Our vision is to work towards a sustainable future by offering solutions for global, worldwide challenges: rising sea levels, a growing population, reduction of emissions, polluted rivers and soils and the scarcity of natural resources. Although DEME’s foundations were built on dredging, the portfolio has diversified substantially over the decades, growing from largely focusing on dredging and land reclamation, to solutions for the offshore energy sector (oil & gas and renewables), infra marine market and for environmental remediation. Our multidisciplinary approach means that we have become a true, global solutions provider.

We also strongly believe in turning challenges into opportunities. That’s why we are continuously looking for ways to deploy our knowledge and expertise in other activities, exploring new horizons and expanding our solutions portfolio. As a leader in environmental remediation we are looking into solutions to tackle marine litter in our rivers and oceans. We are building on our experience in coastal protection to develop nature-based solutions to tackle the rising sea level. Our continued investments in new technologies and activities underline just how important innovation is to our company.

Our core values can be summarised in the word ‘STRIVE’. Forming the basis of our commitment to consistently deliver excellence to our customers and value to our company, our STRIVE values are reflected in everything we do. We also expect our suppliers, subcontractors and partners to adhere to these standards.

Undoubtedly, the world is facing multiple global challenges, from rising sea levels, CO2 emissions, a scarcity of resources, a growing population to an increasing demand for energy. The United Nations has attempted to tackle many of these issues by initiating 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim to create a better, more sustainable world by 2030.

At DEME we strongly believe that everyone has a role to play – governments, companies and individuals – and we have stepped up to the challenge by integrating several of the SDGs into our business. This will help us create sustainable value for customers, ourselves, stakeholders and in the wider society.

We are leveraging our resources and expertise to help achieve these universal goals for a sustainable future and we understand that to have the largest possible impact, we need to do more than simply minimise the footprint of our own operations. Therefore, we are designing and implementing business solutions that address specific UN SDGs.

Everyone at DEME, together with our shareholders, is committed to playing a pioneering role that proactively investigates technological solutions to tackle these challenges. But we know we cannot do it working alone, so we have reached out and joined forces with partners in the maritime sector, research and science community, non-governmental organisations, technical solution providers, climate experts and many others. Together we believe we can truly make a difference.

DEME’s shareholder is the Brussels-based civil engineering contractor CFE, which is controlled by the Belgian investment Group Ackermans & van Haaren – both publicly listed companies on Euronext Brussels.