// Climate

Reduced climate impact

New calculations from Statistics Norway show that in 2007, Norway's greenhouse gas emissions were higher than ever, and all of 3 per cent higher than the year before. This underlines the fact that we still have a long way to go to when it comes to achieving a low-emission society in this country, and Veidekke will continue its efforts to reduce the environmental load of the Group. In 2007, we reported to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) for the very first time. CDP is a non-profit organisation which was established to give investors all over a world a factual foundation on which to base their assessment of how the largest companies in the world are handling the climate challenge. The aim of this is to create a constructive dialogue between investors and companies, supported by high quality data. The organisation consists of 358 cooperating institutional investors with a total capital of approx. USD 57 billion between them. We also are planning to report to the Carbon Disclosure Project this year. In order to obtain a comprehensive overview of the challenges, a full carbon footprint analysis shall be drawn up for Veidekke in 2009.

Report on the "Klimagevinst 2020" efforts

Veidekke was among 14 Norwegian companies which, inspired by the think tank and weekly magazine MandagMorgen, became engaged in the battle against climate change through a partnership called "KlimaGevinst 2020". Together with companies such as Hydro, Telenor, Statkraft and DnB NOR, we have worked to enable the Norwegian business sector to play a more prominent role in national and international efforts to create a low-emission society. The cooperation was formally ended in January 2009, with a press seminar where the results of the efforts where presented in a KlimaGevinst report. Three important areas were highlighted in the report:

• The business sector must lead the way by developing and investing in solutions which will benefit the climate.
• The Norwegian government and parliament must display national leadership and put in place efficient framework conditions. A prioritisation of green investments must become a key element of the plan to tackle the financial crisis.
• The climate summit in Copenhagen in December 2009 must lead to a binding agreement which will ensure reductions in global emissions from 2020.
  
  

"Klimaveien"- a joint effort to reduce CO₂ emissions

Veidekke has, through the Norwegian Asphalt Contractors' Association, also become involved in a project called "Klimaveien", which is a cooperation between 17 organisations associated with road transport and environmental efforts in Norway. Road traffic is responsible for around 22 per cent of Norway's total CO₂ emissions, and increasing traffic will cause this percentage to rise. Over the last 40 years, the transportation distance for goods carried by road transport has quadrupled, and the use of private cars has increased by a factor of five. We therefore wish to mobilise a community effort, in collaboration with the Norwegian authorities, to reduce CO₂ emissions from road traffic by 1 million tonne or 10 per cent by the end of 2009.

In order to reach this goal, Kolo Veidekke shall continue working on reducing emissions from the production of asphalt through the following measures:

• Keeping stone materials dry (e.g. by using storage halls) to reduce the amount of energy used for drying and heating.
• Increasingly converting from oil to gas (preferably natural gas, but propane also has a positive effect).
• Implementing a programme for regular checks of rotary dryers and adjustments of burners, making these as efficient as possible.
• Increasing the extent of low temperature production, which, among other things, reduces the amount of energy required for production.
• Reducing the temperature in all asphalt production.