United Arab Emirates, 20 December 2023 – Emirates Global Aluminium, the world's largest 'premium aluminium' producer and the biggest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, has become the first aluminium producer and the first Middle East company to join the Sea Cargo Charter.

The Sea Cargo Charter sets a global framework to assess and disclose the climate alignment of ship chartering activities to reduce the annual greenhouse gas emission of global shipping to net zero by around 2050, in line with the goals of the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency responsible for regulating global shipping.

EGA ships some 22 million tonnes of aluminium, bauxite and raw materials around the world each year. While the production of raw materials accounts for the bulk of EGA’s scope 3 emissions, global shipping accounts for a meaningful proportion.

The global shipping industry as a whole was responsible for two per cent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said: “The aluminium EGA produces plays an essential role in the development of a more sustainable society. It is also important how sustainably it is produced, and this includes shipping raw materials to our production sites and bauxite and metal to our customers worldwide. EGA has committed to reaching net zero by 2050, including from our supply chain. Joining the Sea Cargo Charter will enable us to further improve our performance and achieve our goal to reach net zero from supply chain activities.”

Eman Abdalla, Sea Cargo Charter Vice Chair, and Global Operations Director at Cargill, said: “We are pleased to have EGA as the first global aluminium producer and Middle East industrial company to join the Sea Cargo Charter. The journey to more sustainable shipping starts with a commitment to transparency, a unified methodology, and emissions reporting. We hope EGA’s example inspires other participants in the aluminium industry to follow a similar path towards carbon emissions transparency in their supply chain.”

In 2022, EGA signed an agreement with one of its shipping partners, “K” Line to develop and implement new marine decarbonisation technologies suitable for EGA’s bulk cargo shipping routes in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean.