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.

His Excellency Dr. Thani Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment of the United Arab Emirates, and business leaders today attended an event held by Emirates Global Aluminium on re-using industrial wastes. The event was held under the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment’s ‘UAE Toward Cleaner Production’ initiative to reduce UAE industry’s impacts on the environment and improve its global competitiveness.

At the event, HE Al-Zeyoudi recognised EGA, Eco Cem Industrial Ecology, Eco Industrial Solutions, JK Cement Works, Lafarge Emirates Cement, Pioneer Cement Industries, Union Cement Company, and Star Cement for their pioneering work since 2010 to re-use a waste from aluminium smelting in cement manufacturing. 

Last year EGA supplied over 37,000 tonnes of spent pot lining to UAE cement plants, more than its average annual production. For cement plants, spent pot lining is a source of energy and refractory materials which survive high temperatures and become part of the cement and reduces the requirements for fresh natural resources including quarried rocks and fuel. 

Under UAE Vision 2021, the UAE Government wants to ensure sustainable development whilst preserving the environment. One measure of success is the proportion of waste that is treated including through recycling. 

H.E. Dr. Thani Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi said: “We are very proud of the remarkable achievement of EGA and its cement industry partners. They have set an example of how industries can work together to make waste productive rather than a problem. With creativity and cooperation, one industry’s waste can be another industry’s feedstock. This will benefit our industries and help preserve our environment while strengthening the global concept of circular economy.” 

Abdulla Kalban, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said: “All industries produce materials that we currently call ‘wastes’. If we think differently, in future there will be no such thing as waste, just by-products with other uses. In the longer term everything is recyclable. We just need to find the right recycling solution.” 

The event also witnessed an innovation lab to explore innovative ideas for sustainable consumption and production, engaging materials manufacturers as producers, and construction and real estate companies as consumers. 

The global aluminium industry produces over 1 million tonnes of the waste, spent pot lining, each year according to industry experts. Much is stored indefinitely, and outside the UAE some is even sent to landfill.

EGA has adopted a recycle-reuse-reduce philosophy to minimise waste generation and has an on-going aim of zero process waste to landfill.

Over 80 per cent of the waste EGA generates at its Jebel Ali smelter is now recycled, as is over half of the waste from its smelter at Al Taweelah.

Earlier this year, EGA became the first Middle East-headquartered aluminium company to join the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, a global programme to foster greater sustainability and transparency in the aluminium industry. 

In close coordination with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment and the Prime Minister’s Office, EGA completed in February a Government Accelerators project to reduce nitrogen oxides emissions from its power plants in 100 days. Within this short period, EGA managed to reduced its NOx emissions by 16%, beyond the 10% target of the Accelerators. This is equivalent to removing 450,000 cars from the UAE’s roads.

EGA is the largest industrial company in the UAE outside oil and gas.

For more information, please visit EGA: https://www.ega.ae/en/media/newsdetail/?id=6121