European Aluminium welcomes EU’s plan for a decarbonised economy by 2050

In a press release, European Aluminium has welcomed the European Commission’s new plans to secure a long-term decarbonised economy by 2050. The Association also added that New 2050 climate strategy can take aluminium value chains as a role model to achieve its carbon economy targets. 

European Aluminium said that there is an urgent need to embrace strong sustainability programmes and redefine business models. 

“Our industry is working for many years to put efficiencies, incremental and breakthrough innovation in action. There is no choice but to enhance the potential of our strategic material and its unique low carbon applications by decarbonising all our processes from primary production to recycling,” said Gerd Götz, European Aluminium’s Director General.

European Aluminium is working towards the New 2050 climate strategy which is to be unveiled before the end of 2018. The aluminium industry has played a significant role in achieving the carbon targets.  The research document will contain fundamental data points that will indicate how the aluminium industry is contributing in the ongoing decarbonisation process.

As Götz puts it, many end-user sectors are using aluminium due to its inherent lightweighting and recycling properties in order to achieve carbon economy standards and contribute towards the circular economy model. European Aluminium’s preliminary data shows aluminium demand will continue to grow in Europe and worldwide. The direct and indirect CO2 emissions from the aluminium industry are expected to reduce steadily overtime.

“The European aluminium industry will decarbonise as the power production decarbonises but this is not sufficient to achieve the 2050 ambitions. There is a clear need to combine the right regulatory framework for industry, technology innovations, and market drivers to reach our full potential,” concluded Götz.