In recent months the EU's food and drink association (CIAA) has been lobbying the European Commission to exempt small and medium sized businesses in the sector from the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
The EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). is part of the bloc's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet international commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. The "cap-and-trade" scheme, which took effect from January 2005, allows companies to buy and sell carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions rights on specially constructed Internet sites.
The food processing industry is a major energy consumer and discharger of greenhouse gas through its reliance on cooking, refrigeration, freezing and air compressor systems. The increased costs from ETS have added to the costs companies must pay to stay in business.
Over the next few years DSM will spend more money upgrading its production plants, including those outside Europe and the US, in a bid to comply with the strict environmental standards that apply in Europe and the US, the company announced today.
New facilities and major plant modifications already have to comply with the requirements. Existing plants now also have to meet the standards, within a period of five years.
The new standards will lead to a 75 per cent reduction in DSM's global emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and a 20 per cent reduction in its nitrogen oxide emissions.
"It is DSM's ambition to rank among the global top 25 per cent of comparable companies in terms of safety, health and environmental performance," the company stated in its release.
The company has set itself long-term environmental reduction targets. DSM said had already achieved ten of its fourteen targets for year-end 2006. The targets were set in 2001.
New, more ambitious targets have been set for achievement by 2010, including environmental spending on older plants outside Europe and the US.
"This means that some plants have a gap to close," stated Jan Zuidam, deputy chairman of DSM's managing board. "But this will produce the greatest benefits for the environment. That is why we will be investing time and money over the next five years to bring certain plants in countries such as China, India and Brazil up to standard."
In 2005 the company's overall energy consumption dropped to 57 petajoules from from 66 petajoules, a drop of 13 per cent. The number of "environmental incidents: decreased to 501 from 522 . Greenhouse gas emissions remained virtually unchanged compared to 2004.
The production of non-recyclable waste increased to 50,000 tonnes from 10,000 tonnes.