Working towards net zero emissions is one of our five key corporate priorities. We are therefore investing €50 million in new and emerging technologies. Yet we must also drive progress using conventional means: increasing recycling, improving energy efficiency, switching fuel and using green electricity.
Our first target is to reach a 15% reduction in Scope 1, 2 and 3 (raw materials) emissions by 2025. As an energy-intensive industry, this is an ambitious target. Recycling is key to achieving this and we have committed to achieve 10% secondary raw material (SRM) content by 2025, with recycling facilities in every region.
Yet conventional measures alone will not take us to net zero. Almost half of our carbon emissions are released from processing minerals. When raw magnesite (MgCO3) is processed into magnesium oxide (MgO), it releases carbon dioxide (CO2).
Over the next four to five years, we will invest €50m to trial carbon capture technologies.
To decarbonise our business will require unprecedented innovation and investment.
Between 2021 and 2025, we have committed to invest €50 million in the research and development of new and emerging technologies. In 2021 we spent €63 million on R&D and Technical Marketing.. Working with leading research institutes and industry partners, we are conducting industrial trials of these technologies — a critical step towards net zero.
Reaching net zero will also needs support from governments, too. Business will need a level playing field: measures to enable us to remain competitive. We also require green energy in sufficient quantities and at competitive prices, more responsive “smart” electricity networks to help reduce emissions and networks for transportation and sequestration of CO2.