Swiss industry emits around 0.6 million tonnes more CO2 than previously reported – an amount that corresponds to just over one percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in the country. The reason for this is a laughing gas source in Valais, more precisely in Visp. There poses Lonza Vitamin niacin for almost 50 years.
But only two years ago, thanks to modern measuring devices, the chemical and pharmaceutical company received the first indications of an unknown emission source during a check. It is now clear that it is nitrous oxide. About the case Federal Office for the Environment (Bafu) and Lonza informed on Monday.
Lonza “deeply regrets the situation” but is not aware of any guilt. Nitrous oxide emissions are not regulated in the Air Pollution Control Ordinance because they are considered to be harmless to health. For this reason, the company did not look for it.
However, due to its properties, laughing gas has considerable greenhouse potential. Lonza describes itself as the global market leader in the production of niacin. A second production site is located in China, but a different process is used there.
The Bafu explains that the emissions were overlooked by saying that apart from Lonza, no one in Europe has experience with the production of the vitamin. The measuring station on the Jungfraujoch did not show the laughing gas source either, says Andrea Burkhardt, head of the department climate at the Bafu. Why is unclear.
According to Burkhardt, topographical reasons may have played a role: Visp in the Valais main valley, the measuring station at over 3000 meters, shielded by high mountains.
The case highlights an important building block in climate policy: greenhouse gas accounting. It is not the Bafu or any other authority that collects emissions from large industrial plants such as Lonza’s. Rather, it is the companies themselves that report the values to the Bafu. It is therefore not out of the question for further climate corpses to appear, as Burkhardt admits: “Climate balances always only show the sources we know about.”
“If Lonza hadn’t said anything, the emission would hardly have been discovered.”Christian Zeyer, Swisscleantech
So how reliable is climate accounting? The association swisscleantech calls for an analysis of the situation. “The federal government has to find out where any similar processes are still undiscovered,” says managing director Christian Zeyer. There are probably not very many plants that could be used.
The Bafu does not comment on this. However, it points out that for companies like Lonza there is a duty to monitor, which is also checked occasionally by independent experts. The greenhouse gas inventory is also checked regularly by an international UN review team.
Zeyer is not astonished by the age of the Lonza facility at the find, and he praises Lonza for the transparency that it has produced: “But you can also expect that from a well-run company.” Lonza said nothing, the emission would hardly have been discovered. »
A new catalyst should fix it
Lonza has committed to the Bafu to install a catalyst in the plant by the end of 2021 at the latest – an 18-meter tower that is intended to reduce nitrous oxide emissions by at least 98 percent. Lonza submitted the building application at the end of November 2019, and the building permit has been available since the end of January. The cost of the investment: CHF 12 million.
The next greenhouse gas inventory – that for 2018 – will be published in April. According to Lonza, it is no longer possible to reconstruct exactly how much additional greenhouse gas has escaped into the air since the 1970s. Nobody currently dares to make an estimate.
One thing is certain: Switzerland’s climate balance will deteriorate as a result of the find. So it will be more difficult to achieve the 2020 climate target: a 20 percent CO2 reduction compared to 1990, with measures taken only at home. The currently available data from 2017 show a decrease of 12 percent to date. Bafu expert Andrea Burkhardt does not dare to predict whether Switzerland can meet the target.
Created: 02/10/2020, 07:10 PM
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