So, Straitgate’s not ‘needed’ until 2021 – says AI – which proves it’s not needed at all

Aggregate Industries is no longer in any rush to quarry Straitgate Farm – judging by documents lodged last year in support of the company's ROMP application DCC/3655/2014 for Hillhead, an application submitted in 2014 but still not determined. AI’s document says:

Should Straitgate Farm obtain planning permission in 2018, extraction would likely commence in 2021. 2.13

That’s quite a change – a 5-year change in fact – from what AI originally intended, if we ignore the 1967 planning application.

AI’s recent application to quarry Straitgate Farm has been beset by delays. Straitgate was originally lined up as the replacement for Venn Ottery Quarry in 2016. As AI’s Request for Scoping Opinion in January 2015 made clear: 


It is... necessary to plan for additional reserves being available from mid-2016. The sand and gravel reserves at Straitgate Farm are considered to be a direct replacement for reserves at Venn Ottery. 3.1

Subject to planning consent, it is therefore proposed that mineral processing from Straitgate Farm would take place initially at Blackhill Quarry for a period of approximately 4-5 years until the end of 2021. 3.2

Nothing much had changed by the time AI made its planning application later in that year:

In 2016, when the proposed development is anticipated to commence, the estimated tonnage of extracted materials from the site will be 295,000 tonnes. By 2017, when the site is fully operational, the estimated extraction tonnage will be 410,000 tonnes per year. This will continue throughout the life of the site. 3.27

As longstanding readers will know, that application was pulled, only to be replaced by another in 2017. By that time the plan had changed, and AI proposed to haul each load of as-dug material 23 miles from Straitgate to Hillhead near Uffculme to be processed with mobile plant. Later, fixed plant from Blackhill was relocated to Hillhead, but even then AI expected that:

the plant will be installed and operational by mid-late 2018... when, subject to planning, mineral would begin to be imported from Straitgate Farm into Hillhead Quarry. 8.4

So, first 2016, then 2018, and now 2021. How on earth, you might wonder, can AI produce a full range of products in this region for so long – for 5 years – without having access to the "gravel-rich" deposits of Straitgate Farm?

On multiple occasions, AI has argued that the Straitgate reserves are crucial to its future operations in this region, that without Straitgate it wouldn’t be able to supply the area with its full range of products, including high polished stone value material for road surfacing:

The gravel content [at Straitgate] is important as it is capable of producing a 57 PSV aggregate suitable for road surfacing. 5.4.5

We were told that AI could not rely exclusively on its 4 million tonnes of sand and gravel at Houndaller – next door to the company’s newly-erected processing plant at Hillhead. We were told that AI was not ready to exploit the 8 million tonnes at Penslade – also next door to the company’s newly-erected processing plant at Hillhead. We were told in 2017:

The gravel rich Straitgate mineral would complement the material currently being extracted at Houndaller (Hillhead) Quarry since the Houndaller deposit is sand-rich (75% sand to 25% gravel) of which there is little or no crushable gravel to produce a 57 PSV aggregate. 3.9.2

Others were told word-for-word the same thing last year in AI's document to support its ROMP application for Hillhead – even by different consultants:

The gravel rich Straitgate Farm mineral would complement the material currently being extracted at Houndaller (Hillhead) Quarry since the Houndaller deposit is sand-rich (75% sand to 25% gravel) of which there is little or no crushable gravel to produce a 57 PSV aggregate. 2.14

Importantly, DCC relied on such information from AI to justify Straitgate’s inclusion in the Devon Minerals Plan, claiming that Devon couldn’t just rely on the 12 million tonnes with and without permission at the northern end of the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds, that the 1 million tonnes at Straitgate at the southern end was needed too:

Information provided by the operator since 2011 indicates that the proportion of crushable gravel… within the BSPB decreases from south to north. While the proportion of crushable gravel in the Ottery St Mary area is not significantly lower than at the existing Blackhill and Venn Ottery quarries, the resource around Uffculme is much less gravel-rich. This further supports the need to consider future sand and gravel supply from both the northern and southern options. 4.15

And indeed, in the Devon Minerals Plan you will even find DCC bizarrely claiming that this would in some way minimise transportation distances:

... resources within this southern area have a higher crushable gravel content than those further north, indicating the importance of securing supply from that southern area. Maintaining the production of sand and gravel from the southern and northern parts of the Pebble Beds is also important in minimising transportation distances to the main markets in Devon and adjoining areas in accordance with Objective 1 and Policy M1. 5.4.8

With AI’s newly erected processing plant at Hillhead, 23 miles away from Straitgate Farm, minimising transportation distances is of course the last thing that the working of Straitgate would do. Transporting all of Straitgate’s 'as-dug' material – including the 20% waste – to Hillhead for processing would entail an unsustainable 2.5 million HGV miles. As AI again outlined in the ROMP document for Hillhead, this would be over a number of years on a campaign basis...

… depending on availability of transport. 2.15

But, in actual fact, it now turns out that AI is able to function quite happily, thank-you-very-much – for 5 years, thank-you-very-much – without the "gravel-rich" material from Straitgate Farm.

What about the "57 PSV aggregate" for road surfacing?

Only comparatively small amounts of high PSV material are needed each year, and as we posted in AI’s resurrected plant at Hillhead has enough material nearby to take it beyond 2050:

If you believe AI – and why would you after such a catalogue of fiction – and if you ignore the ever-increasing stockpiles of unprocessed quartzite pebbles at Houndaller – the problem with the company's argument is that it ignores the effective mileage that would be embodied in each tonne of high PSV material from Straitgate. We have posted about this before, how each 28.5 tonne load of high PSV material from Straitgate would necessitate a staggeringly unsustainable 417 miles of transportation for production, BEFORE any onward delivery. In other words, high PSV material from Straitgate would have to travel over 3x the return-trip distance of material from Greystone, an AI quarry in Cornwall also with high PSV material.

Operations at Houndaller recommenced more two years ago. DCC’s most recent monitoring report reminds us that, as of this month, planning consent has expired:

Houndaller contains an estimated reserve of 4.2 million tonnes of sand and gravel and extraction resumed on this part of the site on 16 September 2016. It is noted the planning consent expires on 31 December 2018 for the Houndaller area of the site. 4.9

The periodic review application seeks, amongst other amendments, to extend the consent for extraction in Houndaller (Schedule B conditions) beyond 2018 to 2037. 
4.13

In the ROMP document for Hillhead, AI says:

As of July 2018, approximately 270,000 tonnes of material have been extracted since recommencement in January 2017. A reserve of approximately 4 million tonnes (saleable) remains in phases 5-8. 2.12

Since that time, there have of course been no howls of anguish from AI over shortages of "57 PSV aggregate". And if material from Straitgate Farm is now not 'needed' until 2021, if AI can do without Straitgate’s "gravel-rich" material for all that time, if AI is managing fine with the 4 million tonne sand and gravel deposit at Houndaller with processing plant newly erected next door, with another 8 million tonnes in reserves close by, then the relatively small amount of material from Straitgate – with its inherently high carbon footprint – is clearly not needed at all.

LafargeHolcim named second worst company for increasing CO2 emissions

The parent company of Aggregate Industries has been named by Sasja Beslik, the head of sustainable finance at Nordea, as the second worst company for increasing CO2 emissions in the five years between 2011 and 2016.

The CO2 culprits. These are the top 100 companies with biggest increases in CO2 #emissions the past 5 years. #globalwarming pic.twitter.com/oVkBoFsLBv

— Sasja Beslik (@SasjaBeslik) January 9, 2019

It’s something to bear in mind when AI – a company that now emits some 1.3 million tonnes of CO2 each year, a fivefold increase in 20 years – tweets greenwash photos of wind farms in the setting sun:

We're determined to reduce our #emissions per tonne by improving the #energy efficiency of our production facilities. To view our 2020 #climate targets, head on over to our website 👉 https://t.co/zAqrcHgcwz pic.twitter.com/b0x0xTTmLO

— Aggregate Industries (@AggregateUK) January 11, 2019

Of course, it's not just pretty photos that AI uses to greenwash its activities. Take AI’s sustainability reports; take the one from 2016, where the company claims:

We are committed to tackling climate change.

At Aggregate Industries we’ll continue our mission to cut our net CO2 emissions of all products.

We reduce our impact on climate change through the development, manufacture or promotion of innovative and sustainable products and solutions.

Unfortunately, however, AI's record is not one of cutting net CO2 emissions, nor of a reducing impact on climate change.

The chart below – which from 2016 includes emissions from two cement operations – shows AI’s commitment to tackling climate change. As we posted in The CO2 emissions that AI ‘forgot’ in 2016:

AI has talked about reducing its CO2 emissions for more than 15 years, and has achieved exactly the reverse. It is plainly in denial: denial about having to do anything to change the way it operates, denial about having to do anything to reduce its contribution to an impending climate catastrophe.

But is anyone surprised? Profits will obviously speak louder to AI – and its LafargeHolcim bean counters – than our "existential threat" to humanity.

German research organisation creates new process for recycling construction waste

Whilst there’s no shortage of sand and gravel in Devon and the UK, it’s not the same in other countries. We posted about the future for sand and gravel production last year:

If flatlining sales figures, planning difficulties and rising energy costs are anything to go by, the business outlook for UK sand and gravel production is not spectacular.

Elsewhere in the world there are other problems, with looming shortages of sand – Germany being the latest country to declare problems:

Germany desperately needs more sand for industry. But a lack of planning foresight, the politics around mining sites and the needs of coastal communities are making the search ever grittier.

We also wrote:

In recognition of these difficulties, and the need to move towards a circular economy, more and more construction waste is thankfully being recycled. Only last week, the UK's largest recycling plant for construction and demolition waste opened in West Lothian, which promises to turn 400,000 tonnes of construction, demolition and excavation waste per year into sand and gravel.

This week, in an effort to stop millions of tonnes of fine-grained building rubble ending up in landfills, results from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute – a novel approach to recycling construction waste – will be showcased at a Munich trade fair:

The construction industry is one of the most resource-intensive sectors of the German economy. The nation’s buildings constitute a vast store of raw materials, harbouring some 100 billion metric tons of materials that could be recovered and returned to the material cycle at the end of their service life. Four Fraunhofer Institutes have joined forces in the BauCycle project to kick-start recycling of sand and gravel fine particle fractions that cannot be reclaimed today for reuse in further construction projects. The research team will present the results of their work at the 2019 BAU trade fair in Munich from January 14 to 19.

“Building sand is not superabundant; in Europe, for example, sand is in short supply in Sweden and France. The conventional method of treating rubble is to crush it. Components of less than two millimetres are sieved out and end up in landfill. If this fine-grained building rubble – which consists mainly of sand-lime bricks, bricks, concrete and small amounts of gypsum – were to be recycled, this could redress the sand shortage over the long term,” says Fraunhofer IBP scientist Dr. Volker Thome, the project’s manager.

In the best-case scenario, four clean aggregates may be recycled and reused to produce aerated concrete, a light building material with good thermal insulation properties. It is suitable for building two-story houses and as indoor insulation. Tests have shown that aggregates of concrete and sand-lime bricks are also recyclable and can serve as a secondary raw material for making competitive grades of aerated concrete. The scientists achieved the best results with a mix of 80 percent sand-lime bricks and 20 percent reclaimed concrete. Another project finding was that a combination of bricks and recovered concrete can be used to make geopolymers, a cement-free building material that is strong and acid-resistant, much like concrete. Geopolymers have the added advantage of a very low carbon footprint.

Preparing for climate change – a local example in Ottery St Mary

The Met Office published UK climate projections in November last year, showing winter precipitation in the future could increase by up to 35%. The government says the threat of flooding could result in people being moved to new areas.

Indeed, we can find a local example – in plans to relocate a primary school to a site downhill from Straitgate Farm. Tipton St John Primary School is set to move to a new site in Ottery St Mary after repeated flooding. The school has about 90 pupils, and has been in the nearby village of Tipton for more than 200 years. As DevonLive reports "Farm site to be sold off so primary school on 'risk to life' floodplain can relocate":

Tipton St John Primary School is set to move to a new site in Ottery St Mary after repeated flooding at the sitehttps://t.co/O1H3qzYF7W

— Express & Echo (@ExpressandEcho) January 2, 2019

The school is set to more than double in size – to 210 pupils – and would accommodate children from Tipton St John but also meet the need for additional school places for children from the new developments in Ottery St Mary which cannot be met at the existing schools which are at capacity.

The proposed new site, west of The King’s School, is allocated for community and educational use in the East Devon Local Plan. In December, DCC's Farms Estate Committee said:

6.5 The current primary school at Tipton St John is in a high flood risk zone and has been identified by the Environment Agency as a potential ‘risk to life’. The County Council has undertaken a feasibility study to relocate the Tipton St John primary school and part Thorne Farm has been identified as the only viable site.

6.6 There is currently a substantial funding gap between the capital available for the replacement school build and the forecast cost of actually building the school. To enable the new school to be built the County Council will need to raise a significant additional capital receipt. The County Council is thus in early discussions with East Devon District Council over a potential outline planning application for the new school and a housing development on Thorne Farm.

Another school and further housing development would put even more traffic on the B3174, past any future quarry entrance at Straitgate Farm. The new primary school would also be within range of PM10 and PM2.5 dust emissions from any sand and gravel extraction at Straitgate.

Geofencing at Westleigh Quarry

Readers of the Climate section of Aggregate Industries' latest Sustainability Report will rightly wonder what on earth "Geofencing at Westleigh Quarry" – (an effort to enforce a 20mph limit for AI’s HGVs past Burlescombe School in Mid Devon) – has to do with global warming. Readers might conclude that AI hasn’t got much to say about tackling climate change and CO2 emissions, but needed to fill the page with something more than re-establishing baselines; readers might also conclude that AI’s HGV drivers can’t be trusted to stick to speed limits – even when passing a primary school – without a "geofence" in place:

At our Westleigh quarry and asphalt plant in North Devon [sic], the route to the nearby M5 motorway takes vehicles through the nearby village of Burlescombe. For many years we have had a voluntary agreement not to allow any vehicles through the village during school opening and closing (8:40-9:05 and 15:20-15:40) this has worked very well as vehicles were held on site. 

The site also has an agreement to restrict vehicle speed through the village at all times to 20mph, but this was more difficult to police. Now, by using the navigation system we have fitted to our hauliers we have set up a "geofence" that automatically alerts the Transport Department if vehicles exceed the 20mph limit. In the rare instances where a haulier does exceed the 20mph limit we now have the evidence to prove it, making the conversation with the haulier more productive.

We posted about Burlescombe School in November. In contrast with AI’s gold-plated version above, the residents do not think that the voluntary agreement "has worked very well" – in fact, quite the reverse. According to the response by Burlescombe Parish Council to a recent application by AI to extend Westleigh Quarry:

3) We would also like to point out the negative effects the Quarry HGV’s are having on Burlescombe Primary School: a. They have effectively stunted the growth of the school due to parents concerns over the safety of their children wholly generated by lorry movements past the school at all times of the day. b. There had been a verbal agreement with the previous head teacher concerning lorry movement restrictions (an agreement to stop and wait) within school drop-off and pick-up times (not always upheld). We would request that this agreement is formalised.

c) SS: 7.8 to 7.19 — Whilst accepting that the current proposal remains within the current permissions, a majority of residents who have voiced their opinions in Open Forum’s or online to the Council feel strongly that the rules are continuously broken — lorries travelling through Burlescombe in convoy, within restricted times around school drop-off and pick-up times, in excess of the speed limits, and un-sheeted. 

So, seemingly another tale from AI’s South West spin-centre in Frome – this time endorsed by Corporate HQ – that doesn’t square with reality. Goodness, can you believe anything from this company?

Is AI dragging its feet over Silverstone?

Last year, the British MotoGP at Silverstone was cancelled when its new track failed to cope with a rainy weekend in August; suffering readers will know that we have posted on this issue previously. Fingers were pointed at Aggregate Industries, whose "racing circuit experts" were responsible for resurfacing the track just months before.

Looking forward to today's @F1 #BritishGP at @SilverstoneUK? Earlier this year, our racing circuit experts helped to resurface the track at the historic home of British motorsport 🇬🇧 🏎 pic.twitter.com/EzHVJN4Sgk

— Aggregate Industries (@AggregateUK) July 8, 2018

AI became rather sensitive about the whole issue after a backlash on social media – even threatening a respected motorsport journalist with legal action – but said it would provide some answers:

We are working in close partnership with Silverstone and will be conducting a full review of the track resurfacing over the next few days to better understand the issues caused by the extremely wet conditions on Sunday. We will continue to make resources available to assist our client during this difficult period.

Journalists were told this "review" would be published 6 weeks after the event, as Motor Sport Magazine made clear when it recently posted about the Top 12 MotoGP moments of 2018:

MOMENT 6: MISERABLE WEEKEND OF THE YEAR

What a mess. What an embarrassment. On Saturday Tito Rabat had to abandon ship at around 170mph due to aquaplaning and ended up with his right femur broken into four pieces. On Sunday tens of thousands of fans waited for hours in the rain and didn’t a see a wheel turn in anger. We were told that the results of a joint investigation into the debacle by Silverstone and Aggregate Industries (who resurfaced the track for 2018) would be published six weeks after the event. It is now four months after the event. Astonishing.

Of course, if it had been discovered that AI’s new tarmac was in some way blameless, the company would surely have shouted about it at the earliest opportunity. The fact that it hasn’t would infer the reverse. So, here's something for AI: 10 tips for delivering bad news. One of the tips? "Don't delay... Bad news delayed is bad news compounded."

Silverstone MotoGP drainage issue resolved for 2019 https://t.co/ZyFaesUodh

— Andy Quinn (@andyq748) December 2, 2018

EDIT 10.1.19 If any further confirmation were needed that Aggregate Industries’ resurfacing of Silverstone last year was not fit for purpose, RaceFans.net reports "Silverstone plans another resurfacing before British GP":

RaceFans understands the track owners are determined to resurface the track ahead of Moto GP’s return this year. Silverstone’s managing director Stuart Pringle told RaceFans he "hopes" the job will be completed before the F1 weekend begins on July 12th.

The question of who will pay for laying another new surface rests on the ongoing investigation into the cancellation of the Moto GP race.

"We are still awaiting the final outcome of the investigation," said Pringle. "We are closer to the end than the beginning."

Silverstone looks likely to have its second resurfacing in as many seasons after last year's Moto GP race was cancelled following drainage problems:https://t.co/EJraHDybMA#F1

— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) January 9, 2019

Our future, and our children’s future, in numbers

If we need any sobering up after all our Christmas and New Year celebrations, take a look at The World Counts. It contains many poignant figures; here’s a screenshot of two of those at the end of 2018:

Here are the corresponding 'live' counters, showing relentless and depressing increases so far in 2019:

Christian Aid recently reported that extreme weather events linked to climate change cost thousands of lives and caused huge damage throughout the world in 2018:

The charity's report identified ten events that cost more than $1bn each, with four costing more than $7bn each.

"Climate change is something still often talked about as a future problem, not least because we know the consequences of the warming climate are so devastating and don't want to face up to what is already happening," said Dr Kat Kramer from Christian Aid.

"This report shows that for many people, climate change is having devastating impacts on their lives and livelihoods right now. The great injustice of climate breakdown is that the people that suffer first and worst, are the world's poor that have done the least to contribute to the crisis."

Scientists warn that "Decisions made from now to 2020 will determine to what extent Earth remains habitable". Even the financial community is urging us to wake up, with warnings of dire consequences if we don't:

A global group of 415 investors managing $32 trillion in assets are warning that ignoring action against climate change could cause permanent economic damage up to four times the size of the 2008 financial crisis.#ActOnClimate #KeepItInTheGround https://t.co/iVUH26ds42

— Paul Dawson on Climate Change (@PaulEDawson) December 27, 2018

But whilst we're talking about sobering numbers, here are two more from The World Counts for 2019:

In the UK, our consumption is even more unsustainable; we effectively need 3 Earths to provide what we consume – or, put another way, we consume resources 3 times faster than the Earth can renew. The World Counts puts that into frightening context:

If Earth’s history is compared to a calendar year, modern human life has existed for 23 minutes and we have used one third of Earth’s natural resources in the last 0.2 seconds.

Christmas update on AI’s progress with Straitgate – in words and pictures

Christmas is almost upon us, and yet another year has passed in the Straitgate saga.

For new readers, this story has been going on some time: Aggregate Industries' current planning application to quarry Straitgate Farm first went live in June 2015. It was withdrawn in March 2016, only to be resubmitted in January 2017. Preparatory work, however, started years before that, and the very first application to quarry Straitgate was submitted back in 1967.

How much further have AI's plans advanced in 2018?

There's an assortment of information that DCC still requires from AI. The last time any information from AI and its consultants was posted on DCC's planning website was in September 2017. One year later, in September 2018, the Leader of DCC advised MP Hugo Swire:

We are still awaiting this information from the applicant which is why there has been no apparent movement on these matters.

What an earth can be so complicated to cause such delays? you might wonder. If it's any clue, the information AI still has to supply ranges from how agricultural movements will be managed across Exeter Road and the farm itself, to revised plans of the working area taking account of the elevated groundwater levels recorded earlier in the year.

Whilst outwardly there has been no progress this year, in some respects AI’s application has actually gone backwards. The company’s groundwater model was shown to have failed - by up to 2.8m - and there is consequently now even less material to win. When we joked last Christmas about two cows, how AI’s recoverable resource had effectively fallen from 33 cows in 1965 to just two cows, little did we know then that the company would then go on to lose part of one of those cows too!

Our updates since September 2017 have followed a common theme: AI requests deferral, AI’s application for Straitgate Farm lurches from one delay to another, More delays to come, AI delays yet again, Three years on and yet more delays, Determination date for AI’s Straitgate Farm planning application extended yet again, AI’s application to quarry Straitgate Farm delayed again, AI’s application to quarry Straitgate Farm – determination date delayed for 5th time, AI’s application will now stagger into its 5th year – 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019…, AI’s application to quarry Straitgate Farm – determination date delayed for 6th time.

In pictorial terms, these delays might be represented by:

Just AMoment Loading GIF from Justamoment GIFs

Some local residents feel that all this has been going on long enough:

Grandma 84years GIF from Grandma GIFs

Even the wildlife are getting tired of it all:

Slothalida Sleep GIF from Slothalida GIFs

Rumours abound that equipment set aside for the Straitgate job, lies abandoned in various locations around the East Devon countryside:

Of course, in meetings with DCC, AI will be saying one thing:

Owen Wilson Progress GIF from Owenwilson GIFs

But behind the scenes, management must realise that things have not gone smoothly:

Robert Downey Jr Facepalm GIF from Robertdowneyjr GIFs

Here’s an image that perhaps best describes AI’s recent progress in real terms:

Austin Powers Mike Myers GIF from Austinpowers GIFs

The company has been bogged down by the cattle crossing issue, and the cars that would therefore have to queue on the busy Exeter Road. AI does however have a plan:

Cars Semi GIF from Cars GIFs

In the face of having to haul material from Straitgate a total of 2.5 million miles to be processed, AI has now come up with some new pollution controls:

Truck Smoke GIF from Truck GIFs

Readers will know that, over the years, the company has supplied a variety of fiction to support its application for Straitgate. AI's defence?

Everybody Lies House GIF from Everybodylies GIFs

We've even had Meghan Markle's old law firm look over parts of the application. Their conclusion?

Thisisbullshit Mrw GIF from Thisisbullshit GIFs

As a result, this blog will in future deploy a new tool:

Bullshit Detector Lies GIF from Bullshitdetector GIFs

Finally, this pictorial update would not be complete without an image of a cat – "that essential building block of the Internet" according to The New York Times. So, to sum up what many must be feeling about this whole thing by now:

Bored Cats GIF from Bored GIFs

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all readers!

The CO2 emissions that AI ‘forgot’ in 2016

The world has finally hammered out a climate agreement at the COP24 climate conference in Katowice. Greta Thunberg emerged as the unlikely star of the summit. She told negotiators:

You are not mature enough to tell it like it is

She's 15 years old. Watch her speech:

Mohamed Nasheed, former president of the Maldives, was another speaker:

We are not prepared to die. We are not going to become the first victims of the climate crisis. Instead, we are going to do everything in our power to keep our heads above water.

But almost 10 years since I was last at these climate negotiations, I must say, nothing much seems to have changed. We are still using the same old, dinosaur language.

Carbon emissions are rising, rising and rising and all we seem to be doing is talking, talking and talking.

Cement industry leaders were also at the summit. As the BBC reported today in Climate change: The massive CO2 emitter you may not know about:

Cement is the source of about 8% of the world's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, according to think tank Chatham House... It contributes more CO2 than aviation fuel (2.5%)

Chatham House argues that... If the sector has any hope of meeting its commitments to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, it will need to look at overhauling the cement-making process itself, not only reducing the use of fossil fuels.

In other news, Aggregate Industries has recently published its 2017 Sustainability Report.

It turns out – as we posted in If AI’s record is an example of corporate action on climate change, we’re all screwed – that AI under-reported its CO2 figures in its 2016 Sustainability Report. The company 'forgot' to report half of its CO2 emissions from cement production, which it has now belatedly included in the 2017 report:

For the first time we have reported the limestone calcination emissions produced in the manufacture of cement for both 2016 and 2017. These figures represent the emissions from the chemical transformation from limestone to clinker.

How many tonnes of CO2 did AI under-report in 2016? 

About one tonne of CO2 is emitted for every tonne of cement produced: around half a tonne from the energy required and half a tonne from the chemical process itself.

More precisely, the Mineral Products Association fact sheet on embodied CO2e of UK cement puts the average cement emissions at 849 kg CO2e/tonne for MPA Cement Member Companies (which includes Lafarge Cement UK – now part of AI), of which 50% to 60% is from the chemical process.

How much cement does AI produce? According to AI's own website, the company manufactures in excess of 1.4 million tonnes of cement annually:

Putting the more conservative numbers together (1.4 million tonnes x 849 kg CO2e/tonne x 50%) means AI neglected to report around 600,000 tonnes of CO2 in 2016. Indeed, AI has now revised its emissions figure for 2016 from 17.88 to 31.68 Kg CO2e/tonne which, across 44 million tonnes of production, also equates to around 600,000 tonnes. It's a sizeable number to overlook, given that it's more than twice the amount AI used to emit each year. Here's what 600,000 tonnes of CO2 is equivalent to:

Is AI still under reporting its emissions? 

AI’s latest sustainability report claims the company produced a total of around 44 million tonnes of material in 2017. Total emissions are stated as 28.76 kg CO2e/tonne, which equates to around 1.27 million tonnes of CO2 emitted last year. Of this, cement emissions would make up around 1.19 million tonnes of CO2 (1.4 million tonnes x 849 kg CO2e/tonne). Plainly the rest of the business (in excess of 42 million tonnes of production) is responsible for more than the 80k tonnes of CO2 difference (1.27 million - 1.19 million) – so either AI is suddenly producing considerably less than 1.4 million tonnes of cement, or something is awry.

What progress has AI achieved in 2017? In 2016, the company said "Energy and carbon reduction continues to be a challenge and are key areas of focus for us". Despite this key area of focus, AI’s "energy use remained very similar in 2017".

The company claims that "overall our carbon footprint has fallen by 9%", but recognises that this is:

... in part due to a reduction in the UK government’s conversion factor for grid supplied electricity and in part due to our increasing use of waste-derived fuels in our cement operations and switching to less CO2 intensive fuels in other operations.

In other words, AI can thank the investment by others in renewable low carbon energy sources that resulted in UK wind and solar power hitting record highs in 2017.

Whatever AI's narrative, it’s now clear that the company is a far larger emitter of CO2 than it once was. In 2007, the company reported:

In our first report in 2000, our reported emissions for 1999 were 228,267 tonnes of CO2. In 2007 this has increased to 450,390 tonnes ...

AI's now emitting nearly 1.3 million tonnes of CO2 each year, more than 5x the amount in 1999.

Does AI's latest sustainability report point to a company that recognises the climate emergency that humanity faces? Readers can decide for themselves. If it's any guide – the word "carbon" was referred to 52x in AI's 2008 Sustainability Report – and just 12x in 2017. But if the company's energy use is not falling – the graphics are certainly louder:

Of course, AI says "changed significantly" because it can't bring itself to tell it as it is, to say "gone up significantly". This is worrying, given that:

The first step in solving a problem is to recognise that it does exist.

What is also worrying is that after the terrible extreme weather events that have hit various parts of the world this year, and after the urgent warnings from the IPCC that "we all have to fundamentally change the way we live our lives", you might have hoped that this major emitter of CO2 would have done more than re-establish a baseline.

Because we've heard about establishing baselines before – in 2012, 2008, 2003 – and the company has consistently failed to achieve any progress against them. Let's look, for example, at how AI fared against its 2012 baseline:

2013: Absolute process carbon emissions have increased against the 2012 baseline

2014: Absolute carbon process emissions continue to rise and are now 13% higher than the baseline year

2015: Absolute process carbon emissions continue to rise and are 20% above the 2012 baseline

2016: No mention of baselines

AI has talked about reducing its CO2 emissions for more than 15 years, and has achieved exactly the reverse. It is plainly in denial: denial about having to do anything to change the way it operates, denial about having to do anything to reduce its contribution to an impending climate catastrophe.

Let's finish by moving from baselines and hollow promises from a corporate polluter, to instead picking out some of the wise words from Greta Thunberg:

You only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas that got us into this mess, even when the only sensible thing to do is pull the emergency brake.

Our civilisation is being sacrificed for the opportunity of a very small number of people to continue making enormous amounts of money.

You say you love your children above all else and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes.

We cannot solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis.

AI’s generosity knows no bounds

We’ve posted about Aggregate Industries' troubles at Westleigh Quarry - the problems with dust, the problems with HGVs, the impact on the village of Burlescombe.

Only last month, DCC’s DMC committee spent less than half an hour nodding through an extension giving AI another 600k tonnes at Westleigh – in the face of numerous concerns from local residents.

What do we get this month? A press release from AI crowing:

As part of its commitment to positively contributing to the communities around its sites, Aggregate Industries has gifted three information boards to the residents of Burlescombe...

Residents will be thrilled; a few hundred pounds on marketing boards in return for their all suffering.

But then it’s no more than we should expect from this subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, the Swiss-French cement multinational. Last year, AI – a company with sales in the region of £1,200,000,000 – donated just £37k to the communities it impacts, together with £12k of materials; in other words £0.00004 for every £1 of material sold.

To put that £37k in context, here's what the executives of LafargeHolcim paid themselves in 2017:

Eric Olsen was charged with funding terrorism in Syria.

AI loses another CEO

After posting just last week that Aggregate Industries’ newly filed accounts show pre-tax profits falling 56% for the year to 31 December 2017, it has now been announced that the company’s CEO François Petry is moving back to France:

Je suis très heureux de rejoindre les équipes de LafargeHolcim France et Belgique, qui sont connues pour leur grand professionnalisme. Google translate

Mr Petry’s replacement has yet to be announced, but as AI approaches the icebergs of Brexit, the company will need to rearrange the deck chairs again.

Again? During the time that AI has been trying to get its act together in East Devon – to gain permission to butcher a successful farm and risk water supplies for more than 100 people for the sake of a relatively small amount of sand and gravel that could only be processed off-site 23 miles away – the company has gone through three CEOs, and will now be looking for its fourth.

Is this simply an indication of how long the Straitgate Farm fiasco has been staggering on, or an indication of deeper problems?

EDIT 12.12.18 Guy Edwards appointed CEO of Aggregate Industries UK.

AI’s digital presence on climate change

Many consider it important to have a digital presence, and to appear in Google searches. Some pay good money to appear at the top of a Google search. The government, for example, is paying good money to promote Theresa May's Brexit deal on Google when people search "what is the Brexit deal?", but:

... the ad keeps being knocked off the top spot by a campaign group called "Britain's Future", which says May's deal betrays Brexit.

However, whilst Brexit is undoubtedly a cataclysmic mess, the real crisis of the 21st century is climate change and the existential threat it poses to humanity.

As far back as 2006, Aggregate Industries – a major emitter of greenhouse gases – was announcing in its sustainability report that "climate change... it’s happening and we have to take action now."

Since that time, you might have thought this company – with sales in excess of £1bn – would have left an extensive trail of digital footprints all over the internet, explaining its efforts to tackle climate change; you might have thought AI’s actions would, in one way or another, fill the first page of a Google search.

We asked Google: "what is "aggregate industries" doing about climate change?"

But what should we find? That this blog occupied half of the top entries on the first page of that search, with If AI’s record is an example of corporate action on climate change, we’re all screwed appropriately uppermost.

Construction headwinds

To be fair, it’s not just Aggregate Industries suffering. An indication of the headwinds now facing the construction industry can be found in comments accompanying a £264m emergency rights issue from Kier Group on Friday. The boss of Kier Group commented:

There has been a recent change in sentiment from the credit markets towards the UK construction sector, with various lenders indicating that they will be reducing their exposure to the sector. This has led to lower confidence among other stakeholders and an increased focus on balance sheet strength.

Kier Group has sales £4.2bn, employs more than 20,000, and saw its shares fall 22% on the news.

Controlling the fracking narrative

Readers will know by now that we’re not the biggest fans of fracking. It’s one of the most unpopular forms of development, surpassed only by quarrying.

Despite the UN's stark warning that we must increase our efforts fivefold to avoid a climate catastrophe, some companies have no qualms about profiting from this controversial fossil fuel source – including Aggregate Industries:

This week: Lancashire @UK_Nanas #fracking protests, @EHowardComposer & @takebacktheatre https://t.co/2GUgIQ7UmP pic.twitter.com/mBQ4pb1tte

— Big Issue North (@bigissuenorth) January 16, 2017

For those wanting to know more about fracking, the wikipedia page on Cuadrilla – the company behind 37 quakes in three weeks at its Preston New Road site in Lancashire, the company now seeking to move the seismic goalposts – was helpfully hacked this week:

Cuadrilla's wikipedia page has been reworked today, to tell the truth about the horrors perpetuated on the community of Preston New Road by Cuadrilla and CEO Francis Egan #BanFrackinghttps://t.co/pDFacKQoyU@ruthhayhurst @GeorgeMonbiot @mrmatthewtaylor @ExtinctionR @MrTopple

— Rewild & Rebel (@alanwilliamz) November 27, 2018

The author told The Canary:

I have control of Cuadrilla’s Wikipedia page. As made clear under Wikipedia’s Creative Commons licence, anyone who feels they can improve this Wiki page is welcome to update and improve it. I can provide citations/references for every statement that has been made. This update has been made with transparency in mind, so that investors in Cuadrilla and fracking can make their own minds up whether or not they want to pour away their money on this toxic industry.

It’s important we control the narrative and tell the truth.

Here’s a screenshot of that reworked page, before changes were later removed.

AI’s profits down 56% in 2017; Breedon’s profits up 52%

If the way Aggregate Industries has run its planning application for Straitgate Farm – spending years and goodness knows how much money going after an ever diminishing amount of sand and gravel some 23 miles away from where it would be processed – is any indication of how the wider company operates, is it any wonder that newly filed accounts from LafargeHolcim’s UK subsidiary show pre-tax profits falling 56% to £46.2m for the year to 31 December 2017, down from £105m in the previous 12 months?

Profits fall at Aggregate Industries despite turnover rise https://t.co/GYPJoYCIcM pic.twitter.com/GHaLuEQ2ec

— Insider (@insidereastmids) November 27, 2018

Today, LafargeHolcim’s CEO Jan Jenisch was wooing investors at AI’s Bardon Hill Quarry in Leicestershire on its Capital Markets Day.

LafargeHolcim senior management, accompanied by members of the financial community are touring Bardon Hill #quarry today. Discover more about this key @AggregateUK site: https://t.co/ToxCtuYKcC #CapitalMarketsDay2018 pic.twitter.com/eAKqhS18VT

— LafargeHolcim (@LafargeHolcim) November 28, 2018

Investors may need some convincing. In that same 12 month period that AI reported profits falling 56%, Breedon – a competitor run by Peter Tom, a former chairman and chief executive of AI – announced pre-tax profits increasing 52% to £71.2 million, up from £46.8 million in the previous 12 months. Breedon’s profits were achieved on sales of £652 million, AI’s profits were on sales of £1.2 billion. Both companies operate around 60 quarries each, but evidently, based on these results, Breedon is running the more efficient operation, with a pre-tax margin of almost 11%, compared with AI's of less than 4%.

At the time Breedon released its results, it said: "We look to 2018 and beyond with confidence and optimism." At the time AI released theirs, the company predicted that in 2018 "demand levels for our products and services will be, at best, flat." And not just that:

…the slowing economy and the uncertainty emanating from the decision to leave the European Union is expected to suppress investment in the short term.

In addition, it is anticipated that input costs, particularly oil related and energy will increase at levels well above inflation.

Clearly, AI has some problems on its hands, as it sails into the stormy seas caused by Brexit. It does however have a cunning plan:

… we have instigated a number of initiatives aimed at reducing the overall cost base of the business. These are focussed, principally, in the operational excellence, procurement, logistics and sales and general administration functions.

If logistics still includes their expensive 2.5 million mile haulage plans for East Devon, you do wonder what difference any of those initiatives will make.

AI’s idea of Corporate Social Responsibility

According to The Institute of Quarrying:

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) refers to how a company may think about its relationship with the community, the environment and other causes beyond its own profitability and growth…

The sorts of CSR issues that (particularly large) companies seek to address will include things like: Engaging with stakeholders in the community…

We’ve posted about these sorts of things before: Community engagement is not about being nice; it’s the fourth pillar of CSR and Doesn't AI do hearts and minds any more?

Clearly, Aggregate Industries still has some hang-ups with CSR:

@AggregateUK How does blocking a community’s social media account assist in ‘working in partnership with communities to better understand the long term #economic, #environmental and social implications of our activities’? @beisgovuk pic.twitter.com/lzFqcVr0Av

— Straitgate Action Gp (@straitgateactgp) November 28, 2018

Drakelands’ rescue – talks seek to reduce restoration bond

In October, we posted about the troubles of Wolf Minerals, how Drakelands Mine owner ceases trading and appoints administrators and asking Who would take on Drakelands?

Readers may remember that this was the mine that caused local residents to endure the "horrendous invasive unacceptable" impact of blasting and low frequency noise; we posted about this in What happened last time DCC approved a major minerals application?

Over £100 million has been poured into this failing venture. Question marks now hang over the future of the site, and its restoration. The Telegraph reports that a Swiss-based investment fund has shown interest in taking on the mine, but that:

… talks have hit a snag over the cost of restoring the land after its working life has finished… it is thought a trio of banks that are among Wolf’s secured creditors are wrangling over the size of a bond being held in account to pay for restoration of the site after mining has finished… Around £14m has been deposited for safekeeping but it is thought the banks - Unicredit, ING and Caterpillar - want this reduced to £11.5m.

In 2016, DCC had stated:

6.135 There is already in existence a restoration bond with Wolf Minerals which was required as a part of the original legal agreement associated with the 1986 planning permission…. The value of the bond was calculated by the Mineral Valuer in 2014 to be in the region of £15 million… the operator has already posted the full amount into an Escrow Account to ensure that the finance remains available for this purpose.

The Telegraph quotes Gary Streeter, MP for the area, as saying:

It’s very important to that local economy that this mine continues. We want to get the tungsten out, get the value from it, and put the countryside back together… I’m not in favour of reducing the bond but if it has to be reduced slightly to make this project work, then we’ll have to accept that - but that’s be to negotiated.

Not everyone will be happy that putting the Devon countryside back together – facilitated by a restoration bond lodged for safekeeping in an escrow account – is now up for negotiation, in order to appease various global banking interests.

AI asks ‘could green concrete be the answer’?

Barry Mellor of @aggregateUK discusses how greener #construction materials are key to #sustainability & explores how #BREEAM has driven demand for greener concrete solutions @buildingnews https://t.co/FGnTN2btXs

— BREEAM Official (@BRE_BREEAM) November 27, 2018

Amid a growing public consciousness around the importance of sustainability, it is becoming increasingly critical for the construction industry to go beyond compliance and adapt its business approach to incorporate a more environmentally friendly stance.

Not to be overlooked, concrete specification can have a major role to play in this; helping to not only vastly reduce the requirement for quarried material, but also the overall associated carbon footprint.

Balancing the need for economic growth with sustainability remains one of the most pressing challenges facing the modern construction world…

For instance, recent years have seen the growing use of concrete made from secondary aggregate - materials which would otherwise become landfill – which in accordance with BREEAM specifications means it can be counted towards the recycled aggregate content of a build project.

Using secondary aggregates in the concrete mix also replaces the need for quarried natural aggregate and in doing so can reduce CO2 emissions in buildings by up to 10%, as by being up to 50% lighter than natural aggregate, it means fewer truck journeys are needed to transport construction materials – resulting in significant cost savings for the build.

Amid recent reports showing that almost two-thirds of businesses operating in the UK construction sector are now more committed than ever before on taking action on sustainability, the direction of travel for the industry is clear - reducing carbon emissions needs to be at the heart of everything we do.

This is, of course, from the same company planning a 2.5 MILLION MILE climate-busting haulage scheme across Devon.