Lafarge has been authorized by the French government to launch the first French project to apply the ’clean development’ mechanism contained in the Kyoto protocol on climate change.  The group is to build a wind farm at one of its cement works in Morocco. The ’clean development’ mechanism allows companies in industrialized countries to gain CO2 credits from investments carried out abroad. It is based on the principle that any reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is beneficial to the climate, whatever the location.