Bouygues E&S Marks Earth Day

Earth Day marks an annual day of action to address human behaviour that influences climate change and enacts global, national, and local policy changes to protect our planet. In today’s world, the Earth faces more threats to its inhabitants than ever before. Alongside carbon emissions that are set to miss the necessary international targeted reductions, current human activities are creating damaging and unsustainable levels of air pollution, plastic waste, food waste, and the increasing loss of biodiversity.

At Bouygues E&S, we’re committed to playing our part to protect the planet and communities. We also recognise our responsibility to mitigate the impact of our business operations on the environment and to help lead the way for a more sustainable built environment. That’s why this Earth Day, we’re sharing what we’re doing as a business to tackle the threats our planet faces to encourage other businesses to join us in exchanging best practices and sustainable innovations.

Carbon Emissions

The threat: The greatest threat to our planet is the continued rise of carbon emissions. Without urgent action to reduce this greenhouse gas, global temperature is on track to rise by 2.5 °C to 4.5 °C by 2100 (NASA, 2023). Such an increase would be catastrophic for our planet, leading to extreme weather events such as droughts, wildfires, and flooding, a decrease in agriculture yields and famine, widespread loss of biodiversity, and more.

Our work: We’re doing what we can to decarbonise our business activities and accelerate our net zero journey. In 2022, we reduced our direct emissions by an impressive 27% and are working closely with our clients to support their path to net zero with the implementation of carbon reduction plans across all our clients’ sites.

Loss of Biodiversity

The threat: Wildlife across the globe is threatened by the changing climate and the loss of habitat due to human activities such as agriculture and industry. The UK alone has lost almost half of its biodiversity since the 1970s and has the lowest Biodiversity Intactness index of any G7 nation. This is not only disastrous for the wildlife. The loss of pollinators such as bees threatens the world’s food supply, while fewer plants and trees mean less CO2 is absorbed every day – not to mention the destruction of microorganisms in the soil resulting in lower crop yields.

Our work: As an industry, the built environment necessitates a loss of habitat. We’re doing what we can to safeguard ecosystems and promote biodiversity at our clients’ sites. One great example of this is Broomfield Hospital, where we’ve created a dedicated biodiversity garden, complete with CO2 absorbing and wildlife attracting native plants as well as multiple bug and bee ‘hotels’ to shelter wildlife. A local primary school held a competition for the students to submit their designs for the ‘hotel’, the best of which was selected and built by a Bouygues E&S’ carpenter. At another of our client’s site at Jo Richardson schools, Bouygues E&S volunteers planted 105 wildlife attracting trees awarded as a package by the Woodland Trust to promote biodiversity.

Air Pollution

The threat: Emissions of pollutants into the air, such as those from vehicles, both contribute to atmospheric warming and reduce local air quality to levels dangerous to human health. In 2019, 99% of the world’s population lived in places where the WHO air quality guidelines levels were not met, putting them at risk of serious illnesses including asthma, pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and reduced brain function (WHO, 2022).

Our work: We recognise that vehicle emissions are among the primary sources of air pollution and are doing what we can to support clean modes of transport. Within our own business, we’ve electrified 25% of our fleet, rolled out e-cargo bikes to replace diesel vans across our healthcare sites, and supported our employees’ and key workers’ have access to cycling for eco-friendly transportation. We’re also supporting the government’s ambitions for public adoption of EVs as the car of choice by installing EV charging points across our clients’ sites, helping to develop an EV infrastructure that is accessible and reliable for our staff and clients. Testament to this is the milestone we’ve reached at almost 100 EV charging points across the UK, with the aim to have one installed at 70% of our clients’ sites by 2023. 

Single Use Plastics

The threat: No plastic is good for the environment. It’s made from fossil fuels and harms wildlife, releases toxins into our food chain, and takes up to 500 years to decompose. Of the 400 million tonnes of plastic produced each year, half are single use plastics (SUPs). Designed to be used only once and discarded, such as straws, wrappers, and masks, this form of plastic pollution carries a high environmental price. The creation of SUPs uses finite resources at an alarming rate while producing mass quantities of waste which poses a severe threat to wildlife and ecosystems.   

Our work: Bouygues E&S continues to work towards our Corporate Objective to reduce and eventually eliminate single use plastic within the business. This remains a strategic focus using companywide campaigns including surveys and supplier workshops generating innovative ideas to reduce SUP consumption. To date, three of our clients’ sites have already exceeded their targets, with the total plastic savings across our sites reaching 622 kg, the equivalent of 2,753 tonnes of CO2e. These savings are complemented by teams of Bouygues E&S volunteers dedicating their time to cleaning up beaches across the country, preventing plastic waste from entering our oceans.

Amelle Mestari, Procurement and Sustainable Development Director at Bouygues E&S, shared: “As the planet faces its greatest challenge yet, it’s never been more important to recognise Earth Day. It’s only by working together that we can hope to overcome the threats our planet currently faces. By sharing our best practices and examples of sustainability in action, we hope to encourage other businesses and individuals to follow suit both in implementation and in exchanging ideas and information to help everybody tackle climate change.”