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| Our environmental performance |
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Significant new capital investments approved to achieve further
emission reductions. |
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Progress in reducing atmospheric emissions. |
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Many businesses are reducing energy and water consumption per
tonne of production. |
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Progress in implementing product stewardship throughout our
global operations. |
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| Due to the nature of Sasol's activities as a global petrochemical
company, we recognise we have the potential to impact significantly
on the natural environment. The group is committed to minimising its
environmental footprint by implementing measures aimed at: |
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reducing waste, atmospheric emissions and water and energy
consumption; |
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minimising the negative impacts of our products through their life
cycles; and |
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managing impacts on land and biodiversity. |
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| Reducing greenhouse gas emissions |
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One of our principal environmental challenges relates to managing
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Following an extensive process of
internal review and external benchmarking, in 2005 we agreed a
group-wide target of achieving at least a 10% reduction in GHG
emissions per tonne of product, on the baseline of the 2004 financial
year, by July 2015. We have prepared a detailed roadmap with
milestone targets to guide us towards achieving this goal.
We intend to achieve this reduction by: |
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switching to a more carbon-efficient feedstock at existing
facilities, such as the introduction of natural gas as a feedstock
in Sasolburg; |
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using a less carbon-intensive feedstock at new production
facilities, such as the use of natural gas as a feedstock at our
ORYX GTL facility in Qatar; |
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implementing an enhanced carbon and energy-efficiency drive at
all facilities; |
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reducing GHG emissions at our nitric acid facilities; |
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providing for improved carbon management in the design of new
facilities; and |
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investigating opportunities to capture and store carbon dioxide as
part of our planned international expansion of our CTL interests.
(See page 21) |
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Our inventory of GHG emissions has been developed using the
internationally recognised Reporting Protocol of the World Business
Council for Sustainable Development and the World Resources
Institute. Our emissions have been externally verified on the basis as
outlined in the KPMG statement on page 76.
Our total emission of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide, direct
and indirect, increased from 74,6 million tonnes (Mt) in 2005 to
75,4 Mt in 2006. Our overall carbon-intensity − measured as the
number of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per tonne of
product − was 3,04 compared with 3,09 in the previous year.
Most of this reduction in emissions intensity resulted from our
conversion to natural gas feedstock at Sasolburg and improved plant
stability at Secunda. In Sasol Wax at Hamburg, Germany, a 20%
reduction in carbon dioxide emissions was achieved following the
upgrading of a steam unit.
Further improvements in emissions intensity are forecast through the
implementation of our energy-efficiency initiatives, the planned
reduction of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions at Sasol Nitro and as a
result of our new GTL ventures. We recognise, however, that our
proposed CTL ventures in China could potentially have significant
implications, in the long-run, for our commitment to reduce carbon
intensity. A brief review of the GHG emission implications of GTL and
CTL through their life cycle is provided on page 21 − 22. To reduce
the potential impact of our CTL operations, we are working actively
at identifying practical solutions for the capture and storage of
carbon dioxide, and are examining opportunities for developing and
implementing of clean coal technologies.
During the year we made progress towards the possible registration
of two Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects for emission
reduction activities in South Africa, with several new projects in the pipeline pipeline. Our operations in Italy have purchased 10 000 tonnes of
emission allowances, which we anticipate will be sufficient to meet
our allocation requirements in terms of the European Emission
Trading Scheme for at least the next three years. Our Brunsbüttel
and Moers sites in Germany are within their permitted allocation.
Internationally, we continue to participate in the activities of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on identifying
opportunities for sequestrating carbon dioxide. The Sasol
Technology R&D group recently launched an R&D programme to
support this initiative. |
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| Greenhouse gas emissions (million tonnes CO2) |
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Direct CO2 |
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Indirect CO2 |
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Total production |
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