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Climate: aktiv mobil award for voestalpine Stahl GmbH

2010-09-24 | 

voestalpine Stahl GmbH’s contribution to the reduction of Co2 emissions was recognised on Friday when the company was made a klima:aktiv partner by Environmental Minister DI Niki Berlakovich.

  • Optimised logistics on the factory premises reduces CO2 emissions by 500 tonnes
  • CEO Eder: “Focus on climate protection and competitiveness”
  • Minister Berlakovich: “Achieving climate targets together with business”

The company has reduced its CO2 emissions in a cutting unit area by 500 tonnes a year by optimising its internal logistics. The project, which has been granted an award by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, has reduced the company’s consumption of diesel by around 190,000 litres due to shorter transport routes. Enough fuel for a truck to travel around 600,000 km - or over 3.000 times the distance between Linz and Vienna.

The project, which was initiated by our employees, shows how consistently voestalpine is making an ongoing contribution to the environment and is reducing CO2 emissions. The steel production process itself has reached such a high level of technical development that it is currently difficult to achieve large reductions of CO2 for purely physical reasons. It is therefore all the more important to identify and make use of climate protection opportunities in other production steps, such as logistics

Dr. Wolfgang Eder, Chairman of the Management Board at voestalpine AG

Decades of consistent contributions to climate protection

In connection with this, Eder referred to the ongoing efforts of the European steel industry over the past decades. Since 1975, the European steel industry has reduced its emissions per tonne of produced steel by over 50%, and has also more than halved the energy used during production. “We must focus on both climate protection and competitiveness, as only sustained positive development can secure innovation, quality and service. This will in turn be of benefit for climate protection due to the developments in the steel industry for automobile and railway construction, in addition to wind power technology", according to Eder.

During the award ceremony, Environmental Minister DI Niki Berlakovich emphasised the importance of transportation in the reduction of CO2 emissions: “The transportation sector is one of the largest producers of greenhouse gas emissions. The Federal Ministry’s klima:aktiv mobil climate protection initiative is helping to make transportation more environmentally friendly. We need to work together to achieve the climate targets which Austria has set itself. In its programme klima:aktiv mobil, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management is supporting the domestic economy with the development and implementation of projects and initiatives aiming to reduce CO2.

The award received by voestalpine Stahl GmbH today places it among the more than 1,000 klima:aktiv partners in business and administration.

voestalpine Group

voestalpine is a globally active group with a number of specialized and flexible companies that produce, process and further develop high-quality steel products. The Group is represented by 360 production and sales companies in more than 60 countries. With its highest quality flat steel products, voestalpine is one of Europe's leading partners to the automotive, white goods and energy industries. Furthermore, voestalpine is the world market leader in turnout technology, tool steel and special sections, as well as number one in Europe in the production of rails. The voestalpine Group generated revenues of EUR 8.55 billion in the business year 2009/10 and employs around 41,000 staff throughout the world.