Thursday, 27 October 2022

Holcim emitted more than 7bn tonnes of CO2 between 1950 and 2021

... according to research by the Climate Accountability Institute – that’s 0.42% of all historical global industrial emissions. 

It’s a shameful legacy for one company to bequeath to humanity – especially since:
Leading companies and industry associations were aware of, or wilfully ignored, the threat of climate change from continued use of their products since the late 1950s.
Yesterday, the United Nations warned that current pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions will lead to global heating of 2.5C – a level that would condemn the world to catastrophic climate breakdown. Today, Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, said:
We had our chance to make incremental changes, but that time is over. Only a root-and-branch transformation of our economies and societies can save us from accelerating climate disaster... Every fraction of a degree matters: to vulnerable communities, to ecosystems, and to every one of us.
Cement giant Holcim – previously badged LafargeHolcim until controversies like the one below – is the parent company of Aggregate Industries.

It is ranked 47 out of the Top 100 emitters by The University of Massachusetts Amherst’s 2021 greenhouse polluters index. 

Of course, you'd never know. Holcim doesn’t broadcast its dirty secret. It is the same company pumping out statements like "Sustainability is at the core of what we do", and that concrete is "the ideal sustainable material for our future", and that "Our teams are going above and beyond to keep our people and communities safe, while firmly leading our decarbonization journey."

Maybe one day companies will be banned from greenwashing. There was a glimmer of hope last week from the Advertising Standards Authority, which banned a series of misleading adverts from HSBC promoting climate-friendly initiatives. The watchdog ruled that the bank had to ensure any future environmental claims were: 
adequately qualified and did not omit material information about its contribution to carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions. 
Campaign groups welcomed the ASA’s ruling, saying it was a "significant moment in the fight to prevent banks from greenwashing their image." 

Clearly, it’s not just banks. Holcim proclaims it "takes climate action very seriously." But not seriously enough to stop its UK subsidiary from appealing the decision by Devon County Council to refuse permission to haul bog-standard aggregate 23 miles from quarry face to processing plant – a distance unheard of in the UK.

But, as we touched upon in the post Holcim’s cost to society in 2021? 156 million tons of CO2 emissions, the company’s carbon legacy and the impact it has left upon us is now being tested in the courts in "a first-of-its-kind lawsuit". 

According to Agung Wardana, an environmental law expert and a Humboldt Fellow at Max Planck Institute for International Law in Heidelberg, Germany, the lawsuit showcases an increase in public awareness on climate change and a desire for justice: 
This will be a landmark case in Indonesia. I think many others could follow suit in demanding accountability of major polluters. The homework to win the case is to find the causality between Holcim’s activities and its impact on Pari Island. That’s the challenge.

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