1 June 2008
DSM Agro in Geleen (the Netherlands) is the
first company in the world to reduce its emissions of dinitrogen oxide
(N2O) to zero. The emission of greenhouse gases from a nitric acid plant has
never before been so greatly reduced. In doing so the company makes an
important contribution towards the solution of the climate change problem.
Therefore the VNCI (Association of the Dutch Chemical Industry) awarded DSM
Agro with the prestigious Responsible Care Award 2008. The award is made
annually to the company that has made impressive progress in the area of
Safety, Health and the Environment and that is an example to other companies.
The project’s impact is great; as a greenhouse gas, the effect of dinitrogen
oxide is around three hundred times that of CO2. In the last quarter of 2007
alone DSM reduced its emission of dinitrogen oxide by 6,500 tons. That is the
equivalent of two million tons of CO2.
It has the same effect as
though there were one million less cars on the Dutch roads or if 500 million
trees were planted in the Netherlands. “A performance on a world scale and
worthy winner of the Responsible Care Award 2008” according to Wim Hafkamp,
Chairman of the jury for the Responsible Care Award.
