Reaching a climate neutral state means that the global warming impacts of aluminum production will be fully offset by the amount of carbon dioxide emissions saved by its use in the transportation industry.
The announcement came at The Conference Board's 2005 Business and Sustainability Conference at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. The world's largest business membership organization, The Conference Board is comprised of a global network of nearly 2,000 enterprises in 61 countries.
"Given the great attributes of aluminum -- it is easy to recycle, strong and yet lightweight -- the industry will be able to reach a climate neutral state by 2017," said Randall M. Overbey, president, Alcoa Primary Metals Development.
"As Alcoa leads this change, we will share our learnings with others as part of our climate change initiatives so that we can leverage the knowledge," Overbey said. The company has already met and is maintaining its 2010 goal of reducing GHG emissions by 25% from 1990 levels.
In his presentation, "Sustainability: What More Should Companies Do?" Overbey announced numerous other leadership steps to which Alcoa has committed including:
- Commissioning the engineering to expand the company's North America capacity and flexibility for recycling aluminum
- Investing in more efficient turbines for the company's hydroelectric systems and pursuing more green power technologies
- Working in various forums with customers, competitors, non-governmental organizations and others to further advance the use of aluminum in vehicles
- Launching campaigns to educate employees, communities and civic leaders on the benefits of recycling, the positive influence of aluminum in vehicles and the dangers of global warming. The campaigns will include steps that all stakeholders can take to positively impact these issues.
