In 2019, European Aluminium was a leading actor in key EU policy areas, including trade, energy and climate, the circular economy and industrial policy.
In this section, you can discover more about our advocacy activities. You can also learn about two major voluntary initiatives designed by our industry's to shape the low-carbon economy in the decades to come: the Sustainability Roadmap and the Innovation Hub
European Aluminium announced that Emilio Braghi, Senior Vice President and President at Novelis Europe, will replace Kjetil Ebbesberg (Hydro) as chairman on a two-year term starting 1 January 2019. In addition, Roberta Niboli (Raffmetal) was elected Vice Chair and Peter Basten (Constellium) as Treasurer at the 2018 General Assembly.
Read our Q&A with Emilio to find out more about our chairman.
With the support of CSR Europe, European Aluminium has assessed the sustainability ambitions from its Sustainability Roadmap Towards 2025 in respect of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Discover those SDGs where we can have the greatest impact in our report or by downloading our infographic.
Launched in 1990 and held every two years, the International Aluminium Recycling Congress is one of the leading aluminium recycling events today. This edition brought together over 160 participants – policy makers, decision makers of the recycling industry and media to discuss market trends, innovation, applications and the latest political developments in the field of aluminium recycling and the circular economy. The Congress also included a welcome cocktail & dinner in the Cité de l’Automobile and a field trip to the Constellium plant in Neuf-Brisach.
Visit the Congress website for more info.
European Aluminium received the gold award for “Best Lobbying or Advocacy Campaign” and won second place in the “Best Provision or Industry Information and Intelligence” category at the 2019 European Association Awards ceremony held in Brussels. The “Best Lobbying or Advocacy Campaign” award was for European Aluminium’s I+Manifesto campaign, which was launched in April 2018. The silver award for “Best Provision or Industry Information and Intelligence” was awarded to European Aluminium’s Environmental Profile Report.
Read our press release for more info.
With its recent publication on the EU mid-century strategy, the European Commission opened a thorough debate to ensure that the EU’s climate policy is in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement while aligning action in key areas such as industrial policy, finance, or research.
Vision 2050 is European Aluminium’s contribution to the debate, setting out different scenarios how the sector can contribute to the EU mid-century strategy and outlines the conditions necessary for the sector to realise its full potential for decarbonisation.
Click here to access the executive summary and full report.
As part of our Spring Meetings 2019, we organised a special members-only session to discuss the industry's blueprint for the next European Commission & European Parliament term (2019-2024) and beyond. Several of our members and guest speakers from WWF, FTI Consulting, the European Commission, and OECD presented their views on the EU's strategy to decarbonise the economy by 2050 and international market distortions in the aluminium value chain.
External speakers included:
Pictured: Moderator Martin Porter in discussion with Imke Luebekke and Mette Quinn
Over 70 safety experts from across the aluminium value chain took part in European Aluminium’s Safety Workshop on 12-13 June in Brussels, focused on the prevention of fatality and high-risk incidents and the creation of a solid safety culture. The Safety Solutions competition was won by a solution submitted by AluNorf, with the second and third places taken by two entries coming from a Hydro Extrusion facility in Poland. The winning entries targeted the safety of mobile and lifting equipment, which are "critical safety categories" for our sector. All 44 entries are available to view on our website.
About 60 experts from the aluminium industry, universities and research organisations met to discuss digitalisation for smart aluminium processes and product design. The workshop was co-organised by the NTNU Aluminium Product Innovation Centre (NAPIC) and our member company Hydro. It included more than 25 presentations addressing aluminium product design for structures and buildings as well as aluminium material and process modelling.
From 3-7 July, a huge Pixelcan wall depicting the face of former international cycling champion Eddy Merckx was built by visitors to the official Tour de France Fan Park. The wall was inaugurated by the Mayor of Brussels, Mr Philippe Close, the former French cycling champion Bernard Hinault and the President of Le Tour, Mr Christian Prudhomme. The Every Can Counts team was interviewed twice by regional and national TV and the report was broadcast during prime time. A picture gallery is available here.
On 19-20 September, the ESTAL Congress brought together experts on aluminium surface treatment in Istanbul. European Aluminium was represented by Bob Lambrechts, who spoke about the global trade system, and Bernard Gilmont, who presented the implications that the EU new policy agenda could have for the surface treatment sector.
Pictured: European Aluminium’s Bob Lambrechts speaking at the ESTAL Congress
A new study by DuckerFrontier commissioned by European Aluminium estimates that the average aluminium content of European-produced cars will have reached nearly 180kg in 2019, meaning a 20% increase since 2016. The study forecasts that the average aluminium content will further increase to almost 200kg per vehicle by 2025, in line with the most positive market forecasts made in 2016. The data also shows that electric and plugin hybrid vehicles use significantly more aluminium than the average car. See the study summary and the press release for more information.
To fully realise aluminium’s potential in Europe’s low carbon future, we launched our Aluminium Agenda 2019-2020, which features policy recommendations across four areas: trade, energy & climate, circular economy, and innovation. It also highlights two strategic documents which underpin our agenda for action: the I+Manifesto and Vision 2050.
Our General Assembly took place on 24 October, concluding the Autumn Meetings in Montreux, Switzerland. Distinguished guest Christophe Darbellay, Vice-President of the Valais State Council, Head of the Department of the Economy and Education, stressed the important role of the aluminium industry in the Valais region. On this occasion, European Aluminium presented awards to the three winners of the best safety solutions and welcomed three new members: Roba Metals, Aldel and Alcomet. In 2019, Alpolic & Alucoil also joined as new Associated Members in the Building Group.
Read the press release for more info.
Pictured: Christophe Darbellay, Vice-President of the Valais State Council, Head of the Department of the Economy and Education
European Aluminium contributed to the CEN workshop on 'Materials - value chains for circular economy’, focused on market and standardisation needs to enable the circular economy. European Aluminium joined the morning panel discussion on cross-sectoral needs for materials in circular value chains. We stressed the contribution of metals to the circular economy and the importance of connecting life cycle assessments and circularity in order to secure a sound strategy considering the environmental benefits associated with recycling.
Pictured: European Aluminium’s Bernard Gilmont at the CEN workshop
European Aluminium, with MEP Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou, Vice-Chair of the INTA committee, organised a roundtable discussion “How can the EU address global trade disruptions and the climate emergency while preserving its strategic value chain?”. Speakers included Rob van Gils, CEO of HAI and European Aluminium Executive Committee member, the OECD, the WTO and the European Commission, as well as five of our company members and two national associations. The event was well attended by MEPs and staff with an active role in trade dossiers, as well as five of our company members and two national associations. Both the European Commission and Members of the European Parliament supported our call for stronger enforcement of EU trade defence and a more proactive role at the WTO level. The European Commission recognised that there were not many measures related to aluminium and encouraged our industry to cooperate more closely with them to map unfair trade practices. Read our press release here for more info.
European Aluminium co-organised the ‘Building day’ as part of European Fire Safety Week and spoke about the role of standards for fire safety in the construction sector. This was an opportunity to show how innovative aluminium solutions, such as ventilated façade systems, satisfy the highest available fire-related standards, and to call for innovation to be encouraged in the EU Construction Products Regulation.
Pictured: European Aluminium’s Guido Sabatini presenting during ‘Building day’
As part of an outreach programme organised with Eurométaux, European Aluminium spoke at a round table event with Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), Karin Karlsbro and Lukas Mandel, about the circular economy. The debate raised the importance of aluminium for the circular economy and the need for the next EU action plan to improve smart design, limit the export of scrap, and create incentives for investment in collection and sorting technologies and infrastructures. The MEPs acknowledged the role of metals as a permanent material and encouraged the industry to be even more ambitious in contributing to the European Green Deal. In the evening, European Aluminium, alongside common members and representatives from other commodity associations, joined a dinner with more than 30 MEPs who were given an introduction to the study Metals for a Climate Neutral Europe.
Pictured: The Eurometaux and European Aluminium delegation in Strasbourg
The European Aluminium delegation included European Aluminium’s Director General Gerd Götz, Director Statistics, Market Intelligence & Trade Bob Lambrechts, and Executive Committee members Rob van Gils (HAI), Jack Govers (Aleris) and Egil Hogna (Hydro). On the Commission’s side, the Head of Cabinet and a service representative of DG Trade were also present.
The meeting was very constructive. The Commissioner showed a good understanding of the challenges our industry faces and expressed his willingness to take urgent action to defend the European aluminium industry against the harmful effects of Chinese subsidised excess capacity. Other topics on the agenda included our recommendation to maintain strict rules of origin, our position on the post-Brexit EU-UK trade relationship, our position on a carbon border adjustment and the need for a deep reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The Executive Committee members were able to give a lot of business examples illustrating how the Chinese approach to trade impacts European businesses, which was much appreciated by Hogan.
European Commission opened an anti-dumping investigation into aluminium extrusions originating from China following the complaint submitted by European Aluminium in December 2019.
The list of products covered by the case are aluminium extrusions:
The product subject to this investigation is bars, rods, profiles (whether or not hollow), tubes, pipes; unassembled; whether or not prepared for use in structures (e.g., cut-to-length, drilled, bent, chamfered, threaded); made from aluminium, whether or not alloyed, containing not more than 99.3 % of aluminium.
At the end of the investigation period, we hope to see effective anti-dumping duties adopted that can offset the injury caused by the illegal dumping of Chinese exports.
Please read our press release for more information.
European Aluminium launched its Circular Aluminium Action Plan, a strategy for achieving aluminium’s full potential for a circular economy by 2030. The action plan aims to ensure that all end-of-life aluminium products are collected and recycled efficiently in Europe to maximise aluminium recycling rates and to keep the material in active use. It builds on the aluminium industry’s Vision 2050 and provides policy recommendations for the sector to achieve full circularity.
Download the full report here or read the executive summary.
Free and fair global trade is at risk. The growth of subsidised excess capacity in China, US tariffs on foreign aluminium under Section 232, Brexit, challenges to the implementation of WTO rules, and a wave of new free trade agreements between major economies are constantly changing the business landscape for our members.
As an industry, we are committed to the highest environmental, social and economic standards. That is why we are working at European and global levels to strengthen the existing multilateral trade system; and to address increasing levels of global excess capacity that undermines the viability and competitiveness of our strategic industry.
Our calls to action are as follows:
On 5 November 2019, European Aluminium organised the roundtable discussion on “How can the EU address global trade disruptions and the climate emergency while preserving its strategic value chain?” in the European Parliament. On this occasion, French MEP Marie-Pierre Vedrenne expressed strong ambitions for both the competitiveness and sustainability of our industry.
European Aluminium's Director General Gerd Götz discusses the harmful consequences of subsidised excess capacity.
In April 2019, European Aluminium released its Vision 2050 report; the aluminium industry’s contribution to the outgoing European Commission’s long-term strategy to decarbonise the European economy by 2050. During the summer of 2019, European Aluminium then established a new Energy and Climate Committee to start implementing Vision 2050 in preparation for the von der Leyen Commission. Her ambition is to make Europe the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050. In parallel, we continued advocacy work on the implementation of the next phase of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) Directive(Phase IV: 2021-2030), the reform of the State Aid Guidelines on indirect compensation (ongoing), and review of the State Guidelines on Energy and Environment (EEAG) (due by mid-2021).
Explaining the impact of energy costs to EU policymakers
European Aluminium, and its members, contributed to two reports authored by Brussels-based think-tank CEPS and funded by the European Commission on ‘The Composition of Energy Prices and Costs in Energy Intensive Industries’ and ‘The Competitiveness of the Renewable Energy Sector in Europe.’ Both reports provided concrete policy recommendations to the new European Commission and DG Energy on the critical importance of long-term and affordable access to clean energy for the competitiveness of the aluminium industry in Europe.
Preserving carbon leakage measures and the EU’s plans for a Carbon Border Adjustment
Towards the end of 2019 and in early 2020, European Aluminium entered a dialogue with EU and national policy makers on the scope and terms of the Commission’s initial impact assessment for an upcoming EU-wide Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) policy proposal. We explained the importance of preserving existing carbon leakage measures given the specificities of the aluminium value chain compared to other envisaged sectors, the high exposure the sector has to indirect costs of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, and the impact of the marginal cost (i.e. the cost required to produce a MWh of electricity) in EU power markets.
European Aluminium believes that the European Green Deal and its forthcoming Circular Economy Action Plan offer a solid foundation for further accelerating the transition from a linear to a truly circular economy. The EU’s action plan aims to:
European Aluminium representatives regularly meet and brief policy makers to help them ensure that the aluminium industry has an appropriate legislative framework in which to operate. We also seek to ensure that aluminium recycling in Europe can further flourish and thus benefit the environment.
In April 2020, European Aluminium launched its Circular Aluminium Action Plan, a strategy for achieving aluminium’s full potential for a circular economy by 2030. The action plan aims to ensure that all end-of-life aluminium products are collected and recycled efficiently in Europe to maximise aluminium recycling rates and to keep the material in active use. It builds on the aluminium industry’s Vision 2050 and provides policy recommendations for the sector to achieve full circularity.
Visit the building, packaging and recycling sections of our report to learn more about our recycling activities.
The economic and political challenges of the new political cycle are huge. Both the new European Parliament and the European Commission must address citizen’s expectations for a renewed Europe. That is why the European aluminium industry has created its I+ Manifesto, a call to action to encourage our new EU leaders to set the right framework conditions for the industry to achieve its full strategic potential. It builds on the conclusions of our Vision 2050 Report – European Aluminium’s contribution to the mid-century strategy for a low carbon economy – which shows the incredible potential of aluminium as a strategic material, enabling carbon neutral and circular value chains.
Our goal is to contribute to a truly sustainable economy, supporting both the Paris Agreement and the European Green Deal and that delivers the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This requires a deep transformation and renewal of Europe’s existing industrial base and assets. European Aluminium therefore calls for a bold and fully-fledged EU industrial strategy (to be published in March 2020) which is focussed on four main priorities:
Following its first public launch in April 2018, our manifesto had a major impact, both in Brussels and in Member State capitals. The I+MANIFESTO was recognised as the “Best Lobbying or Advocacy Campaign” and won the Gold Award at the 2019 European Association Awards ceremony held in Brussels. More than 300 policy makers, stakeholders and citizens shared positive feedback on the manifesto through its dedicated micro-site. European Aluminium continues to secure meetings with key policy makers at EU and national levels to discuss the principles of the manifesto in greater detail.
We also continue to support the Industry4Europe coalition, which is helping to establish the long-term vision for the EU’s industrial and manufacturing strategy. In November 2019, the coalition released its new Joint Paper on “a long-term strategy for Europe’s Industrial Future: from words to action”, which presents concrete industrial policy proposals in seven priority fields.
European Aluminium seeks a strong and ambitious EU industrial policy that addresses the competitiveness gap, promotes a global playing field on trade, environmental, health and safety standards and boosts market demand for the entire value chain. This is why we work with multiple allies. Thanks to our partnerships in Brussels and beyond, we are able to amplify our messaging and increase our political influence.
Allies include (but are not limited to):
We regularly engage with the media in Brussels and beyond. Our messages were picked up by specialised trade, EU and international media throughout 2019.
In total, European Aluminium appeared in X top-tier publications and x different trade publications, reaching a potential audience of over x million people.
Click on the publication logos to view some of our media highlights.
The first objective of the Innovation Hub is to boost collaboration along the aluminium value chain; the second is to help join-the-dots between the EU innovation agenda, relevant funding opportunities and the aluminium industry. In 2019, the Innovation Hub held its annual workshop at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and SINTEF focusing on digitalisation and modelling for smart aluminium processing, manufacturing and product design. The workshop was co-organised by our member company Hydro and NTNU’s Aluminium Product Innovation Centre (NAPIC).
About 60 experts from aluminium industry, universities and research organisations discussed how automation and modelling are used to produce innovative aluminium components and products.
The Innovation Hub facilitated the collaborative project FORMALUB, which launched in October; this four-year project is financed by four members of the Hub and aims to better understand and predict the formability of Aluminium Body Sheet (ABS).
The Innovation Hub - in close collaboration with its members - continues to support the development of EU project proposals along the aluminium value chain.
The Innovation Hub is a partner in two Horizon 2020 projects: RemovAl (Removing Waste from Alumina production) and AlSiCal (Towards sustainable mineral and metal industry: ZERO Bauxite Residue and ZERO CO2 from co-production of Alumina, Silica and precipitated Calcium carbonate by the Aranda-Mastin technology).
These two projects successfully began in 2018 and 2019. RemovAl is a four-year raw materials project aimed at converting bauxite residues and spent pot linings waste into resources.
The four-year AlSiCal project aims to produce alumina, silica and precipitated calcium carbonate, using new mineral resources, abundantly available worldwide.
European Aluminium also joined the Erasmus+ project “Skills Alliance for Industrial Symbiosis (SPIRE-SAIS),” which started in January 2020. Industrial symbiosis is the process by which waste or by‐products of an industry or industrial process become the raw materials for another. The main objectives of the project are to identify resource and knowledge gaps and to develop new training resources to support the circular economy and industrial symbiosis among different sectors.
Thanks to a partnership with MATPLUS, the ALUSELECT database has recently been redeveloped. Launched several years ago, ALUSELECT contains important data on the characteristics and properties of 35 wrought aluminium alloys and 12 cast alloys. Thanks to the new platform, users now have access to many additional tools to help them select the best alloy and temper for any given application.
The Innovation Hub actively communicates and engages with a large stakeholder network including policy makers, experts and research institutes; particularly through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) such as SPIRE (Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency), Factories of the Future and Energy Efficient Buildings.
In 2019, the Innovation Hub intensified its communication activities. In May, the first Innovation newsletter was launched to update readers on its main activities, highlight innovation stories from its members, and report news on related projects, events and proposals. Please subscribe.
The Hub also organised a panel discussion at the Future Aluminium Forum conference in Warsaw, focused on digitalisation and automation for circularity. In 2020, the Innovation Hub will continue its efforts to communicate openly with the European research community to broaden and deepen the Innovation Hub network.
A safe workplace is a cornerstone of a sustainable industry, and our sector considers this to be a top priority.
Throughout the year, European Aluminium supported ambitious initiatives to help its members become zero-incidents workplaces. In addition to regular Safety Task Force meetings, coupled with thematic workshops on critical areas of safety, in June 2019 we organised a biannual safety workshop. The event, which focused on the prevention of serious incidents and fatalities, was attended by over 70 experts from the whole value chain, including guests from outside Europe and from other industry sectors. In conjunction with the workshop, the Safety Solutions competition also took place to highlight best practice and innovative ideas. The winners, selected from 44 entries to the competition, were chosen through a secret ballot of workshop participants. Winners of this and previous years’ competitions are listed on the association’s website.
In 2019, the EU’s Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) - a method designed to measure a product’s environmental performance throughout its lifecycle - entered into a transition phase intended to assess whether its measurements can provide an adequate evidence-base for policy decisions and enforcement. Currently, European Aluminium considers the use of PEF for product policy purposes as premature and supports a more robust and fully harmonised assessment framework.
Following several exchanges with the European Commission, the PEF metal sheet category rules were published in 2019. In parallel, European Aluminium began monitoring the update of the aluminium background datasets, especially the datasets for primary aluminium alloys and for aluminium beverage cans. Those updated PEF datasets will be published in 2020.
Considering PEFs potential use to support policies connected to the European Green Deal, European Aluminium will continue to monitor developments closely and will contribute to the technical advisory board meeting and its topics.
Following European Aluminium’s publication of the 2018 Environmental Profile Report, the new aluminium datasets covering the environmental impact of Europe’s entire aluminium value chain were well received by the LCA community and other audiences during a successful communications campaign. In 2019 we ensured the inclusion of these datasets into two major Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) databases used by experts around the world (i.e. Gabi and EcoInvent).
In 2019 we also launched a new project to update the Environmental Profile Report’s dataset for aluminium recycling (i.e. production of casting alloys from scrap). Two major steps of the project (data collection and analysis) were conducted successfully in 2019. The final report and the related datasets are expected by the end of Q2 2020. This project will be complementary to work carried out in 2018.
We believe that the findings of this new report into aluminium’s environmental footprint will be essential in emphasising the benefits of the aluminium recycling industry in the framework of an increasingly circular economy.
