Boskalis Sustainability Report 2020

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social and environmental objectives. In particular, the building of trade-related infrastructure is recognized as a key element to help accelerate progress towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Boskalis continues to benefit from the trend towards larger vessels with deeper drafts. In ports these vessels require deeper access channels and larger and deeper berths and turning basins, creating opportunities primarily in the area of dredging. As a consequence of the above-mentioned demographic and economic developments, energy demand continues to increase. Part of this demand can be served from existing sources, however significant new investments are required to meet this rising demand. The absolute level of demand post COVID-19 and the rate of the energy transition will both impact the magnitude and focal areas for capital investments. A more rapid energy transition – consistent with meeting the Paris climate goals – would also create substantial new opportunities for Boskalis. Within such a faster energy transition, the share of coal and oil in the energy mix would strongly decline and be offset by an even sharper growth in renewables and gas – the two most relevant energy markets for Boskalis.

Climate change sits firmly at the top of today’s global agenda. Sea levels are rising and extreme weather conditions increasingly impact people and assets, especially in coastal regions. With 75% of major cities located on coastlines and some 1.1 billion people living in flood-prone areas, a figure expected to rise to 1.6 billion by 2050, the urgency to develop and implement sustainable climate-adaptive solutions has never been greater. Global recognition of this urgency was marked by The Global Commission on Adaptation denoting 2020 the Year of Action to accelerate and scale up climate change-adaptive solutions, an initiative supported across sectors. In 2020 the World Economic Forum identified climate action failure as the number-one global risk, and the World Bank has determined the cost of the damages resulting from flooding to be seven to ten times higher than the cost of adaptation. The responsibility and opportunities for businesses to step up to the challenge is bigger than ever.

SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2020 – BOSKALIS

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