Audi involved in setting standard for sustainable aluminum

AUDI AG is joining the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative to help develop a global standard for sustainable aluminum.

As a pioneer in unitary aluminum car bodies, the company is taking the opportunity to influence the entire value chain of one of its most important materials—one of the objectives of Audi’s corporate-responsibility strategy.

“As a pioneer for lightweight construction, we are very interested in establishing a global standard for sustainable aluminum. This will allow us to further improve the environmental impact of our cars by using certified aluminum in the future,” said Dr. Bernd Martens, Audi’s Board of Management member for Procurement, with regard to joining the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative.

The initiative was founded in the autumn of 2012. It aims to develop a sustainability standard for aluminum by the end of 2014, with the support of the environmental organization International Union for Conservation of Nature.

It sets environmental and social criteria that apply to all stages of extracting the raw material, as well as producing and processing aluminum.

“Active responsibility is firmly anchored throughout our company. Also in our supply chains, we place priority on the integration of environmental protection and social responsibility,” Martens said.

The new standard fits in well with Audi’s holistic approach to product responsibility: The premium manufacturer not only ensures that its automobiles are highly fuel efficient, but also analyzes the environmental impact of its products over their entire lifecycles—from the extraction of raw materials to production to operation to recycling.

For each new model series, Audi has a certified environmental analysis prepared in order to assess the impact on the environment; the objective is to reduce it compared with each model’s predecessor.

In addition to sustainable materials and manufacturing processes, ultra-lightweight construction plays an important role. This makes the Audi A3 up to 80 kilograms lighter than the previous generation; the A3 Sportback is actually up to 90 kilograms lighter.

Audi has positioned itself as a pioneer for lightweight construction. At the Frankfurt Motor Show 20 years ago, the premium brand presented the Audi Space Frame, a shimmering silver show car with an unpainted body made of polished aluminum. In 1994 the first Audi A8 went into series production. The car was based on a unitary aluminum body with a weight of just 249 kilograms.

With its ultra-lightweight construction today, Audi applies an intelligent material mix—according to the motto of “the right material in the right place in the minimum required quantity.”