Sustainability

Our ambition & strategy

At DEME, it is our ambition to fundamentally contribute to sustainable solutions for the global environmental, societal and economic challenges facing our world today. And while addressing these challenges, we continually strive to improve the sustainability of our own operations This has led to our two-dimensional strategy for sustainable performance – we aim to EXPLORE and to EXCEL.

For more information on DEME's sustainability strategy please find below the extract of our latest Annual Report.

ESG Ratings & Indexes

DEME’s sustainability performance has been assessed by multiple ESG analysts and agencies. The ESG ratings indicate the sustainability performance of a company based on publicly available information. During 2023, overall we maintained our positioning in the ESG ratings versus previous years as shown in the table below.

Sustainability reporting

Overview of non-financial figures

EU Taxonomy reporting tables

ESG Policies

Sustainability governance

Our sustainability governance model focuses on two core elements:

1. TO EXPLORE SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS (CONTINUOUSLY CHALLENGE OURSELVES TO DEVELOP MORE SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS)

2. TO EXCEL IN OUR OPERATIONS (SUSTAINABLE PERFORMANCE IN OUR DAILY OPERATIONS)

There are five main layers within our governance structure: the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee, Sustainability Board, Sustainability Team and Process Owners of the different Segments and supporting services.

Board of Directors

Specific sustainability topics related to safety and greenhouse gas emissions reduction are on the agenda at every meeting of the Board of Directors. The general progress of the implementation of the sustainability strategy is discussed once a year.

Executive Committee

Every year, the Executive Committee reviews and approves our sustainability programmes, along with the related objectives and targets.

Sustainability Board

The Sustainability Board provides guidance on both strategic and operational sustainability topics to ensure that any decisions are aligned with our values, sustainability strategy and objectives. In 2023, the Sustainability Board met every two months to evaluate the sustainability performance of our project portfolio and the progress made towards our objectives from both a strategic and operational perspective.

Sustainability Team

The Sustainability Team is responsible for embedding sustainability into our business operations.

Process Owners

Sustainability Ambassadors within the segments, Theme Leads within the supporting services and Tender Sustainability Single Point of Contacts (SPOCs) have been appointed to support the further implementation of the operational sustainability objectives, targets and measures across the organisation.

Name

Function

Luc Vandenbulcke

Executive Director and CEO

Christopher Iwens

Managing Director Dredging

Stijn Gaytant

Chief Financial Officer

Eric Tancré

Managing Director Dredging, Managing Director Infra

Jan Gabriel

Head of Fleet Construction & Conversion Department

Koen Vanderbeke

Strategic Operations Director

Jiska Verhulst

Sustainability Director

Olivier Maes

Strategic Planning & Growth Director

Dirk Poppe

Area Director Asia Pacific, Managing Director Environmental

Hugo Bouvy

Managing Director Offshore Energy

Sustainability values

To push sustainable value creation forward, we have established a clear vision about how to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into our daily operations. We want to continuously challenge ourselves to develop more sustainable solutions within our portfolio so that our operations become more environmentally friendly. We identified eight sustainability themes that will support us to create sustainable value.

CO₂ performance ladder

In the Benelux, DEME is certified according to the requirements of the CO₂ performance ladder, which encourages companies to map out and reduce their CO₂ emissions. Since 2012 LRQA (an accredited independent party) has regularly verified our processes and results. In 2018 DEME passed the renewal audit with the highest qualification level (level 5). Widely used, the CO₂ performance ladder is an instrument that helps organisations reduce their carbon emissions, in the performance of projects and in their business operations. The principle behind the ladder is that efforts concerning CO₂ are rewarded economically; i.e. the higher score on the ladder, the better the company’s assessment in tenders.

Ethics and Business Integrity

DEME Code of Ethics and Business Integrity
The DEME Code of Ethics and Business Integrity is based on the principle that we should always act with honesty and integrity in all matters. The Code’s purpose is to help our employees engage in the right behaviour and align with our core values. Complying with our Code of Ethics and Business Integrity paves the way for stronger relationships by enhancing the trust between us and our stakeholders. Our Code and its related documents provide useful guidance in making sound ethical business decisions in our daily work and inspire dialogue about the key ethics and compliance issues that we may face. We also developed a DEME Code of Ethics and Business Integrity for Business Partners, based on the same principles.

Raising and reporting integrity issues
At DEME we believe that the final building block of our integrity programme is the possibility for both our personnel as well as any concerned third party to raise integrity concerns without fear of reprisal. For guidance on this topic we refer to our “Whistleblowing Policy Summary”.

Social dialogue
We are convinced that social dialogue and open communication between employees and management are essential for creating optimal and safe working conditions, establishing a fair policy in terms of working conditions and successfully executing all our activities.

DEME Code of Ethics & Business Integrity.pdf

Code of Ethics & Business Integrity for Business Partners

Other compliance with laws and regulations

DEME acts in accordance with all applicable (tax) laws and regulations at all times.

SIDRA specific policies: