With the horrific pictures from Greece, wildfires in the Arctic, and the northern hemisphere suffering an unprecedented heatwave, what action on CO2 can we expect from UK mineral companies – specifically those represented by the Mineral Products Association? Have members of this trade association grasped the urgency of climate change?
Well, obviously Aggregate Industries hasn’t – its multi-million mile plan for Straitgate is proof of that.
Is the MPA any better? Look at these targets and decide. The MPA claims it wants to "Reduce the climate change and other impacts of the transportation and delivery of products", so what tough challenge has it set itself? How quickly will it respond?
Don’t get hopeful. Because whilst climate change has been in the headlines for years – the most severe challenge facing our planet, threatening the well-being of hundreds of millions of people – the MPA hasn’t even found its calculator yet, and totted up how much CO2 its members' HGVs are pumping out.
It has given itself until 2020 to produce an answer. With climate friends like this, who needs enemies?
For anyone reading the report, that "30 miles for aggregates" distance would not apply for Straitgate.
Any as-dug material from Straitgate, which includes 20% waste, would need to travel 46 miles just for processing. Excluding the 20% waste, each processed load would have effectively travelled 58 miles, before any delivery mileage. We are told that 90% of the material would be sold into the Exeter market travelling via the A38 and M5 – another 20 miles or more.
So there’s your answer for how seriously the mineral industry takes climate change. It should hang its head in shame.
