April 22, 2022
Alcoa Foundation continues legacy of investing for impact with environmental giving
The Alcoa Foundation has been at the forefront of helping communities for 70 years and continues its legacy by investing for impact. Since 2017 the foundation has awarded $18.57 million in environmental grants to 65 partners.
With its nonprofit partners, the foundation contributes to programs that protect and preserve the environment and promote equitable access to education and skills-building opportunities. Many partnerships are long-standing and span decades. As a result, the foundation has provided critical support to programs that provide environmental and social benefits through biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation and adaptation.
“These long-standing partnerships demonstrate how Alcoa Foundation works to protect and preserve the environment,” said Rosa M. Garcia Pineiro, Alcoa Vice President of Sustainability and Alcoa Foundation President.
Approximately half the foundation’s annual grants go to environmental projects.
From monitoring air quality, funding critical research about climate change to restoring habitats the Alcoa Foundation lives its mission to invest where Alcoa has a presence, partnering with communities to address local needs in a sustainable manner.
As part of Earth month, we’re proudly spotlighting a few of our nonprofit partners and the important work they’re driving forward in the communities Alcoans call home.
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International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
The foundation’s newest environmental grant is $1.5 million (USD) to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, which will fund a three-year project in Iceland and Brazil. The research will investigate how ecosystem restoration projects can successfully contribute to biodiversity and community benefits under different environments and social contexts. Learn more.
Greening Australia
This partnership began with a seedling and has since grown and been sustained by Alcoa Foundation for 40 years.
In 1982, Alcoa volunteers helped lend support to a Greening Australia tree seedling giveaway. Today, the partnership between Alcoa Foundation and Greening Australia is recognized as the longest community/business partnership in Australia.
From the One Million Trees project that restored degraded habitats and captured thousands of tons of CO2 in the Australian states of Victoria and Western Australia to the more recent Helping the Harvey River project in the south-west of Western Australia, the partnership continues to deliver far reaching results.
Alcoa Foundation continued the partnership with Greening Australia and has funded several impactful environmental grants. The Helping the Harvey River project forms part of the larger Three Rivers, One Estuary initiative. The Alcoa Foundation has invested more than $3.3 million (USD) since 2017. The multi-year project is improving the health and biodiversity of key waterways in the Peel region of Western Australia. The Nature Conservancy and the Peel-Harvey Catchment Council are other key initiative partners.
The initiative, which has so far engaged more than 3,000 individuals and 100 community groups, is not only providing environmental benefits but also economic and social benefits to the area and its residents.
Michael Gollschewski, Alcoa of Australia Vice President of Operations Alcoa Foundation Board member, said partnerships, like the one with Greening Australia, demonstrated the company’s longstanding commitment to the environment.
“We are proud to have worked alongside one of Australia’s premier environmental organizations from its very beginnings, forging the nation’s longest community-business partnership and in doing so delivering significant environmental outcomes ranging from leadership and research to on-ground action and education,” Mr Gollschewski said.
Earthwatch Institute
Since its first grant from the Alcoa Foundation in 2002, the Earthwatch Institute has sent 373 Alcoa employees to 30 countries as citizen scientists and sustainability champions to help scientists researching climate change. Seven Alcoa employees are currently monitoring air quality and pollution in their own communities.
As citizen scientists, the employees have provided 15,520 hours of research and contributed to work published in more than 800 peer-reviewed journals and more than 550 general scientific publications.
“Alcoa employees come from all over the world and a variety of positions, from an office administrator in central Europe to a factory manager at a plant in western Australia. It’s a wonderful combination of roles,” says Anna Woodroof, environmental education manager and sustainability specialist at Earthwatch. “We enjoy working with them because they’re always very curious.”
Earthwatch expeditions also offer education on sustainability and encourage participants to set up programs in their own communities and workplaces. When the coronavirus pandemic halted international travel, Earthwatch had to cancel expeditions and pivot to a new online program called “Operation Healthy Air.”
In 2021, Earthwatch educated 118 Alcoa employees on air quality and pollution, including strategies for monitoring and improving air quality. Around Earth Day, Alcoa employees provided 300 photos to measure air quality in a project called “Snap the Skies.” Seven employees later became air quality champions and set up monitoring stations in their communities in the United States, Australia and Hungary. The monitors continue to provide data to research scientists.
“When Earthwatch had to pivot due to the pandemic, the Alcoa Foundation took a chance on a new pilot program,” Woodroof says. “It would not have been possible for us to stay afloat without foundations like the Alcoa Foundation.”
Currently, the Alcoa Foundation is underwriting field research on climate change in the Mackenzie Mountains of Canada’s Northwest Territories. Because of ongoing concerns from the pandemic, the program will not engage international visitors but will instead be led by two research scientists who will engage nearby residents in the research.
“The scientists will collect much needed and valuable research data and the community members will learn about the science in their backyard,” Woodroof explains.
Soil Conservation Service of Iceland Heath Restoration
A $300,000 grant from the Alcoa Foundation in 2020 launched an ecosystem restoration project on a heath in northeast Iceland. Erosion on large escarpments threatened the loss of soil near the Hareksstaoaheioi heath and the release of its carbon into the air. The grant covered the cost of machinery to level the eroding slopes and plant the 104-acre site with hay to begin the restoration project that will be carried out by the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland. The project’s benefits include ecosystem restoration, improved air quality, climate mitigation, grazing for nearby sheep farms and community enhancement.
Uapishka Research Station | Reserve Mondiale de la Biosphere Manicouagan-Uapishka
The Alcoa Foundation has supported a renewable energy research and education project at the Uapishka Research Station near Baie-Comeau, Quebec since 2018. Annual grants have helped the remote research station in Canada become less dependent on fossil fuels like diesel and propane and more energy independent through wind and solar power as well as more efficient wood heating.
The station’s clean energy and heat production systems aim to be a scientific showcase and set an example in the fight against climate change. Research focuses on what can be done in isolated and unique environments such as the station’s location in the Manicouagan-Uapishka UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.
Uapishka Station is a partnership between the Pessamit Innu Council and the Manicouagan-Uapishka World Biosphere Reserve. Consistent with its mission as a scientific research station and its educational mandate, the project not only aims to achieve full energy autonomy for the research station but also create awareness on climate change.
Jura Protected Area | Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente da Amazonia
A $447,000 grant from the Alcoa Foundation helped launch efforts to protect 12,155 acres of Amazon River forest near Juruti, Pará. The Brazilian forest also includes a lake that provides drinking water to more than 50,000 people.
The grant financed a technical study, a development plan and a management plan for a recreation area with a visitors’ center and other educational and recreational offerings.
Alcoa Foundation believes that partnerships and collaboration are fundamental to achieving results.
“We’re proud to provide funding and support to best-in-class nonprofit organizations who are recognized for their impact and reputation and would like to thank our partners for the critical work that they do to make the world a better place,” Garcia Pineiro said.