Alcoa (NYSE:AA), together with Alcoa Foundation, announced today that Alcoa has become a founding member of the Sustainability Consortium, an independent group of global organizations working to drive sustainability in products through all lifecycle stages.
The consortium is composed of scientists and engineers from leading universities, governments, non-government organizations and businesses, who are working to develop lifecycle analysis tools and methodologies.
“Alcoa Foundation is supporting the Sustainability Consortium because we believe that society and consumers have much to benefit from lifecycle analysis that measures the full environmental footprint of a product - from the materials used to create it, to the product’s recyclability at the end of its initial life,” said Alcoa Foundation President Paula Davis. “We are proud to partner with organizations from different sectors and the University of Arkansas and Arizona State University to advance this important work.”
Alcoa will contribute lifecycle analysis data to the work, as well as its expertise and knowledge of aluminum, one of the most recycled materials in the world. Nearly 75 percent of all of the aluminum made since 1888 is still in use today.
“For Alcoa, joining the Sustainability Consortium is a natural fit because of the environmental benefits that aluminum brings to end products, such as light weighting and recyclability,” said Chief Sustainability Officer Kevin Anton. “Alcoa believes that good science requires good metrics. By increasing global transparency across a product’s entire supply chain, we can evaluate the real environmental footprint of a product – an analysis that our customers want to know and incorporate into their own sustainability equations. Beyond corporate responsibility, lifecycle measurement across materials, production and re-use phases is quickly becoming a business imperative for all industries.”
The Sustainability Consortium is managed by the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University and the University of Arkansas Applied Sustainability Center.
"It is important that the consortium involve organizations from every arena," said Jon Johnson, co-director of the consortium and executive director of the University of Arkansas Applied Sustainability Center. "Alcoa provides a unique perspective that will enhance the work of the team overall. I am pleased to welcome Alcoa and their leading experts to the consortium."
Sustainability has long been an integral part of Alcoa’s culture, and the company has been recognized for its sustainable practices by a number of independent organizations. Earlier this year, Alcoa was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the ninth straight year, and Alcoa primary aluminum earned Cradle to Cradle® Certification – Silver from MBDC (McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry), a global sustainability consulting and product certification firm that developed the Cradle to Cradle® concept in 1995.
Source: http://www.alcoa.com/