we didn't raise the right questions from the outset. We have to and we're going to change our development models. All changes in the history of humanity is a difficult moment. It leads to incomprehension. If we take agriculture and the crisis, the recent crisis is symptomatic of these changes and the cultural crisis. Agriculture over the last 30, 40 years, well, it's been a very productive sector and has been mostly geared towards exports. The volumes produced were an essential question. The question of the environment was secondary, something that would be taken into account afterwards. But it should have been integrated from the outset. If you take the case of Brittany and green algae on the beaches, the structural accidents of too much nitrogen, and then it goes into the rivers and then that goes into the sea, and then that leads to seaweed. And this is a problem because there are 2 ways of producing nitrogen. It's organic, but it's also mineral. It's gas basically, and it's very expensive. So if it's going into the rivers, it means it was economically lost. It's a waste and a pest. So economically speaking, this should have been a question that was thought about. So it's a negative externality, but it's considered negligible, but it's now more and more. These negative externalities. So to correct these facts, we have to change how we reason and do not go too much into technical detail. I don't know if Marion Guillou is still here, the former president of INRAE. He will correct me if I'm saying anything stupid, which he used to do when I was a minister, which is why I liked him. But sometimes I thought, well, I'm the Minister. Yes, behind every amazing man, there's always a woman. Yes, as you well know. So now in the model itself, we have to take the environment into account. It has to be considered as an asset. So take a very simple example. If you cover -- so if you cover the ground with farms. So if you farm more land. Well, before, it was actually a way of weeding the land, but we can do that. We don't need a huge tractor to plow up the ground. There are other ways of doing it. Covering the soil is very important. Naked soil, that's just been labored, a soil that's no longer covered by vegetation. So it doesn't attract the energy from the sun. So no photosynthesis, whereas if it's covered with plants, then it continues to capture solar energy and to be productive. So covering the soil, which means having rotation of crops. And the more species you use to cover the soil, the more biodiversity you have. And the more biodiversity you have, the more probably it is that pests and illnesses won't propagate as quickly, so you don't need as many pesticides. And if you put pulses on the ground, like everybody knows in Veolia, then they will keep the nitrogen in the oil. And so I don't need to add nitrogen. So I'm saving on fertilizers. And I'm keeping the ground covered, and I'm using solar energy, which free and which is a way of allowing me to develop photosynthesis. So like you were saying, it's a virtuous cycle. You have waste, okay, methane. So what we do is we're going to capture this methane. And then since we have methane and since it's energy, well, let's use it for energy. Here, it's the same thing. We have sun. I want to use it as much as I can, and I want to avoid wasting that energy, which is free, rather than going out and buying energy produced from fossil fuels. So I will have renewable energy, and I can use it as an asset to better produce and to produce just as much.

So we have huge challenges. They do require of every one of us to be extremely creative. And it's true in terms of regulations. If it's well balanced, it can also be a factor of stability.

Yes, okay. I went off in my plans. But regulation, this can also be a break. Okay. For the interest of the shareholders of Veolia, I'm willing to answer your question. The more regulations you have, it means the less the model has changed, your production model. The more you think about modifying your production model, the less you'll have to regulate. For me, that's the principle. Since we don't really want to change our models and we're only at the margins, then we regulate. If we really thought about what deep changes we needed, then we would need much fewer regulations. Or they would apply themselves. That makes sense. There won't be a constraint. That will be accepted. That's what we need. And so that's what you're doing and others as well. It's very important to bear this in mind. In my production model, I'm integrating the environment from the outset.

It doesn't come as an afterthought, and it's not annex.

If you look at the desalinization plants, it's in the desert. So the sun is -- you got a lot of energy there and you have to maximize that energy. And it's free energy. And with that, you build what's going to allow you to produce water since that's the objective here. But that's how you have to reason and you have to take the environment into account from the very outset. It's one of the constitutive elements, and this is the agri revolution. It's one of productive elements. We had work. We had capital work, and now we have capital work in nature.

It is also the natural capital. So let's continue our little exploration, and let's look at the domain that will also have to be completely overhauled, and this is what links volume to value. So far, most business models were based on selling volumes. So in the search for sobriety, obviously, we're going to have to change that paradigm. As a mayor and a chairman of Metropole, how do you manage that?

Well, this is something that we observe. In Lamont, about 10 years ago, I think we had 16 million cubic meters to 11 million, 12 million today, so we reduced it by 4 million cubic meters. And this has a very big impact. And as soon as you're in a sector where you have networks and infrastructure, the higher the volumes, the higher you amortize the infrastructure that you've invested in. And this is going to be a true issue for future networks in the world. So the network has to be effective. You have to fight against leaks. And if you're -- because if you have leaks, then you're certain that it's going to be a problem. And then secondly, you have to say, okay, if I reduce the volumes but the infrastructure is still there and it's expensive, how can I design my infrastructure? It will be more effective and the public investments will be better if the infrastructure could be used for a much larger number of people. This is why urban planning is so important today. And to put an end to urban sprawl, this idea that we can just go everywhere, all we need to do was just put cables in the ground and lay a few pipes. I think we're fully aware that this is no longer practicable because the volumes transported won't be as large. So investing in infrastructure, by definition, has to be calibrated. It has and it can't continue to extend as it has in the past. So these are questions that I'm currently exploring. But of course, the lower the volumes, well, then the -- you're profitability is more complicated. But if you really think about it, then, okay, then the sobriety is important. And with droughts and the risks of being dry, high and dry, that is a real risk. So we have to be able to adapt. And this means consuming less and doing it much more efficiently. So going back to what I said earlier, and this is something that I think we all agree upon at the company level and our collectivities.

I'll ask questions, Stéphane. We're facing multiple upheavals. And Edgar Morin, the philosopher, calls it a polycrisis, and it has resulted in growing anxiety in our population. How can you bring the citizenry on board, make them accept those changes? Because if you're going to make -- take a political step, you make sure -- you need to make sure that it's acceptable to the public. Is that a concern that you share?

Yes, of course, it's important. Of course, there's always a tension between the short term and the longer term. You need to be able to give long-term perspectives to people that are, how shall I put it, hopeful perspective as compared with the present where people experience difficulties to their thing. The President said that correctly. There's an element of doubt about the near future. It's always a definition of crisis. Is this only the difficulty? Or is this also -- is the crisis also an opportunity to seize? And so I think the challenge for politicians is to say, wait a minute, yes, the world is changing, but we're just going to organize life differently and society differently, not so that it's worse some more, but -- so that it's better tomorrow, so that people's -- avoiding situations where people have a feeling that their dreams and aspirations are going to be heard. But telling them things are going to be different, but it's still going to be great, and you can keep your enthusiasm. And the problem right now is that people who are on the opposite end of the spectrum of hope seem to have more tailwinds than those who are talking about hope. So this is what I call the optimism of the will. You need to want to be optimistic because it's necessary if you want to build a better world. And as an agriculture minister, I experienced 5 or 6 agricultural crisis. The current crisis is a polycrisis, as Edgar Morin says. It's much more complex. There's much -- many more elements to it. So part of it is the farming, the changes in the farming model, but then everything else as well. And so I used to say, funding agriculture is not a problem. On the other hand, I don't think that we believe that agriculture is one of the problems. We do see it as part of the solution. And it should be part of the solution. And you've got to be -- you've got to inspire people. Thank you for having me.

Thank you for being here. Let's give Stéphane Le Foll a round of applause. Thanks for being here. Thank you. To wrap up this segment on stakeholders. And before I give the floor to CEO, Estelle Brachlianoff, and her strategy speech, let's just cover the results of the second edition of the ecological transformation barometer, asking the public about the climate challenge was insisting on the acceptance of solutions. We surveyed 30,000 people that are representative of 60% of the world population. Because the group -- our group really wants to onboard the public globally, and the result is an inspiring movie that I'm sure will fire your imagination. As far as the results, they are eloquent and some very promising. This is the poetry part of this general meeting. [Presentation]

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, I'm now giving over to Estelle Brachlianoff for our CEO's strategy speech.

Dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon to you all. I want to thank you for coming today as well as the pleasure that these meetings always give me. I must say that today, also, I feel proud and enthusiastic. Proud that I had the opportunity to give you a detailed presentation of our record-breaking results for the past year, and enthusiastic about sharing with you the decisions and choices that will drive our acceleration during the years to come. At the end of the day, my message to you is a simple one. We are better placed than anyone else and better placed than ever to reap all the rewards of our status as a global champion of ecological transformation. Better placed than ever because never in our history has Veolia been so agile and so powerful at the same time. We are reaping the benefits of a process of far-reaching transformation that was put in place by Antoine Frerot almost 10 years ago. We have worked patiently and relentlessly to restore Veolia's capacity to innovate, grow, conquer and accelerate. One example of this is the integration of SUEZ. Although it only happened recently, everything ran so smoothly and efficiently, with excellent [ line ] from teams around the world that it already seems to be grounded in the past. Despite financial crisis and the pandemic, despite conflicts and geopolitical upheavals, our debt is firmly under control and ahead of our forecast, with a leverage ratio of 2.7 less than 2 years after acquiring SUEZ. Our return on capital deployed is over 8% after tax. And our net income has doubled in 5 years, as have shareholder dividends. But Veolia is also better placed than anybody to make ecological transformation a twofold opportunity for accelerating our financial results and for maximizing our impact on all our stakeholders. Because we have the ideal geographical footprint not just because we are present in 44 countries, but also because we are in the national top 3 in every country where we operate, this means we can give the best account of ourselves and make a difference. It also gives us the ability to deal with any headwinds. This is a major difference because nobody else covers the full spectrum of ecological transformation better than we do. All of our customers are now seeking the grail of ecological transformation as many solutions as possible delivered by as few intermediaries as possible. And that's a good definition of Veolia, since the variety of our expertise in each of our business activities means we can act as sole intermediary, able to roll out all of the solutions required. This naturally applies to solutions that already exist that our industrial approach allows us to standardize, replicate and roll out in every part of the world where we operate. But it's also true of solutions yet to be invented since nobody else has our unique combination of resources, skills and data sets needed to succeed. I'm not going to dwell on the many factors behind the uncertainties analyze by Antoine Frerot that are causing the great majority of economic actors to adopt a very logical wait-and-see posture. Happily, this does not apply to us since everything is in place to allow us to accelerate, even as others are forced to slow down. This is the goal underpinning all the choices set out in GreenUp, Veolia's new strategic plan that I presented a few weeks ago. By methodically reviewing our current and planned activities, mature as well as in development, we have designed an original model able to deliver growth quickly and safely. It really is quite simple. We've identified 3 growth priorities, one for each business line. And most of our available resources will be focused on them. But what makes this approach different is that each of these innovative solutions marked by fast growth and high profitability is rooted in our stable and recognized historical activities. Our first growth booster, decarbonized local energy, is rooted in the stronghold of our long established and identified district heating networks. This means we will be rolling out new solutions for energy efficiency in buildings, renewable energy and bioenergy production and electrical flexibility in places where we already have an established presence. Today, Veolia's energy activities generate revenue of EUR 12 billion, which already represents 27% of our turnover. We will be doubling our investments in this area. Remembering that every euro invested in Veolia has a multiplier effect, triggering an additional EUR 2 to EUR 3 in investment by our partners and finances. This means that by 2030, Veolia will have 8 gigawatts of capacity for locally produced bioenergy and a flexible installed base of 3 gigawatt, a 50% increase on today. These targets are ambitious, but deliverable. We're going to tap into a 400-gigawatt reservoir of largely unused energy in Europe, a figure that you can multiply by 4 worldwide. Specifically, we're talking about bioenergy from nonrecyclable waste and wastewater, waste heat recovery and heat and electricity that would not be used in buildings if they were just managed more efficiently. Energy that is currently being wasted. This is energy that is produced or recovered locally, very often at the intersections between our water and waste activities, 400 gigawatt is equivalent to 1.3 billion barrels of crude oil or twice Norway's total annual output. Our second growth booster, high-technology water, is also founded on the bedrock of our historical activities in distributing and treating water. This currently represents EUR 18 billion in turnover. It is one of Veolia's showcase activities, which is fine. An average 90% of our contracts are renewed, that's why so many of our customers recommend us, an indicator we measure of our Net Promoter Score. But harsh new realities mean new needs are emerging almost always, almost everywhere. Water is the first thing tangibly impacted by the climate emergency. There's too little or too much of it. Certainly never the right amount at the right time. The underlying trends are already clear, as evidenced in the recurrent droughts and flooding across Europe and the United Kingdom. These trends are only going to increase in severity. On the one hand, consumers demand cleaner water than ever, not merely fit to drink but free from all forms of pollution. On the other hand, the competitiveness of economic actors increasingly depends on access to water at reasonable costs. This, of course, applies to agriculture, but also in the past, even more so to advanced manufacturing industries, microelectronics, which we all know to be the limiting factor of progress in generative artificial intelligence. It requires massive quantities of water. When I met with the representatives from Intel, the only customer that manufactures some of the graphics cards used to train AI models like open AR, I'm asked -- I was asked Madam Brachlianoff, how can you help us cut per gigawatt water consumption in Ireland to the same level we have in Arizona, as it is essential to our competitiveness. Our approach to this type of case is simple: cross-reference of 4,000 patents with our installed base of customers and contracts to change the status of water from utility to technology. An excellent recent illustration of this is provided by PFAS, Forever Chemicals found in soil or water that Veolia has learned to process. How did we learn? Well, thanks to our presence in the U.S.A., where the issue first came to the fore, which led us to mobilize our strength in R&D, water technologies, municipal water and even hazardous waste treatment and develop unrivaled expertise for treating these pollutants. If we quantify the potential our solutions offer, it adds up to 50 billion cubic meters of water that could be either saved or not drawn from the environment, a sort of gigantic reservoir equivalent to the annual consumption of Europe's entire population. We have ambitious targets in this area and are aiming for a 50% increase in revenue relating to these new solutions and technologies from industrial and municipal customers by 2030. I'm extremely confident that we will meet our objectives, judging by our order book currently full, and it is growing rapidly with orders for water technologies of EUR 5.3 billion at the end of 2023, up 20%, and 50 orders for wastewater reuse units in France in a single year compared to just 3 the year before. Once again, a significant portion of our future growth is already underway. Our third growth booster, treating hazardous waste, offers the same combination of excellent growth prospects and robust deployment, thanks to our historical expertise in waste treatment. This represents EUR 14 billion in turnover for our group. This activity, along with water distribution, is another essential service. And it is one where Veolia is widely acknowledged to be a key player. Hazardous waste is simply the logical extension of Veolia's long history in waste collection and management. Veolia supports its customers to continually increase their recycling rates because we remain deeply attached to the idea that the best waste is waste that has never produced. These 3 themes combine 3 opportunities for us. First, they present technical challenges that only very few actors can tackle and involve long-term investments that represent stronghold patiently positioned in the various parts of the world where we operate. These barriers to entry work perfectly in our favor. They also ensure good levels of profitability with sustained growth as regulations on every continent have made a priority of identifying, aggregating and treating them. Lastly, they enable our teams to maximize the positive impact they make on protecting human health and preserving biodiversity. This magic triangle is the reason we have set ourselves the ambitious target of treating 12 million tons of dangerous waste a year by 2030, which would deliver a 50% uplift in turnover from the activity. 12 million tons represents a vast amount of pollutants destroyed, equivalent to 50x the pollution from the AMOCO CADIZ, but treated every year. Once again, growth is already underway because no less than 8 new plants are in construction or in development, including in the U.A.E., South Korea, Germany and the U.S.A., and they're all scheduled to start operating within the next 2 years, within the next few months, really. We also seize opportunities for external growth, like the recent acquisitions in Japan and the U.S.A., to further accelerate this strategic development. As I'm sure you've already realized, and it, I guess, means summarizing by me, GreenUp, our new strategic plan means that we can roll out the Veolia's approach to ecology, an ecology that protects and transforms at the same time across all our business lines in every part of the world. To start with, it offers our customers real-world solutions to prepare for the future without abandoning the past. That is why we are so proud to propose solutions to sectors that have historically been very emission-intensive because we can have the greatest impact by supporting them on their paths to transformation. This is also why the work I'm leading on defining and recognizing Scope 4 is so important as it would mean calculations of our ecological footprint would include emissions avoided, the billions of cubic meters of water unused are not wasted and pollution captured at source. An ecology that transforms while protecting also authors and users of our services the guarantee of lasting access to essential services at the lowest cost, with an unwavering focus on limiting the impact of water, air pollution on their health. This is starting to be seen and even talked about, owing to our stakeholder outreach team. Seeing Stéphane Le Foll in this room with us today, the symbol of this effort and our approach, whereby we are determined to align as closely as possible with people's concerns to maximize the impact of our solutions. It is the usefulness and the uniqueness of our solutions that are the foundations for our success today and many years ahead, a success rooted in combining our different business activities and the experience gained around the world to invent, propose and install unique solutions for our customers to help them decarbonize, depollute and regenerate resources. It's also an ecology that transforms while protecting. And that makes it an immense source of pride for all our employees in every part of the world and in every one of our businesses. All of us at Veolia understand that our mission extends beyond the boundaries of the group. We work for our customers, of course, but also for our friends and families, for our children and for the places where we live. In the world that is searching endlessly for meaning and certainty, we have the privilege and responsibility of working for a cause that is far, far greater than our day-to-day activities. These are not near-empty words. They reflect a reality with very concrete consequences, starting with levels of engagement that I'm proud to say unrivaled. 89% of Veolia employees state they would recommend working at Veolia to their friends and family. 89% of Veolia employees state they feel they're truly an actor in ecological transformation. Now this degree of engagement has a cascade or knock-on effect on our ability to serve our customers, on the creativity of our teams, on how fast we roll out our solutions, on our determination to comb for new markets and the mindset of everybody at Veolia. Finally, an ecology that transforms while protecting is also in your interest as Veolia's shareholders. It offers you the assurance of a safe haven in an ocean of uncertainty, with net income growing on average 10% a year and dividends to match. Nobody can seriously claim to be able to forecast changes in stock markets or inflation rates, technological or geopolitical tipping points, but ecological transformation is the combat of the century for every economy and on every continent. And we are the global champion of that transformation. It's a position that comes with responsibilities, the responsibility of doing everything in our power to accelerate, of redoubling our efforts to boost our impact, of inventing the solutions needed to meet the targets set by public and private sector customers and of being worthy of your continued trust and to live up to the engagement of our employees. In short, to continue on our path as a unique business that is strong but agile, prosperous because it is useful, French but global, successful but guided by values. And so long live, Veolia. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Estelle. And now Ms. Maryse Aulagnon is going to -- the say-on-pay.

I'm going to give you a few more minutes of your attention. It won't be long. Say-on-pay on Mr. Antoine Frerot's remuneration, Non-Executive Director; and Mrs. Estelle Brachlianoff for the Director General of the group. This remuneration is subject for Resolutions 10 and 11 for the year 2023, so say-on-pay ex post and Resolutions 13 and 14, say-on-pay ex ante, that is for 2024. In details in the universal recording document and in the summons to this meeting has been distributed to you. And since we're going to suggest that we maintain these remunerations unchanged in terms of their amount and structure, I will focus my presentation on how we can reach the 2023 objectives and on the changes in performance KPIs that are part and parcel of the GreenUp plan as of 2024. The Non-Executive Chairman's remuneration does not need to be commented. It hasn't changed in 2022 and will be maintained unchanged in 2024. And so we've said it all because there's no new remuneration, nothing more than this annual fixed remuneration. We'll now move on to the variable share of the Director General's 2023 remuneration and the rate of the attainment or achievement of the objectives. I'm looking for the slide. Oh, you can see them from where you are. It' 142%, knowing that it is kept at [ 160% ] of the fixed remuneration. This is made up of 2 parts: the financial part, with 138%; and the achievement rate the nonfinancial rate, the quantitative, in gray, 136.3%, and the attainment rate for the purely qualitative part, which is left at the discretion of the Board, at 160%, in yellow. So the achievement rate was slightly low for the nonfinancial part, which in fact has witnessed to the fact that the Board is very demanding in terms of fixing the level of those nonfinancial indicators. However, the 160% rate for the qualitative part is an illustration of how happy the Board was with the way the Director General has managed the group, as she perfectly led the Impact 2023 project to its end and the preparation of the GreenUp program to the next plan. Moving right now to the floor annual level, which also depends on financial criteria, which you see to the right, as well as the nonfinancial criteria. The combination between these 2 has led to the attribution of 47,550 shares for performance, which require remaining within the company while these shares are held. So now the ex ante part, so for 2024, very quickly, so the -- no change for the basic pay for the annual share. It's the same structure as before. So the financial elements still represent 50%, but there are now 3 of them rather than 4 because now the turnover is measured by other indicators. Profitability is still measured by growth in net income. For nonrecurring items, the 20%. There's also investment capacity measured by free cash flow, maintaining 20%, and the return on capital employed as measured by RCE, which is weighted at 15%. So the extra-financial criteria, they're still at 38% and there are 6 of them weighted at 5% each. So OHS, the climate development of strategic priorities, commitment of employees measured by the annual survey, and biodiversity, which is the only criteria which has changed because now it replaces training, just a way of measuring progression of the action plans to improve the biodiversity impact of the sensitive sites of the group. For the qualitative criteria, they still represent 20%. And they are part of a global appreciation by the Board on a proposal of the Committee of Remuneration founded namely on the strategic vision, management performance and the equity story. So definitively, you see that the only changes bear on the number of criteria, which was produced to simplify and to make the document more eligible, and so therefore, on their respective weightings. So moving now to the long-term objectives. So these have changed and they now reflect the GreenUp strategy. And this, of course, has also had an impact on the short-term objectives, which are the translation into the yearly budget. And for the floor annual variable part, so share attributions, the objectives to be reached are the same, 25% and the net results, 25%, in the creation of value for shareholders. So TSR. And as for extra-financial criteria, which reflect much more closely the strategic programs priorities and the company's results and the company purpose. So there's a higher share now provided for fighting climate change, which now represents 20%, and even 30% if you add everything to do with drinking water, which has been preserved, which is the first measure of adaptation to climate change. Diversity and inclusion criterion and the share of women within the management committee, which is still at 10%. And in the last 2 weighted criteria at 5%, client satisfaction and consumer satisfaction. And then we reach the 50% of the extra-financial criteria. This is all may seem a little bit complex, even though it's not difficult. We've laid them out here in a table where, again, you see the 5 dimensions linked to the multifaceted performance and then the variable share of yearly remuneration, the floor annual variables. And you see that for our stakeholders, they're all represented by these criteria. So the 5: so shareholders, clients, employees, local authorities and the planet itself. Thank you for your attention.

Thank you, Maryse. I now suggest that we move on to questions from the room. But first of all, Helman is going to talk about the written questions that the company has received during the general assembly. Yes.

We have received this year, like every year since 2020, written questions from the Forum for Responsible Investment. The answers we have provided, validated by the Board of Directors, which met today, will be found in the minutes, and you'll find it on the website of our company. We also received questions from 3 other shareholders: Mirova, [ FE Trust ] and Initiative for Citizen Shareholding. Answers were also provided after the meeting of the Executive Committee this afternoon. You'll also find those answers on the company's website. Let us now move on to questions from the room. You have microphones on both the central aisles. You have hostesses and numbers. [Operator Instructions]

Thank you, Helman. So first question, question number 3.

Chairman, Director General, [ Jean-Marie Ducato, ] I'm a member of the Consultative Committee of Individual Shareholders and member of [ VA ], so the shareholder, the employee shareholders at Veolia. Employee shareholder is the largest group, thanks to the shareholder investment plans, the employee shareholding plans. And do you plan to continue developing employee shareholding?

Of course, the answer is yes. But let me let Estelle give you the details.

Indeed. Yes, the answer is yes. Employee shareholding has a long history at Veolia. And I intend that we will continue making history for many, many years to come. As we said, employees are the majority shareholder, with 7.5% of your company's capital. My ambition is that very quickly, we reached 10% as quickly as possible. So we will be continuing to boost employee shareholding. And why? Well, for a number of reasons. First of all, because our employees, as I said in my remarks, are the beating heart of our company. This is what allows us to go and conquer new markets, new customers to ensure that those we have are happy and that we are able to all share the dividends. This is also why the engagement rate of 89%, as I mentioned, why that's so important for the success of your company. And this must continue. And this is why the resolution number 23, if I remember rightly, on employee shareholders, and you're strongly encouraged to vote in favor of this resolution, which will allow us to continue along these lines.

Any other questions? So number 3, once again.

Hello, Mr. Frerot. I am a retired employee of Veolia Water. I don't have a question about water, but actually, so the number of data centers that are being installed in urban areas without any possibility of getting the wasted heat because there is no network, and it would cost about EUR 1.5 million per kilometer. It's kind of the problem of water we had in the 1950s, where the network had to be built. How can we finance these networks and how can Veolia recover this wasted heat for heating networks, district heating networks that don't exist yet?

Estelle, over to you.

Yes. Well, the data centers, you're right, [ Mr. Tudier ]. You're right to remind us they consume a lot of energy, a lot of electricity to cool them down because these machines heat up very much. Some estimates say that about 10% of our world electricity will be consumed by data centers. And it's already the case in a few spots around the world. So we have 2 solutions because we're talking about the ecology of solutions, and this also applies to data centers. So first of all, try to provide green energy to these data centers. And we have a number of projects to try to co-locate data centers and areas where we know how to produce green energy; for example, an incineration plant or a wastewater treatment plant, and then to create private wiring between the 2. So that's one solution. And the second is once they've heated up to not let that heat escape, but to recover it. So that is wasted heat. It could be used for something else. It could be district heating or for industrial uses as well. And we do have a number of projects, and I think in Australia and in Ireland, where there are a lot of data centers, as well as in the United Kingdom. Jean-François is here. I mean maybe there are others, maybe some in France, even. [ Mr. Tudier ], maybe you have a project. So Jean-François, I call on you to go and check if in [ Visou ] we might be able to do something along these lines. And more generally, this is a very typical example, as I was saying in my remarks. It's a reservoir of solutions of energy for 400 gigawatts in Europe alone. 400 gigawatts. There are a lot of things that are wasted that we can make energy from. And the example that you just cited is one of those that could be produced in this 400 gigawatts that I mentioned.

The next question. Is there a next question? I see one in the back, number 1, I believe.

[indiscernible], I'm a member of the Consultative Shareholders Committee. Today, energy, I don't necessarily associate it with Veolia, in people's minds. So what makes you say that it could be successfully developed by our company?

You're right. Most people don't necessarily connect Veolia with energy, contrary to water and waste, even though we are making progress. Of course, you're not the general public here in the room. You know very well that we are producing EUR 12 billion in turnover in energy in 2023 alone with associated margins. We create value for our stakeholders, including the shareholders, of course. So this is -- it's already much larger than people imagine. And it's also a great success for Veolia. And let me seize this occasion to remind you what we mean by energy for Veolia. So it's local decarbonating energy. Local, it means at the scale of a city or an industrial zone or a data center and everything in the immediate surroundings. That is the scale at which we work. It's not a national energy grid or international energy. We're not going to be creating offshore wind farms. But getting wasted heat from data centers, yes. And this energy, it has a lot of assets. It's decarbonating so we can bring emissions down. We're replacing carbon or fossil fuels by a lot of things that would otherwise be wasted. We talked about wasted heat. There's also wastewater, nonrecycled waste, and all of this put end to end creates a lot of weight. And it's a strong -- represents strong growth in our activities. We also have solar panels on our landfills. We've just launched projects in France to have the equivalent of 300 megawatts because, yes, in energy, you talk about megawatts and gigawatts. So it's 1/3 of a nuclear power plant, just for waste landfills. So this is something that we will have in about 4 years. Thanks to all of our initiatives, and this is something that was cited by Stéphane Le Foll earlier, taking constraints and getting something from it. So landfills, okay, you can get methane from it, you can also set up solar panels.

So question number 3.

What could be the reputational and image risks of Veolia for local authorities and what means do you have, you set aside to manage those risks?

You're right to say that. Yes, local authorities, cities, towns, that's 50% of our clients and of our turnover. And these authorities, large and small towns are the natural clients around world for Veolia, whatever the political system in place. And for Veolia to be attractive for these cities, there are a number of conditions and questions to do with the reputation that have to be respected. First of all, political diversity is very great around the world. Veolia isn't particularly English, politically speaking. Neither the company nor its leaders nor are the members of its Board of Directors. None are committed to any political board. And the Board of Directors ensures this, it's very careful that there are no risks that would turn clients away from our company. The second requirement, because the fact that since Veolia does offer all of our clients, these cities, services which allow them to succeed in their ecological transformation, then it's clear that Veolia and our shares there worries about the ecological transformation. There are skeptics, of course who could have a negative impact on the company. But once you're working with the public authorities, there are requirements in terms of ethics and compliance. And those are absolutely necessary. And for all of these topics, I can assure you that the Board of Directors keeps a very close eye on these matters to ensure that the selection of our leaders, of the members of our Board will not have a negative impact on the reputation of our company. There's a question in the back, number 1.

Good evening. [ Benedict Katlama, ] Consultative Committee for Shareholders. You identified the United States, the Middle East and Australia as areas for growth. Can you give us the reasons behind these choices and why you believe in these geographies?

Estelle?

You're right. I did talk a lot about growth boosters in terms of activities. We've also identified boosters of growth in terms of geographies. So the 3 you mentioned: United States, Middle East and Australia. And it's not because they're fashionable. It's because there are basic trends in these geographies, and they actually need our expertise. So we have stronger growth there than in the group average, but tomorrow will be even more striking. I've come back from the United States last week. And the basic trends are very impressive, and they cross the political divide as well in these joints, what Antoine Frerot just said. So first and foremost, there's a reshoring. So they are relocalizing industries such as microchips, gigafactories, lithium, key industries identified by the government. And so there are new plants coming up all over the United States. And all of these plants need ultrapure water, they need water, they need hazardous waste processing, so they need us. And then the second basic trend that you see all over, this is pollutants, to be able to preserve human health. We talked about PFAS, so Forever Chemicals. And this is -- and whether you vote for Biden or Trump, we -- you still need water, and you don't want it to be polluted. And this, again, is really what allows us to create these solutions. And so does this mean that France or Europe won't see any growth? Quite the contrary. And I'm counting on all of our teams to also provide growth in France and in Europe. But it's true that these basic trends do lead us to observe that it will grow as quickly as the geographies that I just mentioned.

Thank you. Any other questions? I don't see any. Yes, there's one.

So a second question. So you noted that SEDIF, you just won that contract recently, with inverse osmosis at low pressure. At the international level, is this a process to improve water quality and to improve public health? Will that be developed elsewhere? Because it is, unfortunately, a little bit expensive.

Very interesting question. Thank you, sir. Estelle?

So low-pressure inverse osmosis, it's actually an amazing thing. It's almost like desalination for seawater. But it stops just before that to leave just enough minerals so that the water is drinkable. Because if we remove all minerals, it can't be drunk. So this treats not only Forever Chemicals, but also pesticide residues and creating -- disruptors, everything you can find in water as emerging pollutants. So this is a wonderful technical solution. In our offer for SEDIF, there is no associated increase in cost. It is up to our client to bear the brunt of the cost, but it's not passed on to the client. So all Veolia's solutions and the price of water, the cost of inaction is higher than the cost of action. If we don't do anything, then yes, there could be an increase in price. But if you take action quickly, then we can continue for water in France, something around 1% of a household's budget. So we can retain that ratio, but retaining more and more pollutants and also better managing this precious resource.

And obviously, water without pollutants, without any micro pollutants and these new Forever Chemicals, a water without chalk and without needing chlorine to make it drinkable. And I am persuaded that this will attract more and more public authorities. Any other questions? Number 3.

Chairman, [ Olivier Degan ], [ FE Trust ]. There's a resolution where you do away with double voting rights, and you're instituting a voting right at 10%? Are you afraid that somebody is going to try to take control of the group? Or is this linked to the fact that you want to increase the share of employee shareholding? So you want to decrease the voting powers of the employees.

This resolution's goal is to protect our shareholders, all of our shareholders. And allowing us to -- so any shareholder who may take up a very important -- who may have an important share, if they should wish to take control without paying the price to other shareholders, because, as Helman reminded us earlier, with 25% of capital, you can control a Veolia company. So -- and without an IPO. If we launched an IPO, and if we launched an IPO for Suez, a few years ago, some of the Swiss shareholders called out to me. They were very worried that we would just take the 30% that we bought from ENGIE without launching the IPO, and therefore, mechanically speaking, taking control of the general meeting and so taking control of management without having to pay for it. And it's the very same reason, to protect our shareholders, we thought it was necessary to force any ambitious shareholders to have to be forced to launch an IPO. And this has allowed us to provide very generous returns on it through our dividends. And so this is a resolution which would force any shareholder tempted to be ambitious to launch an IPO. And for our employee shareholders, if there were such control taken, they would be the primary rampart against this. Any further questions? So what I suggest now is that we move on to the resolution -- the vote of the resolutions. But before that, let me tell you how the electronic voting boxes work. [Presentation]

So we will now vote on the resolutions. They were presented in detail in the information brochure, along with the invitation to this general meeting. And all of these documents are available to you if you wish for them. Helman, could you please specify the voting conditions?

So our general meeting has an electronic voting system, which is personalized. And we have a person who is in charge of verifying all of the information in the tablet. So the number of shares and the number of votes that each shareholder possesses or represents, and we'll be monitoring the technical regularity of our voting. Don't forget to hit okay once you've made your vote. And just so you know, if you abstain, it's not considered as a vote that was expressed. So we have the definitive quorum, which has gone up by 0.25%. So now we have a quorum of 70.84% of the group, so 506,000,109 shares for 10 million shareholders. So we can now move on to voting of the resolutions. The first resolution: to approve the accounts for 2023. The vote is now open. [Voting]

The vote is now closed.

And this first resolution is adopted.

Second resolution: to approve the consolidated accounts for 2023. Vote is open. [Voting]

The vote is now closed.

Resolution is also largely adopted.

Third resolution: to approve the application of the results of 2023 and determine the date where the dividends will be paid out for 2023. So EUR 1.25 per share will be paid out starting on the 10th of May 2024. The vote is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution is adopted.

Fourth resolution: conventions and regulated agreements taken in 2023 or in the previous years but which continued in 2023. You've heard [indiscernible], our auditor, 3 new conventions were concluded in 2023 with Terra Academia and 2 rights with Veolia brand licenses for the agreements that continued. There were 2. Voting is now open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

And here are the results. The resolution is adopted.

Fifth resolution: renewing the Directors' mandate of Mrs. Isabelle Courville. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Mrs. Isabelle Courville has been easily reelected. And I thank you on her behalf.

Sixth resolution: renewing the mandate of Mr. Guillaume Texier. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Mr. Guillaume Texier has been easily reelected.

Seventh resolution: appointment of the term of Ms. Julia Marton-Lefèvre as Director. Voting open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Congratulations, Julia, and welcome to our Directors' Board.

Eight resolution: appointment of KPMG SA to certify sustainability information. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution adopted.

Ninth resolution: appointment of the company Ernst & Young et Autres to certify sustainability information for a period of 5 years to the end of 2028. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution adopted, once more.

Tenth resolution: vote on the compensation paid for 2023 awarded in respect to the same period to Mr. Antoine Frerot, Chairman of the Board of Directors, ex post vote. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution adopted. Thank you.

Eleventh resolution is about the compensation paid for 2023 or awarded in respect to the same period to Mrs. Estelle Brachlianoff, Chief Executive Officer. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution adopted.

Twelfth resolution: vote on the information relative to the 2023 compensation of the directors, excluding Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, as mentioned in Article L. 22-10-9 I of French Commercial Code. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution adopted.

Thirteenth resolution: vote on the Chairman of the Board's compensation policy in respect of fiscal year 2024. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution adopted.

Fourteenth resolution: vote on the Chief Executive Officer's compensation policy in respect of fiscal year 2024. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution adopted.

Fifteenth resolution: on the Directors' compensation policy in respect of fiscal year 2024. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution adopted.

Sixteenth resolution: authorization to be given to the Board of Directors to deal in the company's shares, maximum price of value shares cannot be EUR 40 and the global amount of these purchases cannot exceed EUR 1 billion. This resolution will not be applied during a tender except if there is a prior authorization by the general meeting. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution adopted.

Seventeenth resolution: delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to increase the share capital of the company or another company by issuing shares and securities, giving access immediately or at later date to share capital, with preferential subscription rights up to 30% of the company's -- or the group's equity. I will not repeat that in the next resolution. Two years ago, a similar resolution was passed, but this opportunity was not used by the group. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution, easily adopted once more.

Eighteenth resolution: authorizing the Board of Directors to increase the share capital of the company without preferential subscription rights, capped at 10% of the equity. A similar resolution was passed in '22, but this opportunity of increasing capital was not used by Veolia. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution adopted.

Nineteenth resolution: delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to increase the share capital of the company or other -- another company by issuing shares immediately or at a later date to share capital without preferential subscription rights by public offers provided on the paragraph on Article L. 411-2 of the French Monetary and Financial Code. A similar resolution was granted -- was adopted in 2022, and this opportunity was not used by Veolia. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution adopted.

Twentieth resolution: nonapplicable times of tender except prior agreement by the Board authorizing the Directors' Board to do external growth, finance through shares or titles that give access to capital equity first 26 months. A similar resolution was adopted in June of 2022, and the opportunity was not used by Veolia. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is now closed.

Resolution adopted.

Twenty-first resolution: allowing the Board of Directors to increase the number of shares to be issued in the context of share capital increase with or without preferential subscription rights. A similar resolution was adopted in 2022 but that possibility was not used by Veolia. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution adopted.

Twenty-second resolution does not apply in the times of tender, allowing the Board of Directors to incorporate premiums, reserves, profits or any other items in order to increase the share capital. A similar resolution was passed in 2022 but the possibility was not used by Veolia. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution adopted.

Twenty-third resolution: delegates authority to the Board of Directors to increase the share capital of the company by issuing shares and/or securities giving access immediately or at a later date to the share capital, and reserved for the members of company savings plans without preferential subscription rights. For your information, a similar solution was adopted in '23, but that possibility was used by the company to the tune of 1.2% of the group's equity. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution, easily adopted for our employee shareholding program.

Twenty-fourth resolution: allowing the Board of Directors increase the share capital of the company by issuing shares and/or securities, giving access to the share capital and reserves for certain categories of persons without preferential subscription rights in the context of implementation of employee share ownership plans. As I told you, this is for employees outside of France. A similar resolution was adopted in '24, and this possibility was used by the Veolia to the tune of [ 0.2% ]. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution adopted.

Our twenty-fifth resolution: authorizing the Board of Directors to grant free shares existing or to be issued to employees of the group and corporate officers of the company or some of them, with waiver by shareholders of their preferential subscription rights that targets the performance share plans. A similar resolution was passed on April of '23, and the possibility was used by the company with 1.3 million shares that were thus granted. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution adopted.

Twenty-sixth resolution: allowing the Board of Directors to reduce the share capital by the cancellation of the treasury shares. The maximum of cancelable shares cannot exceed 10% of the group's equity over the period. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

Resolution adopted.

Resolution 27, [indiscernible] asked a question about earlier on, changing the bylaws of the company to have a dual system, canceling dual voting rights and limiting the rights of any shareholders that would have a fraction of capital over 10%. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

This resolution was passed by a very, very large margin.

Twenty-eight resolution: legal modalities. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed.

This resolution, too, is widely adopted. Ladies and gentlemen, there's nothing left on the agenda of our general meeting. And hence, I declare this Joint General Assembly to be closed, and I suggest that those of you who can meet at the cocktail reception on the third floor, the hostesses can lead you there. Thank you for being present. Thank you for your loyalty and support, and have a nice rest of the day.