GHG Emissions  -  April 28, 2021

Sustainability = Savings at Lefarge’s Winnipeg Cement Terminal

Due to its low-carbon practices, concrete company Lefarge’s Winnipeg location has not seen costs rise - even though Canada’s Federal Carbon Tax is steadily increasing.

“Despite rising electricity costs and Federal Carbon Taxes being implemented in January 2019 and 2020, we haven’t seen an increase in our costs or emissions,” said Greg Suderman, Winnipeg Terminal & Sales Manager, in a statement. 

Canada’s Federal Carbon Tax charges businesses according to the carbon they emit. While in January 2019 the tax was $20/ton, it rose to $30/ton in January 2020 and is scheduled to increase each year. 

The tax’s goal is to reduce energy consumption (and ensuing emissions) from organizations. The Winnipeg Cement Terminal got a head start - it’s been upgrading to higher efficiency equipment and lighting since 2017. 2020 saw several more energy-saving measures.

“We changed out old lighting fixtures in the silo, bag shed, high bay, and roadway to reduce our energy consumption and increase safety,” says Suderman. “We also worked with Manitoba Hydro to complete a compressed air audit - and that led us to switch out to low-pressure compressors. And with the upcoming increases to the carbon tax, it’s absolutely worth it, in every way.”

As a result, the Winnipeg location avoided increasing its operations costs in 2020 - a particular achievement, considering both the Carbon Emissions Tax and the rising cost of electricity in the area. 

“Looking at our operations through the lens of sustainability tells us that we’ve got to keep an eye on the basics,” said Cory Cannon, Vice President of Lefarge’s Sales & Logistics West Cement Division. “Making easy, relatively small changes has a big impact on our sustainability goals. It doesn’t have to be intimidating or complicated.”