Decarbonizing the economy | WSP Global wants to help polluting industries

A consulting engineering firm that doesn’t believe in ‘leaving entire industries behind’

Martin Valeris
Journalism

In its contribution to decarbonizing the economy, Montreal-based consultancy giant WSP Global would rather rely on technical assistance for polluting industries than exclude it entirely from its order book.

“Leaving entire industries in need [de réduire leur empreinte carbone]We do not believe as an organization that this is the best way to achieve this green transition towards a better world,” noted WSP President and CEO Alexandre Louroux, during an address to Cercle Montreal Canadian, one of the city’s most well-known business forums.

“In terms of energy transmission [vers la carboneutralité]WSP considers itself an agent of change, its know-how and excellence should be used [contribuer à] It changes the world,” explained Mr. L’Heureux.

So ‘help these industries [polluantes] Becoming more “low carbon” rather than putting it aside is the preferred way in the WSP’s business plan to highlight the development of the important ‘Earth and Environmental Sciences’ section.

In his speech, the President and CEO of WSP noted that since the acquisition of Golder & Associates last year for $1.5 billion, this division now weighs a quarter (25%) of WSP’s turnover, which is close to $8 billion.

The Earth and Environmental Sciences division employs 14,000 of the 55,000 employees in WSP’s global workforce. It is also at the forefront of “ambitious goals” to double volume and achieve “unmatched profitability in each of our target markets”.

“On the other hand, WSP should be there for these industries [qui veulent effectuer leur transition énergétique]. Regarding renewable energies, for example, what we currently have in the world is not enough to meet the needs. »

According to the figures quoted by Mr. L’Heureux, “the International Energy Agency estimates that the planet will triple its investments in renewable energies by 2030 to limit rising temperatures.”

Par ailleurs, dans le contexte de l’invasion militaire russe en Ukraine et des tensions générées en Europe par sa dépendance envers le pétrole et le gaz d’origine russe, le président de WSP a souligné « qu’on parle beaunergépendé d’ weeks ago.”

I think it exacerbates this discussion. [sur les efforts de transition énergétique]. We cannot leave behind important industries that need technical knowledge to reduce carbon emissions. »

Eastern REM

In another record, the REM de l’Est project in Montreal is intriguing WSP Global, but the engineering firm is awaiting publication of a well-deserved call for bids before working in more detail on its proposal.

“The request for bids has not yet been submitted, so there is nothing that can be presented to us at the moment,” Alexandre Laureux said in an interview with the Canadian Press on the sidelines of a speech to the Canadian club. Montreal, Monday.

CDPQ Infra, a subsidiary of Caisse de depot et placement du Québec, announced in March that it had decided to postpone the final presentation of the project to the Bureau d’audiences sur l’environnement (BAPE), which had been scheduled for this. Spring, in order to get better support from its partners, including the city of Montreal.

The senior president of WSP said: “Of course we are preparing, but as long as we do not know the results of all this, it is difficult to bring the optimal preparation. We are waiting for more details for bidding. »

WSP attempted to obtain the engineering and construction contract for the first REM track, but the company was defeated by rival SNC-Lavalin.

with the Canadian press