Environmental analysis

Our social environment is turbulent and uncertain. We are in the midst of a climate transition, a resource transition and an energy transition. We are also facing huge and growing labour market shortages. And in addition, the nitrogen emissions issue is creating continuous uncertainty in the construction sector. The challenges and developments we face are so large and involve so many disciplines that we need to work intensively with partners, suppliers, clients, the public sector and many more parties. When we look for solutions, we put societal challenges firmly front and centre. We do not look for a solution in the direction that would by definition put us in a central role. We look for an optimal approach and what we can do in collaboration with other players.

All our work is done by people, and engineering and construction in particular are expected to face major shortages of employees in the future. This is why we are focusing more than ever before on making the best possible use of the people we have, and supporting them with innovations in automation and digitalisation. We want to bring in good people and get them to commit to us by being a good employer. And as part of this, we strive for diversity, because we want to reflect the society we work in. Although we face complex challenges and issues, we are confident that we can play a role in finding solutions. We know our strengths and recognise opportunities to add value and make a difference.

At the same time, two factors are accelerating our drive to develop and integrate sustainability into our business operations. For one, clients are increasing the weighting of sustainability factors in tenders. This might not yet be at the level we would like, but industry organisation Bouwend Nederland's tender monitor shows this weighting has been on the increase for several years now. The second driver is the embedding of sustainability requirements in legal and regulatory requirements. This is being driven by the European Union’s Green Deal and translates into requirements for banks, insurers, accountants, but also for companies to be more transparent and meet stricter standards. We primarily see this reflected in the concept of ESG (environmental, social and governance) standards, related to the environment, society and good corporate governance that more and more investors are adopting.