In its Climate Report 2020 the Eiffage Group sets out is commitment to the future and the challenges faced by the company to achieve sustainable growth.

For this purpose, it has designed a responsible strategic plan. Innovation is one of the three pillars of this plan, and is the most effective and legitimate way to act in favour of the ecological and energy transition.

This is why the Eiffage Group is committed to creating financial tools that complement the resources of the operating branches, to accelerate the emergence and market launch of sustainable innovations that contribute to the ecological transition of its activities.

Specifically, the aim is to support the improvement of innovations resulting from the Group’s R&D, as well as public or private partnerships with external entities such as suppliers, customers, research centres or higher education institutions.

In the words of Eiffage’s chairman and CEO, Benoit de Rufray: “The climate issue is one of the most violent global and structural phenomena that our modern societies have faced.  It is everybody’s responsibility and every player must take action”.

E-Face Fund

In this context, emphasis should be placed on the E-Face fund, which is the Spanish acronym for “Eiffage – carbon energy arbitration fund”, specifically earmarked to support activities aimed at avoiding carbon on the supply side. This fund finances the cost difference between a regular high-emissions technical solution and an alternative solution with low carbon emissions.

This fund was set up in 2011 to benefit low carbon emissions innovation during the construction of the Brittany – Loire Region high-speed railway line.

E-Face removes the financial hurdles that are holding back the development of new low-carbon solutions that have not reached the industrial scale of economy stage. It also boosts the R&D ecosystem dedicated to low carbon emission products and processes, regardless of whether they are in-house or proposed by suppliers or employees, thereby giving them an opportunity to be selected, put into practice, identified and replicated.

As a result, 50 innovation projects from all the Eiffage Group’s activities have enjoyed co-financing from Eiffage since 2017.

Based on its low carbon emissions strategy, Eiffage believes that in order to set an example in terms of the carbon footprint it is not enough to just reduce the company’s internal emissions, but it is also necessary to reduce the emissions of its bids and monitor customers as they implement their own strategies; this combination is indispensable to the credibility of its commitment.

“We are firmly committed to shifting the Group’s real estate portfolio towards low carbon emission solutions, focusing on positive energy and highlighting the knowledge of all branches in this area”, says Fabien Avon, Eiffage’s General Media Director.