TotalEnergies has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Veolia Environnement to strengthen their collaboration on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water usage, the company announced Monday.
The agreement focuses on deploying methane detection technologies at Veolia-operated landfills, expanding the use of treated wastewater at TotalEnergies sites, and decarbonizing energy-intensive desalination operations.
Under the memorandum, the two companies will also explore new processes to recover strategic materials such as rare earth elements from waste streams.
One of the cornerstones of the MOU is the potential deployment of TotalEnergies' AUSEA technology—a drone-based methane measurement system—across Veolia's landfill network.
Veolia aims to capture 80% of methane from its landfill sites by 2032.
Veolia will also assist TotalEnergies in achieving its 2030 target to reduce freshwater withdrawals by 20% at sites located in water-stressed regions, using 2021 as a baseline.
The companies are developing wastewater reuse projects, including at SATORP, a major refining and petrochemical site in Saudi Arabia co-owned by TotalEnergies and Saudi Aramco.
Meanwhile, TotalEnergies is set to support Veolia in accelerating the deployment of low-carbon energy solutions at desalination plants built or operated by Veolia by 2030. The partners previously co-developed the largest solar-powered desalination plant in Oman, setting a precedent for future low-carbon installations.
Finally, the companies will also co-invest in research and development to scale new methods for recovering underutilized strategic resources, such as rare earth elements found in wind turbine magnets, photovoltaic cells, and electric vehicle batteries.
"By combining our expertise, whether in sustainable water management, the circular economy or the reduction of methane emissions, we are putting our innovation capabilities at the service of the ecological transformation and the competitiveness of our industries," said Estelle Brachlianoff, Veolia's CEO.
"TotalEnergies has cutting-edge solutions and technologies to offer Veolia and vice versa," said Patrick Pouyanné, chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies.
"Together, we can make a concrete contribution to the energy transition and the circular economy," he added.
By Duygu Alhan
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr
