Veolia | España

#Spain faced drought long before most of Europe, and it has turned that experience into a head start. I sat down with @el_pais in Madrid to talk about it. As I see it, when you are on the frontlines of climate disruption, you adapt faster and you become a standard bearer for others to follow. Spain already recycles 15% of its wastewater; meanwhile, many other European countries, including France, are still below 1%. Spain has become a global laboratory for water innovation, with the solutions developed now exported to 45 countries.  So, why recycle #water exactly? Around Murcia, by supplying farmers with treated wastewater, we ease tensions between water users. In Catalonia, we go one step further as we turn it into drinking water. Simply put, the solutions exist, and their payoff is now undeniable. This is why we are accelerating even more in Spain, with €1 billion in investments targeted by 2030. Energy is an equally essential part of the equation. When a town or factory produces its own power from often overlooked resources such as waste heat or non-recyclable waste, it becomes much better insulated from geopolitical shocks and price spikes. And there is now a new player entering the resource sovereignty arena: AI and its data centers, key to Europe’s digital future. Data centers do consume huge amounts of energy and water to cool servers; however, with our recently unveiled Data Center Resource 360 offer, we can cut their freshwater use by up to 75%.  We’re already putting this approach into practice on the ground. In Mississippi, for example, we’re partnering with Amazon Web Services to transform treated municipal wastewater into cooling water for data centers, with operations set to begin in 2027. We also have the ability to recover the heat from these facilities to warm nearby homes through district heating networks. At the end of the day, this is how data centers will earn their place in local communities. These are all critical resource topics that transcend politics and will be shaping future economic decisions for decades to come. And that is why we are fully confident when we plan for the very long term in places like Spain. Spain is like few other countries in Veolia’s culture and history. We have been here since 1867, nearly 160 years, and we fully intend to stay for at least another 160! elpais.com/economia/negocios…