There is growing evidence that there are changes to the world's climate caused by the increase in the concentration of certain greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide (CO2). This is emitted when fossil fuels such as coal and oil are burnt by vehicles, heating systems, power stations and industrial boilers.
Like many companies, ICI is committed to dealing with the issue of climate change on a number of levels.
In our own operations:
ICI recognises its responsibility to contribute to the minimisation of greenhouse gas emissions by actively working to reduce emissions through all its operations. Our environmental burden (EB) system provides us with the means to measure our emissions of greenhouse gases, and to show the progress we are making in reducing them.
Building on the 73% reduction in emissions achieved in 1995-2000, we can now report a further 18% reduction in greenhouse gases per tonne of production during the Challenge 2005 period. The Challenge 2010 target is for a further 5% reduction per ton of production.
We achieved a 16% improvement in energy efficiency between 1995 and 2000; a further 13% improvement between 2000 and 2005, and have now publicly committed to reduce energy per tonne of production by a further 5%. During this period we have also joined voluntary agreements between industry bodies and governments in the UK , the Netherlands and the USA to improve energy efficiency.
We have made a solid start to the Challenge period with energy per tonne production down by 3% and green house gases down by 2%. Our Operations Board, responsible for manufacturing, launched an energy reduction project during the year as part of our goal to deliver continuous improvement in our environmental impact and operating costs. The focus is on medium sized sites, representing 35% of our energy use, each of which is setting stretch improvement objectives ahead of our Sustainability Challenge 2010 target of 5% reduction per tonne of production.
In 2006 3.8% of our energy came from renewable sources. We are also increasingly using renewable carbon from agriculture as a feedstock (and in some cases as fuel) for our manufacturing processes. During the Challenge 2005 period our priority was on improving energy efficiency, so we did not make significant progress in this energy sourcing area.
We are evaluating other risks to our operations from changes to the climate as part of our routine risk management processes.
Contributing to international policy debate:
We fully support efforts by governments and industry bodies to introduce flexible measures, such as emissions trading, to meet global reduction targets, because we believe that these present the best approach for improving energy efficiency in a cost effective way.
During 2006/7 we are evaluating further opportunities from emissions trading schemes in preparation for the Kyoto Protocol commitment period from 2008. Several of our Uniqema European sites were eligible and included in Phase 1 of the EU Scheme which began in 2005. However, following the sale of that business, we have no current involvement.
More information: (these links will take you out of the ICI website)
Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change www.ipcc.ch
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change www.unfccc.de
