DEME Group

Does the core business genuinely avoid or reduce emissions, or build climate resilience? Share of revenue that is actually 'green'. Fossil-dependent models score low.

DEME's core offshore energy segment installs wind farms that displace fossil generation at scale—with offshore energy turnover exceeding €2 billion in 2024 and growing 37% year-on-year—but the company also operates a large diesel-heavy dredging fleet, and only 42% of turnover qualifies under EU Taxonomy as environmentally sustainable, meaning the majority of the business is not green by its own accounting.

Credible, science-based targets (SBTi), a real net-zero plan with progress to date, and CDP disclosure — not just a dated press release.

DEME's headline climate target is a 40% reduction in GHG intensity by 2030 vs. a 2008 baseline—an intensity metric that can be met even if absolute emissions rise—and its 2050 climate-neutrality ambition lacks SBTi validation, a credible absolute near-term trajectory, or a published science-based net-zero pathway, placing it well below best practice for a company of its scale.

Operational footprint, labour and social practices, and governance quality across the company's own operations and supply chain.

DEME has a structured sustainability governance (Sustainability Board met 7 times in 2024, board-level oversight), a strong safety record (LTIFR of 0.10 vs. 0.20 target), and reports Scope 1–3 emissions under the GHG Protocol with limited assurance for the first time in 2024 under CSRD; however, Scope 3 data relies on indirect estimation, gender diversity disclosure is limited, and no supply-chain SBTi engagement programme exists.

Quality of disclosure, independent third-party verification, and how much hard data backs the company's claims.

DEME publishes a CSRD-aligned sustainability statement and discloses Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions under the GHG Protocol, with key KPIs subject to limited (not reasonable) assurance for the first time in fiscal 2024; CDP disclosure via DEME Offshore earned only a B-score, and DitchCarbon's independent assessment scores the company 36/100 with no tracked reduction commitments, indicating material gaps between self-reported progress and third-party verification.

Controversies, litigation, pollution, fossil-fuel lobbying, conflict-zone involvement and governance scandals. Higher means cleaner.

DEME faced a long-running Belgian criminal prosecution for alleged bribery (consultancy payments concealing ~€4.2M in alleged bribes) linked to a €420M dredging contract at Sabetta, a Russian LNG terminal—a fossil fuel infrastructure project—but was acquitted on appeal by the Ghent Court of Appeal in February 2026 on grounds of insufficient evidence; while the acquittal clears formal liability, the case involved a decade of reputational exposure, FBI involvement, and work tied to LNG infrastructure.