ENGIE’S IMPACTS AND
DEPENDENCIES ON NATURE
Like any human activity, the businesses
of the ENGIE group constantly interact
with biodiversity and nature.
This interaction takes two directions:
• the activities have an impact
on biodiversity, mainly habitat
disturbance caused by the land
footprint of the Group’s industrial
sites, the soil sealing and the
disruption of ecological continuity;
• the Group’s activities are, in turn,
partly dependent on nature through
the services rendered by the ecosystems
such as biomass resources water
regulation and climate
The main potential impacts identified
are the following
The change in land use related to
the land footprint of the industrial
sites and the extraction of raw
materials and also the change in use
of the air spaces for birds and bats
facing wind turbine blades or marine
spaces for the fish disturbed by
offshore wind projects
The overexploitation of resources
limited to certain forms of biomass ie
the forest waste and agricultural waste
used in the production of biogas
• The contribution to climate change
through the greenhouse gas emissions
of the coal and gas power plants,
primarily CH
4
, CO
2
and N
2
O;
• The contribution to air pollution
from discharges of NOx, SOx and fine
particles from the coal and gas-fired
power plants, the discharges of hot
water from the plants into aquatic
environments, the waste and the light
or sound pollution of certain facilities;
• The spread of invasive species tied to
excavation work and the management
of the project land for sites under
construction
The main areas in which ENGIEs activities
depends on nature are the following
Natural raw materials such as uranium
natural gas biomass the rare materials
used in the manufacture of solar
panels and batteries are all services
used in the production of energy
and the sale of natural gas
Water enables hydro electricity
production through its natural
cycle precipitation evaporation
condensation contributes to the
correct operation of the thermal
power plants through its qualities as
a cooling fluid and forms the basic
elements for the production of steam
for the heating networks
• The sun and wind are the sources
that enable production of renewable
electricity;
• The soil quality contributed to the
protection and stability of the gas,
heating and cooling networks and,
more generally, to all of the Group’s
buried networks.
Detailed knowledge of these impacts
and dependencies can limit the risks
involved, better apply the “avoid,
reduce, offset” approach, continually
improve dialog with stakeholders
and provide the reliable information
demanded by the market
2023 INTEGRATED REPORT - 35