Alcoa -- Human Rights

Human Rights

Respect for human rights and the interests, cultures, customs and values of employees and communities is embedded in our Alcoa Values.

Our commitment to support the United Nations Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights and the International Labour Organization Core Conventions are incorporated into our Human Rights Policy. We strive to ensure this commitment is exemplified by our actions and from our employees, suppliers and business partners. If we become aware of any potential violations to our policy, we act quickly and decisively.

Our Human Rights Policy operates in conjunction with the following:

Alcoa Code of Conduct and employee training, both of which cover human rights
Indigenous Peoples Policy
Social Policy
Supplier Standards, which explicitly indicate respect of human rights
Internal and third-party supplier assessment programs for new and existing suppliers
Equal Employment Opportunity Policy
Harassment and Bullying Free Workplace Policy
Integrity Line for employees, suppliers and the general public to report potential violations or concerns

The Alcoa Human Rights Council is sponsored at the executive level of Alcoa and includes representatives from each key resource unit and each region where we have operations. The council meets monthly and provides feedback to the sponsors twice a year to keep our Executive Team informed on human rights activities.

In 2021, the council focused its efforts on developing our Human Rights Management Standard to operationalize the Human Rights Policy and define clear roles and responsibilities for different layers of the organization. We updated the council’s charter to reflect its ownership of the policy and new standard as well as the responsibility to oversee the standard’s implementation.

To have a structured approach to deploy the standard, the council developed a three-year implementation plan. The plan ensures that the right level of due diligence is applied across all company functions and external interactions.

Over the last three years, we conducted human rights impact assessments (HRIAs) at 17 of the 19 locations we operate worldwide.

Indigenous Peoples
We recognize and respect the diversity, cultures, customs and values of Indigenous and other Land-Connected Peoples where we operate, and we acknowledge their needs, concerns and aspirations regarding their heritage and traditions. We acknowledge that some of our operations are located in the homelands of Indigenous and Land-Connected Peoples and that, over the long history of our operations and through generations representing varying and increasing levels of cultural awareness, we have affected the rights and lives of those people in ways we might not fully appreciate or understand.

In 2020, we reflected on our approach to Indigenous and Land-Connected Peoples and updated our Indigenous Peoples Statement to an Indigenous Peoples Policy to demonstrate our company-wide commitment to these efforts.

As part of our work to fully implement a social management system at all locations by the end of 2022, we have developed the following global standards for engaging with Indigenous and Land-Connected Peoples and managing cultural heritage:

Indigenous and Land-Connected Peoples Standard: This standard requires locations to identify Indigenous and Land-Connected Peoples, undertake a fit-for-purpose social and economic baseline assessment, and create a culturally appropriate engagement plan. Other requirements include demonstrating free, prior and informed consent and shared value creation.

Cultural Heritage Management Standard: Our standard on cultural heritage management requires locations to identify cultural heritage values and potential impacts and risks with communities, develop a cultural heritage management plan and ensure the community can access places of significance so traditions can be maintained.

These standards will drive consistency in our approach across our operations, strengthen our practices to work more constructively with Indigenous and Land-Connected Peoples, and ensure that we align with ICMM’s Indigenous Peoples and Mining Statement.

Download the plan.

Learn more in the full 2021 Alcoa Sustainability Report.