Covia 2022 ESG Report: Committed to Addressing Climate Change
Our commitment to addressing climate change is reflected in our environmental responsibility efforts and our Goals that Inspire. While we have been monitoring and collecting our Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data at our mining and processing facilities for several years, in 2022, we took steps to enhance our data collection processes to measure our emissions reduction progress more accurately.
Goals that Inspire Environmental Stewardship
Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
We continue to further our commitments to address climate change in alignment with UN SDG 13: Climate Action.
TARGET: Reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions by 20% on a per-ton basis by 2030 (compared with a 2021 baseline).
2022 Progress: During the year, we had our GHG emissions calculation methodology third-party verified in compliance with the GHG Protocol, which provides globally accepted GHG accounting standards. Through this process, we improved the accuracy of our measurements, promoting enhanced reliability and transparency in our GHG reporting. As such, we identified slight discrepancies in our 2021 metrics, which led to an approximate 10% increase to our baseline, and are reflected in the data below. To ensure continued focus on this important goal, in 2022 we created a dedicated, cross-functional Steering Team to oversee our emissions reduction efforts in pursuit of our 2030 goal. To see our energy consumption by type, please see page 75 of the report.
Executing Our Climate Strategy
In addition to improving our data collection methods, we closely monitor our year-over-year emissions to guide resource allocation, take corrective action as needed, and ensure we are making progress against our 2030 goal. Our 2022 performance, which represented an overall increase in emissions, was impacted by several factors, including planned higher production, increased energy usage due to colder than expected temperatures at some of our U.S. sites, and increased material handling at one of our largest mines.
However, reducing our emissions and increasing our energy efficiency remain central to our climate strategy, and we continue to monitor our performance and assess our biggest climate-related opportunities and risks to identify areas for improvement. This includes investing in solutions that we believe will enable us to achieve our GHG emissions reduction goal by 2030, such as:
- Increasing our reliance on renewable energy and lower carbon-footprint fuel sources, such as propane and natural gas;
- Improving transportation efficiencies for raw materials and finished goods;
- Installing more efficient, lower-emissions technologies to offset our energy-intensive operations; and
- Participating in power purchase agreements, which support the overall development of solar power infrastructure, and the purchase of carbon offsets to further our positive impacts.
In 2022, we completed several site-specific projects to support energy efficiency improvements, including:
- Moving an air compressor to a heated area at our Black Lab Serena, Illinois, facility to limit fuel usage;
- Upgrading exterior lighting at our Black Lab Chardon, Ohio, facility to high-efficiency LED bulbs that can now run on a timer;
- Replacing aging and inefficient air compressors at our Hephzibah, Georgia, and Lampazos, Nuevo León, plants with new, energy-efficient compressors; and
- Insulating the maintenance building at our Troy Grove, Illinois, facility to reduce the amount of energy required for heating and cooling.
Additionally, we continue to look for validated ways to automate data collection, reducing the risk of human error in our reporting and promoting data-driven decisions with the highest degree of reliability possible.
