Sasol's CO2 emissions down
2009-11-20 14:01
Johannesburg - Sasol's absolute emissions of greenhouse gases globally have decreased, the petrochemicals giant said in its Sustainability Report released on Friday.
Emissions - measured in carbon dioxide equivalent - dropped from 73.6 million tons in 2008 to 71.3 million tons in 2009.
The group's emissions intensity - measured as carbon dioxide equivalent per ton of production - was 3.24 as compared with 3.0 in 2008 and 3.29 in 2007.
"This relative increase is mainly due to reduced production tonnages due to the economic situation," Sasol said.
This was the first time Sasol's reporting included carbon dioxide emissions figures associated with the transportation of goods and services at most of its operations.
Sasol intended reducing emissions intensity by 15% in all its operations by 2020 from a 2005 baseline.
Water conservation initiative
It also aimed to achieve a 20% reduction in absolute emissions from new coal-to-liquid plants commissioned before 2020 and a 30% reduction for plants commissioned before 2030, with 2005 designs as a baseline.
Sasol said it regularly reviewed its long-term absolute greenhouse gas emission targets.
"Such targets are also contingent on technological advances such as carbon capture and storage, increased utilisation of renewable energy as well as developments in the regulatory and fiscal environments in which we operate."
Sasol said it had also reduced its total water use from 154 million cubic metres to 152 million cubic metres.
"We recently invested in a water conservation initiative at the Sasol Secunda complex, involving the installation of a series of water treatment processes to recover effluent.
"The project has resulted in a saving of approximately 18 million litres per day or about five percent on the total raw water intake to the Secunda complex."
- SAPA