EGA first In Middle East to join Global Aluminium Sustainability Initiative

United Arab Emirates, 23 February 2017: Emirates Global Aluminium has become the first Middle East-headquartered aluminium company to join the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, which brings the world’s leading mining and metals companies together with household-name aluminium customers to set global standards for governance, environmental and social responsibility.

EGA has invested almost $1 billion since 2010 in environmental technologies and facilities to reduce and manage its emissions and waste, and makes important social contributions including creating employment, spurring broader economic development and focusing on safety and worker welfare.

Existing members and supporters of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative include mining and metals companies such as Alcoa and Rio Tinto and high profile companies that use aluminium in their products from Apple to Audi, BMW, Coca Cola and Nespresso.

EGA is the largest industrial company in the UAE outside oil and gas. EGA’s aluminium is the biggest made-in-the-UAE export after oil and gas.

Abdulla Kalban, EGA’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer said: “Aluminium touches the lives of almost everyone on earth, and the impacts of making aluminium do too. Being a member of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative will enable us to share what we have learned about governance and environmental and social responsibility, as well improve our performance further.”

Fiona Solomon, Chief Executive Officer of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, said: “EGA is the largest aluminium producer in the Gulf, which has become an important global centre of aluminium production. We welcome EGA to the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative and the work we are doing to develop sustainability standards and a certification program for the entire aluminium value chain.”

EGA’s biggest contribution to environmental sustainability is the continuous improvement over decades of its core industrial processes.

EGA’s research and technology development focuses on reducing the amount of energy required to produce each tonne of aluminium, curbing both costs and emissions.

EGA’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2016, including power generation and desalination, were less than eight tonnes CO2 equivalent per tonne of aluminium, the level set out in the under-discussion first version of the Performance Standard of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative for existing smelters to meet by 2030.

The Aluminium Stewardship Initiative was launched in 2012 and aims to foster the responsible production, sourcing and stewardship of aluminium. ASI members, including producers, users and stakeholders, are defining global standards for performance and sourcing through the value chain.

The ASI certification programme, which is planned to be launched by the end of 2017, will provide independent third party assurance that participating companies are correctly reporting how they meet the global standards. Members will have two years from the launch of the ASI program to achieve certification against applicable requirements for at least one facility.