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Environment

Environment

    All employees of AF shall have a fundamental understanding and acceptance of the idea that the impact on the environment must be minimised. AF's ongoing environmental work starts at the project and business unit level where environmental aspects are identified and ranked. Together with statutes, regulations and specific contractual requirements, these analyses form the basis for project and unit goals for the external environment.

    All business units at AF are measured, in addition to specific parameters related to the environmental impact: Source Separation Rate and Greenhouse Gas Emissions. These measurement parameters clarify AF's environmental profile, and are quantities we can influence. AF is at all times prepared to minimise any harm to the environment if an undesired incident with a pollution potential were to take place. The incident will be subsequently analysed in order to establish preventive barriers for future projects.

    AF's management system for environmental work follows the principles in the environmental standard ISO 14001. In 2016, the Group became a control member of Green Dot, an international scheme that is to help ensure the financing of return schemes for used packaging.

    Waste management

    AF manages waste by designing and planning projects so that as little waste as possible is generated, and such that the waste that does arise is of a type that to the greatest possible extent may be sorted and recycled. The source separation rate indicates how much of the waste from operations is separated for the purpose of facilitating recycling. In 2016, the source separation rate for building was 85% (84%), for renovation it was 79% (87%) and for demolition it was 97% (96%). A total of 507,198 tonnes (319,225 tonnes) were separated at source. These results are considered good, and they are well above the statutory requirement of 60 per cent.

    Climate

    AF's impact on climate is measured continuously in the form of the volume of greenhouse gas emissions in tonnes of CO2 equivalents. A CO2 equivalent is a unit that is used for comparison of the effects of various greenhouse gases on the climate. AF’s climate accounts show that the consumption of diesel in the use of construction machinery accounts for the greatest share of greenhouse gas emissions. Among other things, we work to reduce emissions by replacing machines on an ongoing basis, so that we have a modern fleet of machinery with lower emissions at any given time.

     Greater environment awareness gives us new business opportunities

    AF has chosen a commercial approach to the increasing environmental challenges and scarcity of resources in society. The three business areas, Environment, Offshore and Energy are all based on services that solve environmental challenges. The need for the removal of offshore installations in a safe and environmentally sound manner was decisive for the establishment of AF’s offshore demolition activities and the Environmental Base at Vats. The environmental base outside of Haugesund is one of Europe's most modern reception facilities for decommissioned offshore installations.

    The establishment of environmental centres in Trondheim and in Eastern Norway are another example of the development of future-oriented services that resolve environmental challenges. Using new environmental technology, AF's environmental centres decontaminate and recycle 80% of contaminated materials that otherwise would have ended up directly at a disposal site. The goal of AF is to continue to create competitiveness and develop the operations in accordance with the needs of society for sustainable development.

    Clients, home buyers and tenants of commercial properties are placing constantly more stringent environmental requirements on new buildings.  AF has delivered several buildings that are BREEAM classified. BREEAM-NOR is the leading tool in Norway for the environmental classification of buildings. Certification is based on documented environmental performance.