Serving the Earth: the example of carbon

On this December 8, International Climate Day, I am proud to launch the first contribution in a new series, “Serving the Earth, from raison d’être to raison d’agir”. As Managing Director, I want to bear regular witness to the sincere commitment of the men and women at Avril, for those of you who follow our news.

“Serving the Earth” guides our strategic decisions through the filter of our six commitments, and translates into concrete measures that we implement on a daily basis. Decarbonizing our activities is one of them, with the ambition of reducing our direct and indirect emissions by at least 30% by 2030.

That’s why, a few months ago, I decided to accelerate our progress by doubling the value of our internal carbon price from 50 to 100 euros per tonne of CO2. The aim was to help us make investment decisions more favorable to renewable energies, clean technologies and sustainable practices.

This voluntary mechanism, which monetizes the economic cost of GHG emissions, was introduced within the Group in 2022. Since then, it has proven its relevance in steering our investments towards low-carbon solutions. More than a dozen of our main industrial investment projects, representing a total of around 125 million euros, have already been evaluated according to this criterion. These include Oleon’s Houston (USA) site, and Saipol’s Grand-Couronne, Lezoux and Sète sites.
No need to wait for new regulations! This decision anticipates the implementation of the recommendations of the European Union and the Stratégie Nationale Bas-Carbone, which advocate a price of around €100 per tonne of CO2, in line with the European Union’s emissions trading policies and global climate objectives.

Because beyond our raison d’être, Serving the Earth is a reason for action for the 7,500 men and women of Avril, every day we innovate by proposing sustainable solutions to accompany the agricultural, food and environmental transitions. See you soon to discover a new initiative from our Group.

Jean-Philippe PUIG, Managing Director, Avril SCA.