| |
While
policymakers struggled to build on the Kyoto Climate Protection
Conference held in 1997 - it took until the summer of 2001 to reach
a compromise on the wording of the Kyoto Protocol - industry, led
by the chemical sector, has already notched up significant success
in the reduction of what are known as greenhouse gas emissions.
Irrespective of political decision-making, protecting the climate
is a top priority at Bayer. Even as we increase productivity, we
are achieving far-reaching progress toward our 2010 goal of reducing
by more than 50 percent compared with 1990 emissions of the two
greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2) and dinitrogen
monoxide (N2O) at Bayer AG's plants.
 |
|
|
The
new combined cycle power plant in Dormagen reduces CO2
emissions by around 600,000 metric tons.
|
|
At
the Third Conference of the Parties in Kyoto in 1997 the industrialized
nations and newly industrializing countries undertook to cut
emissions of six greenhouse gases - first and foremost carbon
dioxide - by 5.2 percent compared to 1990 levels by the year
2012. The EU committed itself to an eight percent reduction,
while the United States intended cutting its levels by seven
percent, with Japan aiming for six percent. Within the EU, Germany
- as part of the burden sharing process - has entered into a
particular commitment, aiming to cut national emissions of the
six greenhouse gases by as much as 21 percent by 2012. |
| |
Kyoto
1997: Industrial and industrializing nations commit themselves
to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.
|
|
Regarding
the controversial question of which proportion of a nation's
reduction commitments had to be met on its own territory and
to what extent greenhouse gas sinks, such as forests, could
be credited to a country's record, a compromise was reached
in the summer of 2001 at the Bonn Conference on Climate Change.
Long before Kyoto, in fact in 1992 after the Framework Convention
on Climate Change in Rio de Janeiro, Bayer set the goal, in
the context of sustainable development, of using as little energy
as possible and, at the same time, of making major reductions
in its carbon dioxide emissions. Bayer AG's emissions of carbon
dioxide and dinitrogen monoxide (laughing gas) amounted to some
ten million metric tons of CO2 equivalent in 1990. |
We
have already reduced these considerably, primarily by means of the
following measures:
-
Thermal decomposition of dinitrogen monoxide at the Krefeld-Uerdingen
site (reduction: approx. 4 million metric tons of CO2
equivalent per year)
-
Replacement of the coal-fired power station at the Dormagen site
with a modern combined cycle power station (reduction: approx.
0.6 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year)
-
Conversion of our chlorine electrolysis plants at the Leverkusen,
Krefeld-Uerdingen and Dormagen sites from the old mercury-cell
technology to the energy-saving membrane method (reduction: approx.
0.2 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year).
Through
these and other technical improvements we have virtually utilized
all energy saving potential at our German sites with the result
that we have already surpassed our self-imposed target in terms
of reducing greenhouse gases, leaving little room for improvement
in the coming years, especially as we expect further production
increases.
Because
restrictive national measures would, under certain circumstances,
result in a clear deterioration in our competitive position compared
with other countries, we welcome the agreement reached between the
industrialized nations in Bonn in July 2001 on an internationally
binding reduction of greenhouse gases in those countries.
We
also welcome the introduction of flexible mechanisms. These enable
a country to achieve the agreed targets by means of projects in
place abroad or through trading measures. Examples of these flexible
measures include emission trading, emission-lowering investments
by industrialized nations in other industrialized or newly industrializing
countries (joint implementation) and the support of technology transfer
to developing countries that also results in a lowering of greenhouse
gas emissions (clean development mechanism). This very type of technology
transfer is now part of our everyday activity at Bayer as we strive
to implement the same level of technological standard at each of
our production sites across the world.
 |
|
This
unit separates the laughing gas generated as a by-product during
the manufacture of adipic acid into nitrogen and oxygen, components
of air.
|
|
With
emission trading, it is important that the established system is
organized to prevent a future shortage of CO2 certificates
which could result in excessively high prices for additional certificates
for companies that want to expand, or even impose limits on growth.
Such a situation could lead to a shift in investment towards those
countries that are not involved in emission trading. As a precautionary
measure we are working together with the national and international
chemical and industrial associations to ensure that the system for
emission trading is a viable one at the company level. In its green
paper on the trade in greenhouse gas emissions, the EU expects to
have an intra-Community system in place with effect from 2005.
The
self-commitment the chemical industry entered into in 1996 to reduce
CO2 emissions has been so successful that in 2000 new,
more ambitious targets were introduced. Bayer played a strong part
in this success.
|
|
European
Union
|
