 The Dutch government has signed up to international agreements (Kyoto Protocol) to reduce emissions of CO2. In Europe, agreements have been reached to put a stop to acidification. This can be achieved by cutting emissions of CO2 and NOx. How does all of this affect Cosun?
Within the European Union, it has been decided that a system of allowances will apply to CO2, and within the Netherlands such a system will also apply to NOx. The Dutch allowance is distributed over various sectors, such as industry, transport and households. Within the ‘industry’ sector, large-scale energy consumers have been identified and have been assigned individual allowances. These include power stations and oil and steel companies.
Ronald Kalwij, environmental coordinator at Cosun: “There are also large-scale consumers in the food industry, including major companies in the dairy, sugar beet and potato processing sectors. In our group, the production companies of Suiker Unie, Sensus and Aviko (Steenderen and Lomm sites) fall into this category. An allocated allowance comes with emission rights.”
What does this mean for the Cosun companies?
“Our companies have been striving for years to reduce their energy consumption and thus their emissions of pollutant gases. The process of calculating and defining the emission allowance takes account of these efforts. This means that we will benefit from our positive actions in the recent past.”
“Suiker Unie, Sensus and Aviko have been allocated sufficient rights to continue production in the coming years. If we don’t use up all of these rights, we can sell the surplus. This could be worth several hundred thousand euros annually.”
Coordination
Cosun is determined to adopt a coordinated approach to emissions trading. Internal offsetting will first take place. If any surplus rights then remain, a decision will be made, in consultation with the Cosun companies, to sell these rights to third parties. The companies will remain responsible for their own rights.
Want to know more? Read the section Cosun and society.
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