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Key Challenges
Climate Change
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Environment Overview

 Operating in a manner that protects and promotes the health and well-being of the environment is a core value to Alcoa.

We have been widely recognized by government and non-governmental agencies around the world for our environmental stewardship, and this success is driven by our people. Our business leaders understand the critical importance of minimizing impacts and maximizing opportunities related to the environment in the products we offer and the processes and operations required to manufacture them. Our strategic direction and execution on environmental objectives are supported by a talented group of professionals worldwide, backed by numerous relationships with external experts in areas key to our operations.

In 2001, we developed an initial set of long-range goals to be achieved by 2020, with routine measurement to track our progress. We updated these goals in early 2006 as part of a larger initiative to enhance Alcoa’s sustainability framework.

The goals were meant to be aggressive; they were not intended to be easily achieved just for the sake of positive communications. They were developed to stimulate designing for the environment during process optimization and growth projects, which requires technical innovation and collaboration. While this approach is more difficult and costly, we believe it will allow us to manage the uncertainty of ever-changing environmental regulations and, more importantly, justify our being a company of choice for future growth opportunities around the world.

With the exception of reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), we made positive progress on all of our environmental goals in 2008, most notably the further reduction of landfilled waste and greenhouse gases. In 2009, the full impact of some key projects, such as our state-of-the-art scrubber system at our Evansville, Indiana (USA), power plant, should result in significant improvement in sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions and water use.

Our major challenges remain the reduction of mercury emissions from our refineries and the reduction of freshwater consumption. While we incrementally made progress on both of these targets in 2008, we continue to research innovative methods for achieving better results.

The foundation of our performance continues to be our corporate-level environment, health, and safety (EHS) management system, which was certified to the ISO 14001 standard for the fifth year in a row in 2008. We’ve also deployed new environmental compliance management software, bringing additional focus on compliance risk identification and elimination.

A Note Regarding Resource Efficiency Targets
While we prefer establishing aggressive targets, it is clear from the following table that we did not, or will not, meet some of the targets we established under the resource efficiency focus area. We are revising our strategy for each of these issues and modifying the goals or timeline to achieve them in light of technical challenges and the current economic conditions that will limit funds for research and development. Where revised targets are known, the revisions are indicated in the following table. One target (raw material use) will be eliminated.

The analysis of our environmental targets must reflect the current economic condition, where substantial investments in the near-term must be very carefully scrutinized in light of the focus to remain economically viable.

In 2009, we also will begin to incorporate the use of data reported in terms relative to production for key processes or businesses. Where appropriate, we will also provide comparisons to credible industry benchmarks.


2020 Framework Environmental Goals
TargetMetricProgress Achieved Through Year-End 2008
Increase recycling of aluminum 25% recycled aluminum content in fabricated products by 2010; 50% by 2020 Ratio of purchased scrap to total fabricated product shipments was 25%. However, the total amount of recycled metal in our products is somewhat lower since a portion of the purchased scrap would have been included in primary ingot sold to third parties.
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Increase the North American used beverage can recycling rate to 75% by 2015 54%
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Improve resource use to reduce environmental "footprint" From base year 2005:
10% reduction in selected material use by 2010
  • 2006: Collect data
  • 2007: Commence reporting
 Given the dynamic variability in our operations and the materials used, a single material use reduction target has proven to be suboptimal. Therefore, this target will be eliminated. However, many of our other initiatives (e.g., water reduction, emission reduction, and inert anode technology) will also reduce relative material use rates.
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From base year 2000:
50% reduction in landfill waste by 2007; 75% reduction by 2010; 100% reduction by 2015		 52%
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Reduce energy intensity by 10% by 2010 We continue to pursue several production transformation projects that, if successful, will allow us to reduce energy.
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60% reduction in process water by 2009; 70% by 2010 28%
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From base year 1990:
25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2010. Assuming success with the inert anode technology, a 50% reduction by 2010 		36%
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Practice cleaner production to reduce environmental emissions/impacts From base year 2000:
60% reduction in sulfur dioxide (SO2) by 2010		 33%
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50% reduction in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by 2008; 60% reduction by 2010 49%
(This goal will be revised to reflect reduction potential at the facilities remaining after the sale of Alcoa’s packaging business in 2008.)
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30% reduction in nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 2007; 50% reduction by 2010; 85% reduction by 2015 52%
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80% reduction in mercury emissions by 2008; 90% reduction by 2010; 95% reduction by 2015 23%
(The timeline to achieve an 80% reduction will be revised to 2020.)
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Zero process water discharge by 2020 Initial efforts to control process water are being managed through the process water reduction target.
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Climate Change



Read about Alcoa's commitment and actions regarding global climate change.
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Earthwatch Diaries



Read the diaries of Alcoa employees participating in Earthwatch research projects throughout the world.
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