Sustainable Development
Lafarge Aso Cement is committed to working in a sustainable manner - sustained economic growth cannot occur without social progress, environmental protection and respect for local communities.
Environmental safety policy
Safety is our utmost priority as our fundamental philosophy of respecting human life in our business activities. Moreover, we seriously care about conserving the global environment, such as global warming, depletion of ozone layer, and acid rain, and position efforts to preserve the environment as one of the most important challenges in our business activities, making full use of all of our resources, to contribute to realizing sustainable society as a venous plant that operates at all times in a safe- and environment-conscious way.
Efforts of Japan's cement industry against global warming
The cement production processes require a large amount of energy, both heat energy and electrical energy, which both generate CO2. In other words, reducing the consumption of energy in turn reduces the generation of CO2. Japan's cement industry drew up a voluntary action plan named "Initiative to Fight Global Warming in the Cement Industry" in 1996 and set a specific numerical reduction target in 2008. The target is "to reduce specific energy consumption for cement production by 3.8% compared to fiscal year 1990 level in fiscal year 2010."
The actual performance and target values of cement plants in Japan as a whole (specific energy consumption for cement production) are as follows:
| Year | Energy Consumption |
| 2006 | 3,478MJ/t cement |
|---|---|
| 2007 | 3,458MJ/t cement |
| 2008 | 3,444MJ/t cement |
| 2009 | 3,470MJ/t cement |
| 2010 | 3,451MJ/t cement (target) |
Participation in approach to Japanese emissions trading scheme
Lafarge Aso Cement participated in "Experimental Introduction of an Integrated Domestic Market of Emissions Trading" initiated by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of the Environment in 2008 and has been addressing reduction of specific energy consumption between fiscal years 2008 and 2010. Main activities include:
Reducing use of fossil fuel by increasing the use of alternative fuel,- Increasing power generation with waste heat generated from cement production processes,
- Improving the grinding efficiency of cement grinding equipment,
- Improving the burning efficiency of cement kilns, and
- Reducing air leakage from the production process lines.
By working on all the above activities, we are determined to reduce specific energy consumption for cement production to prevent global warming.
The actual performance and target values of Lafarge Aso Cement (specific energy consumption for cement production) are as follows. We achieved our targets for fiscal year 2010 two years ahead in fiscal year 2008 and continue to work on improving our production lines.
| Year | Energy Consumption |
| 2007 | 3,487MJ/t cement |
|---|---|
| 2008 | 3,247MJ/t cement |
| 2009 | 3,153MJ/t cement |
| 2010 | 3,470MJ/t cement (target) |
Energy Consumption
Environmental management activity
Kanda plant and Tagawa plant were certified for ISO14001 in 2000 and 2001, respectively, based on which, both plants draw up a new environment management program every year and conduct environmental conservation activities. The five targets of our activities in 2010 are :
- Reduce electricity use at the plants,
- Comply with the Energy Conservation Law,
- Reduce the use of fossil fuels for cement production,
- Reduce CO2 emissions,
- Promote beautification of the plants, and
- Conduct environmental audits.
Environmental audit
Both Kanda and Tagawa plants have an external institution conduct environemtnal audits every four years, and the latest ones were carried out in December 2009. Environment experts thoroughly assess a wide range of areas, including environmental conservation activities, energy use, compliance status of related laws and regulations, and generation of pollutants at both plants, and create reports of the results with improvements and recommendations for corrections from a fair and objective point of view. The plants follow their recommendations for corrections and develop action plans for each improvement and take action accordingly.
