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Key Issues
Each of Alcan's key sustainability
issues has relevance, in varying degrees, to all our
business groups. Those with the largest impact in the
Primary Metal group are:
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Energy Consumption:
Aluminum smelting is an energy-intensive industry.
Alcan has an extensive owned hydroelectric power
network that is renewable, cost effective and non-polluting.
In locations where hydroelectric power is not feasible,
coal-fired and thermal sources are used. |
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Climate Change: The
Primary Metal Group is the business group responsible
for the largest quantity of greenhouse gas emissions,
primarily CO2 and PFCs. |
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Natural Resources:
Our group's primary impact on natural resources
arises from operation of hydroelectric generating
facilities and associated dams and reservoirs, often
in remote areas. These projects have a range of
impacts (both positive and negative) on water levels,
the quantity and quality of water in impoundments
and streams, fish and other wildlife habitat, recreational
activities and other economic uses of water resources.
Our facilities also have local impacts on land use. |
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Community Development:
Alcan's smelting activities have often been the
catalyst for community growth in remote areas, representing
a major employer in the area. In the case of a smelter
closure, the group works in close cooperation with
local stakeholders to evaluate the best opportunities
to minimize impacts on employees and the community's
continued survival. |
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Well-being: Employee
and community health and safety is a key concern
in the Primary Metal group, considering the environmental
releases associated with the smelting process and
the risks of working in an industrial environment. |
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Environmental Releases:
Smelters generate air, water and land emissions
that can be minimized with appropriate equipment
and processes. For example, the storage, disposal
and treatment of spent potlining (SPL), a waste
residue of the smelting process, has long been
a critical environmental issue for the industry.
Over a five- to eight-year period, various chemicals
accumulate in the lining of the pots used to produce
aluminum. When the lining is replaced, the removed
material (SPL) must be treated or stored according
to government regulations.
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) represent
another possible source of environmental emissions,
especially in Söderberg smelters with horizontal
stud technology. Some PAH compounds have carcinogenic
potential when present in high concentrations.
Significant advances have been made in the past
decade to reduce emissions from all sources as
outlined in this report.
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