Lafarge in top 10 of carbon-cutting UK companies

CONSTRUCTION materials giant Lafarge has ranked 7th in the UK's first ever league table of 'green' organisations.

The roll, featuring more than 2,000 businesses, agencies, hospitals and government units, aims to show what progress is being made to cut carbon.

Published by the Environment Agency, from information supplied to its CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, the table is expected to act as a baseline for future years which will also show overall CO2 emissions.

Lafarge Aggregates & Concrete UK, (LACUK) is the highest listed of the large building materials suppliers operating multiple sites across the UK.

Miles Dobson, LACUK head of manufacturing, said:

"We are absolutely delighted to have ranked so highly on this very first league table of the Carbon Reduction Commitment scheme.

"For Lafarge to be the top ranked multi-site, national construction materials supplier makes us all feel very proud and is a testament of our drive to constantly improve our sustainability.

"Lafarge is totally committed to operating in the most environmentally sound way possible. We seek to minimise our impact on the environment in all ways, from operations at our 150 plus sites to our transport systems and our innovative product lines.

"Education and people development is also very much part of Lafarge's business culture and spreading the message about energy efficiency has been a big element of our work for the CRC scheme.

"We are pleased to say our workforce has wholeheartedly taken the carbon reduction challenge on board and a major part of our success has been down to their ideas and efforts."

The table ranks organisations according to actions taken to monitor and reduce energy use as a preparation for participation in the CRC scheme, such as installing smart metres or complying with the Carbon Trust.

Lafarge achieved the Carbon Trust Standard last summer following three years of carbon management initiatives — during which emissions were cut by more than 24 per cent - and independent verification.

The standard covers all of the company's UK operations and subsidiaries, including 35 quarries, 98 readymix plants, 17 asphalt plants, nine depots and head office.

Top spot in the league was shared by 22 organisations including Center Parcs, OFGEM and Manchester United FC with a weighted score of 2092.5.

A further ten companies shared various rankings before Lafarge's sole standing at seventh with a weighted score of 2071.

Among the initiatives which helped boost Lafarge's position was the achievement of the Carbon Trust Standard; installation of smart metres; awarding sites energy rating certificates; improving efficiency on pump, conveyor and heating and lighting systems and adopting weekly energy readings to track unexpected usage.

A major advance was the creation of a database to record and manage energy consumption, ensuring both accurate data collection and a new visibility of data which helped drive employee awareness and engagement.

The CRC scheme requires large organisations using more than 6,000MWh per year of electricity — equivalent to an annual electricity bill of around £500,000 — to measure and report their carbon emissions each year.

It came into force in April 2010 and aims to significantly reduce UK carbon emissions not covered by other pieces of legislation, such as Climate Change Agreements and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme — programmes which involve LACUK's sister company, Lafarge Cement.

As part of its commitment to cutting CO2' Lafarge Cement is implementing measures such as improving manufacturing methods; replacing fossil fuels with other energy sources such as tyres, processed sewage pellets or meat and bonemeal and using leftover substances from other industrial processes, such as fly ash, in the cement mix, saving on raw materials.

Lafarge Aggregates & Concrete UK - UK Head Office
Granite House
Watermead Business Park
Syston
Leicestershire
LE7 1WA
UK