Johnson Matthey sustainability report 2008/09

Green Energy Tactics at our Brussels Site

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Johnson Matthey’s site in Brussels, Belgium has switched to 100% green energy sources for electricity.

The Johnson Matthey site in Belgium manufactures some 4.5 million autocatalysts each year for the European market and is one of the largest users of electricity in the Brussels area. Every year the energy requirements are purchased on a forward contract for the following year.

In 2008, we began to look at the possibility of meeting our electricity needs from green sources and asked for quotations from 100% green sources. One of the quotations we received was similar in overall cost to energy from the other sources available in Belgium (of which 54% is nuclear and 26% is natural gas). Based on this, the decision was made to source all the site’s electricity needs from green sources in 2009 and 2010. The electricity is guaranteed to come from renewable sources, with 92% from large hydro, 6% from wind and 2% from biomass.

The site is still completing its carbon footprint calculations but carbon footprinting studies at our other sites have indicated that energy is likely to be a major contributor. This switch to green energy has eliminated the contribution of electricity to our carbon footprint and will therefore have a significant impact on reducing the carbon footprint of this site.

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