SUEZ 09

By 2050, the planet will host nearly 10 billion inhabitants, and almost 70% of them will live in cities, in particular in Africa and Asia. This prospect has a strong impact on SUEZ activity forecasts.

30% 36%WORLD POPULATION GROWTH BY 2050 (ONU, 2017) WORLD POPULATION WITHOUT ACCESS TO WASTE WATER COLLECTION (ONU, 2017)

THE TRENDS OF A FAST-MOVING WORLD

TREND 01

THE DEMOGRAPHIC CHALLENGE

According to the NGO Global Footprint Network, in 2017 the world's population consumed natural resources 1.7 times faster than ecosystems could regenerate them. At the same time, about a third of all food produced on the planet was thrown away, that is between 6 and 11 kg wasted per person per year in Asia and Africa, but reaching between 95 and 115 kg in North America and Europe (FAO). Those figures are all the more important in cities. According to the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, which brings together over 90 of the world's largest cities, fewer than 500 cities will be responsible for 60% of global economic growth and 50% of the increase in greenhouse gas emissions between now and 2030. The economic and political power of cities is becoming steadily more entrenched, though they remain very vulnerable to natural and

social shocks. Caught up in an increasingly intense competition to attract an active, demanding population, cities aspire to preserve the quality of life: transforming rivers for urban swimming and implementing greener transport policies are two examples adopted more and more widely. In a spirit of greater cooperation, cities are organising themselves into villages and communities which reinvent production, consumption, transport But what are their consequences on traditional patterns of territorial solidarity? In France, the NOTRe and MAPTAM laws have accelerated the development of metropolitan areas, but the ripple effects exerted by cities on their surrounding territories are no longer as beneficial, according to a recent report by France Stratégie.

MATERIALITY ASSESSMENT*

Ethics

Women s access to decision-

making

Optimised water and waste

management

Greenhouse gas emissions

Air pollution

Health, safety and reducing disturbance to residents

Reducing energy consumption

Integrating digital and smart

technologies

Capacity-building and knowledge

transfer

* The nine priority challenges for SUEZ from the materiality matrix (see details on p.71).