NEWS - Altran

news
altran CommuniCAtion
Altitude ’s
wearing green
Altran’s science and technology magazine has
existed in its current form for almost five years,
and its first 12 issues were printed on
environmentally friendly offset paper.
Altitude is refreshing its feel for this 13th
publication in honour of its theme.
Our paper and printing will now be PEFC
certified. This is an eco-label dedicated to
sustainable forest management.
The logo, affixed on a wood or wood-based
product, guarantees that the product is made of
wood from sustainably managed forests that are
PEFC (Program for the Endorsement of Forest
Certification schemes) certified for the entire
printing process—from the forest to the printer.
More information at www.pefc.org
GreenHouse eFFeCt
australia ratifies
the Kyoto protocol
The Australian Prime
Minister Kevin Rudd’s
first act of office was to
ratify the Kyoto Protocol
on December 3, 2007. Up
until then, Australia and
the United States were
the only two industrialised
countries that hadn’t yet
ratified the protocol. In
signing the agreement,
Australia commits, during
the phase running from
2008 to 2012, to reducing
DR
greenhouse gas emissions
by 5.2% in comparison to
levels recorded in 1990.
According to data submitted
to the secretariat of the
United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) by the
signatories, the 40 most
industrialised countries
once again increased their
greenhouse gas emissions
(GGE) in 2005. On the
decline from 1990 to 2000,
altran trAnsportAtion
an electricity miracle in Jerusalem
Cities increasingly
constitute the front line
of defence in protecting
the environment, but
not merely through
mitigating measures
taken only when
pollution reaches
alarming levels. In
an effort to decrease the environmental impact of public
transportation and to encourage residents to leave their cars at
home, the municipality of Jerusalem has invested in a tramway
network, a means of electric transport that reduces CO 2
emissions.
To reduce its traffic congestion, the Sacred City has turned to
Alstom, for whom Altran implements traffic and security systems.
This solution has allowed the city to reduce atmospheric and
sound pollution, and Altran will be doing the same for Algiers’
metro system, in a city famous for its overburdened streets.
the emissions began
rising again between 2000
and 2005. Greenhouse
gas emissions reached
18.2 billion tons in 2005,
compared to 17.7 billion
in 2000. Australia alone
experienced a rise of almost
26% in emissions between
1990 and 2005.
GraphicObsession
altran Anti-wAste
small drops maKe
an ocean
The employees of the EILiS (Energy,
Industry and Life Sciences) perimeter
at Altran’s headquarters are, naturally,
receptive to sustainable development
and have decided to lead the effort
through a campaign of humorous
posters urging everyone to help out
by reducing motor transport, energy
consumption and paper waste, thanks
to a few easy tricks and fun facts and
figures. An initiative to copy… front
and back!
number
3,500
trees planted
part of altran’s 2008
resolutions is to actively
support the flagship initiative
of united nations
environment programme
(unep): plant for the planet.
in teaming up with the green
Belt movement, altran has
planted 3,500 trees so far.
For more information:
www.greenbeltmovement.org
In Nature magazine, Valier Galy and Christian
France-Lanord from the Petrographic and
Geographic Research Centre in Nancy (CNRS-
INSU) explain that the Himalayas contribute to
reducing the amount of carbon in the earth’s
atmosphere over a very long period of time
(millions of years). The erosion of mountains
such as the Himalayas causes huge quantities of
organic matter to be transported to the ocean.
During photosynthesis, atmospheric CO 2 helps
produce organic molecules, which mostly take
plant form. This organic matter oxidises in the
soil, returning to the atmosphere in the form of
CO 2 . However, some of it is swept to the ocean,
and then buried in sediment at the bottom. Over
time, this process of burying organic carbon
captures CO 2 from the atmosphere. The study
shows that in the Himalayas, three-fourths of
new organic material is transported and buried
in sediments deposited in the Bay of Bengal.
Since CO 2 is a greenhouse gas,
this CO 2 “capture” in the Himalayas can
contribute to climate cooling.
04 Altitude n°13 / april 2008 Altitude n°13 /april 2008 05
© Clément Perrotte
DR
CLimAte
are the himalayas
cooling the climate?