Veolia has signed three memorandums of understanding in Saudi Arabia covering desalination, industrial water management, hazardous waste and decarbonisation. The agreements pair the environmental-services company with ACWA, mining group Ma’aden and LPG-storage specialist Khazeen, a subsidiary of GASCO.
The ACWA partnership focuses on improving seawater-desalination design and operations through lower energy use, optimised chemical consumption, better water quality and shared digital practices. Veolia estimates that applying the measures across ACWA’s current and future portfolio could avoid as much as 500,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually while reducing operating costs. ACWA’s portfolio can produce 9.7 million cubic metres of desalinated water per day.
With Ma’aden, the work will address the mining water cycle, including treatment and reuse of industrial water. Waste-related studies will consider prevention, specialised treatment and recovery of materials that can form new circular-economy loops. The Khazeen agreement applies industrial-water and hazardous-waste services to LPG storage infrastructure across the country, supporting the operator’s decarbonisation plans.
The documents establish cooperation frameworks rather than final project contracts, so their impact will depend on subsequent engineering, investment and implementation decisions. Their combined scope nevertheless reflects the connected nature of Saudi Arabia’s industrial transition: water security, energy efficiency, waste control and local technical capability must develop together. Veolia positions the agreements within Saudi Vision 2030 and its own GreenUp strategy.
Source: Veolia
