Discover the commitments behind the Canal
Find here the structural commitments of the Société du Canal Seine-Nord Europe and the project partners.
Discover the commitments behind the Canal
Find here the structural commitments of the Société du Canal Seine-Nord Europe and the project partners.
The Seine-Nord Europe Canal operates within a demanding environmental regulatory framework. From regulatory authorization to monitoring of measures on the ground, including initial results for biodiversity, discover how the Seine-Nord Europe Canal Company is concretely implementing its commitments.
The Seine-Nord Europe Canal works are subject to an environmental permit , issued by the State services in accordance with the environmental code. This permit governs the project on numerous aspects ( water and aquatic environments, biodiversity – species and habitats of species, land clearing, landscape, safety, etc. ).
All the issues were studied, and resulted in specific commitments made by SCSNE when submitting the application for authorization, and incorporated into the two environmental authorization decrees for the Seine-Nord Europe Canal [1] . These commitments are supplemented by additional requirements formulated in these same decrees.
[1] April 8, 2021 for sector 1 in the Oise valley and August 9, 2024 for the other sectors
A true environmental roadmap , it imposes strict requirements on the Seine-Nord Europe Canal Company to ensure respect for the environment, in particular with the application of the " Avoid-Reduce-Compensate " approach.
Numerous measures are therefore being implemented to minimize the impact of the works on the environment.
They were conceived and their relevance assessed by numerous experts , including State Services (in particular DRIEAT Ile-de-France, DREAL HdF, DDT of the various departments, OFB, Environmental Authority of the CGEDD), the National Council for Nature Protection and also service providers mandated by the SCSNE such as hydraulic engineers, ecologists, 16 hydrogeologists approved by the Regional Health Agency , etc.
Compliance with these obligations is subject to ongoing monitoring within the teams of the Société du Canal Seine-Nord Europe and its service providers (project management team, construction companies) as well as regular control by the State services, thus contributing to the proper application of the measures on the ground.
In everyday terms, this translates to:
“I act as a liaison between the project management team, the companies in charge of environmental work, and government services.”
Discover the testimony of Elisa Leprêtre , Environmental Project Manager at the Seine-Nord Europe Canal Company.
The SCSNE also relies on complementary mechanisms , such as the Environmental Observatory . Its role is to support the SCSNE in making the Canal a model of respectful and sustainable design, reconciling nature conservation and land-use planning . The objective is, in particular, to monitor the project's environmental impact throughout the construction work and for up to 10 years after its commissioning, and to assess the effectiveness of the measures implemented in relation to clearly identified issues.
Three main categories are represented: hydraulics , biodiversity , and landscape and architecture . Among the issues studied are, for example, hydraulic design and operation , the evaluation of the effectiveness of measures in favor of biodiversity (outside of the ERC approach), as well as the integration of the Canal and its relationship to the territory.
This organization guarantees a concrete and controlled implementation of environmental commitments throughout the construction project.
Once the compensatory measures have been implemented , the sites are placed under the management of a competent organization , which is responsible – over a 30-year period – for implementing the management plan defined to achieve the environmental objectives . Regular monitoring is carried out on all the sites concerned. Regulations impose an obligation to achieve results at the end of these 30 years, which must be verified by these ecological monitoring reports.
The first results of environmental measures are already visible on the ground.
Thus, the Corn Crake , a protected bird critically endangered , was detected in the spring of 2025 at a compensation site for the Seine-Nord Europe Canal in the Oise Valley. A remarkable and particularly encouraging observation for naturalists.
Another positive sign: the Great Water-parsnip , a protected plant species considered to be in danger of disappearing in the Hauts-de-France, was spotted in the autumn of 2025 on the compensation site of Morlincourt (Oise), within a wetland rehabilitated in 2022 by the SCSNE.
These very positive initial observations demonstrate the quality of the improvements made and the effectiveness of the measures implemented to promote biodiversity.
