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Message from the Chairman

Paris, December 12, 2010

Dear shareholders,

The members of our Board of Directors have appointed me Chairman of Veolia Environnement. It is a tremendous honour for me and I would like to express my warmest thanks for the trust they have placed in me.

Taking on the Chairmanship of Veolia Environnement is a great honour because our Group, a world leader in environmental services, is a magnificent inheritance. We owe it to all those who work for the business and have worked for it in the past, and in particular Henri Proglio. I have already had the opportunity to do so, but I would like once again to express my profound gratitude to him and to all those involved in the company. He is entrusting me with his life’s work. I shall do my utmost to deserve such trust.

Veolia Environnement is a wealth creator, through the services it provides, for all those who put their trust in it and support it. This makes our Group a very fine economic tool. But Veolia Environnement is more than that. It is a community of men and women, an exceptional melting pot of talent and enthusiasm driven by the same ambition: to become the benchmark company in sustainable development, a company that acts as an outstanding example of how to reconcile human development and environmental protection.

“Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come.”* Ensuring the sustainability of a world that is currently not sustainable is now one such idea, and Veolia Environnement is ideally placed to respond to the hopes of our time. People expect that, as it has throughout its 150 years of existence, our Group will find a way through where there seems to be none, to the benefit of all its stakeholders, that it will not only develop and manage efficient, long-term services, but that it will also be a beacon of hope in light of the challenges facing towns and cities, businesses and consumers.

Veolia Environnement’s position, at the crossroads of the main needs of our era and the solutions that will help to meet them, represents both an opportunity and a responsibility. There are many activities that are full of promise for our development. To name just a few, we could point to the major municipal contracts for drinking water and water treatment, industrial contracts for processing water in emerging countries, and desalination or recycling waste water when traditional resources are no longer sufficient. In terms of waste management, there is the treatment of toxic waste in Europe and Asia, as well as sorting and recycling to mitigate the increasing scarcity of raw materials. Another activity showing strong growth worldwide is local energy production using biomass and combined heat and power systems. Yet another is transport on demand and managing intermodality. All these areas of activity are priorities for us.

Veolia Environnement is a shared ambition and a shared adventure, and I know I can count on you to ensure that together, we will bring the potential the Group represents to fruition.

Rest assured that I shall do my utmost to make our company even finer than it is today as it was given to us by those who have handed it down to us.

I would like to send my warmest greetings to you all and express my complete devotion to our great company.

Antoine Frérot
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Veolia Environnement
* Victor Hugo