T R A N S L A T E Gaeelle Monteiller, senior vice-president for public affairs and the environment at the French cement manufacturer Lafarge, is very clear about the challenges facing the company once the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme is implemented.
"We realised at an early stage that carbon constraints would soon be a reality, and decided to be an 'early mover' and face climate challenge issues right away," she says. "We began a programme of CO2 emission reductions several years ago."
According to Monteiller, implementation of the EU ETS brings new challenges. How to seize all the opportunities found in allowance trading? How to ensure consistency between the company's voluntary commitment and the level of quotas they will receive? How should companies avoid being penalized for early actions? "We know now that many member states are to allocate CO2 allowances on a historical basis, with a very recent reference year, between 2000 and 2002. The result of this will be that big emitters will receive more credits than those who have made efforts to reduce their emissions before the reference year."
Montieller is quick to point out that Lafarge is a multinational company, which gives it the flexibility to meet all the requirements established by the Emissions Trading Scheme. But she says the company is still waiting for clarification regarding the effort that will be required from the cement industry. "We are confident that this will take into account our previous voluntary commitment on a global scale and in specific countries, such as France, so that we will remain competitive."
Montieller also says that Lafarge is committed to meeting the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) requirements. "We intend to pursue our ambitious programme of CO2 emissions reductions, and we will also develop projects to meet the CDM proposals," she says. "At the same time, we will continue our research into reducing CO2 emissions from the production of cement and concrete."
Finally, Monteiller stresses the importance of the linking directive. "The linking directive is crucial for the entire industry to introduce flexibility in meeting emission-reduction demands," she says. "The potential for greenhouse gas reductions in developing countries is huge; it would be absurd not to use this flexibility to reach our common global objective of emissions reduction."