While green transition is a major concern and a driver for action, the members of the French Association of Large Companies (AFEP) are committed to tackle the climate emergency. As part of their climate strategy, they are developing a diversity of replicable low-carbon projects that provide concrete solutions to contribute to the climate neutrality challenge. AFEP launches the platform Ambition 4 Climate, which illustrates large companies’ mobilisation to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout their value chains with specific examples in a wide range of economic sectors.
Being ambitious for the climate means acting!
Ambition 4 Climate is a dedicated Internet platform that brings together concrete initiatives taken by AFEP member companies to fight climate change. While investing in various know-how, innovations and technologies, large French companies are implementing operational low-carbon solutions throughout their value chains.
Beyond their own action, they are triggering a leverage effect on their ecosystems. Ambition 4 Climate brings together a variety of actions currently being implemented by companies from different sectors to reduce their GHG emissions and those of their suppliers, customers, and partners. These projects, presented in the form of factual data and figures, result from recent investment decisions. They lead to significant changes in production processes, products, and everyday business life. For each project, the carbon impact is assessed according to a detailed methodology. These actions, which are replicable by nature, help amplify emission reductions.
114 projects developed by 64 companies
Accor, Airbus, Air Liquide, Alstom, ArcelorMittal, Arkema, Axa, bioMérieux, BNP Paribas, Bouygues, BPCE, Bureau Veritas, Capgemini, Crédit Agricole, Danone, Edenred, Eiffage, Elis, Engie, Faurecia, Fnac Darty, General Electric, Getlink, Groupama, Hermès, Icade, iliad, Ipsen, Imerys, Kering, Kingfisher, Korian, L’Oréal, LVMH, Michelin, Nestlé France, Nexans, Orange, Plastic Omnium, Roquette, Rothschild & Co, Safran, SaintGobain, Sanofi, Schlumberger, Schneider, Seb, Sodexo, Solvay, Sonepar, STMicroelectronics, Sucden, Suez, Tarkett, Technip Energies, Thales, Tikehau Capital, TotalEnergies, Valéo, Veolia, Verallia, Vinci, Vivendi, Worldline are investing to move towards climate-neutrality.
A carbon methodology to describe precisely companies’ low-carbon projects
These projects are presented according to identical criteria, making up a common language that ensures a good understanding of each project and outlines the progress made in the field. Low-carbon actions trigger 7 types of levers to reduce carbon dependency and deal with the following topics:
• Energy decarbonisation by using geo-energy for heating and cooling of buildings, self-consumption of solar or wind energy, fleets of 100% electric vehicles, modal shift from road to rail, biofuels for rail freight, auxiliary traction to reduce engine power, etc.
• Energy efficiency improvement by using an auxiliary traction system that reduces engine power, reducing energy losses by eradicating fugitive leaks, setting up an interconnected cooling network, monitoring and optimizing energy consumption, recovering waste heat, using bioclimatic design for
buildings, etc.
• Improvement of non-energy resource efficiency by optimising industrial processes, using recycled materials in product design, using plant-based asphalt composed of bio-sourced binder, creating a closedloop circular economy model for the production of tires, producing polyethylene from ethanol obtained through the fermentation of industrial waste gases, etc.
• Sobriety in energy and non-energy resources through training and improving employee practices, etc.
• Emissions removals through agroforestry projects, offsetting residual emissions by creating carbon sinks, sequestering carbon in construction wood, etc.
• Financing of low-carbon issuers or disinvestment from carbon assets through low-carbon investment funds, financing low-carbon aluminium, etc.
• Reduction of other greenhouse gases through the reduction of SF6 emissions in high voltage electrical equipment, a methane leak detection program, etc.
Then, the carbon impact of each project is defined according to several characteristic variables which are specified on the platform:
• Emissions induced by the project, according to scopes 1, 2 and 3,
• Avoided emissions, in particular by the companies’ customers,
• Direct or indirect CO2 emissions removals.
Each project sheet also provides information on the amount of investment, the technological maturity level and the potential for reproducibility.
An initiative designed to foster dialogue
Ambition 4 Climate is designed to facilitate the understanding of the actions implemented. It is not intended to present all the projects of each company, but to inform stakeholders of the current concrete projects’ characteristics leading to GHG emission reductions in the context of specific investments. By providing the possibility to contact directly each company carrying a project, Ambition 4 Climate platform fosters an informed dialogue with all interested stakeholders. It also helps identify good ideas and reproducibility in the context of continuous progress by economic players.
A new update of the platform illustrating new low-carbon actions is planned for the end of 2021.
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