The environmental report looks at the activities and environmental implications of our businesses and locations. Some issues, such as limiting the local environmental impact and reducing the use of packaging materials, are shared by nearly all the businesses. Others affect only a single business or a handful of activities. The report considers all 29 locations in the Netherlands and abroad over which Cosun has full control.

Themes
The environmental aspects are presented thematically in accordance with the Dutch government’s third National Environmental Policy Plan. To account for the circumstances at Cosun, the following themes are considered:

·               accountability

·               climate change

·               acidification

·               groundwater depletion

·               eutrophication

·               soil pollution

·               waste disposal

·               disturbance

The future
The environmental report reflects our ambition to be a sustainable business. The priorities for 2005 include:

·               improving data collection structures;

·               formulating a long-term policy plan;

·               increasing the cost effectiveness of environmental measures;

·               anticipating the consequences of the Water Framework Directive and the Air Quality Decree;

·               reducing the use of packaging materials;

·               studying the potential of biofuels.

We will report on our progress in these areas and indicate how successful we have been in realising our ambitions in the 2005 environmental report.