The Aluminum Association and the Aluminium Association of Canada released an open letter sent to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Canadian Minister of Environment & Climate Change Catherine McKenna in advance of the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) meeting in Paris this week.
In the letter, they expressed their concern about China’s state-planned and carbon intensive aluminum industry which has amassed considerable overproduction. They said it is leading to a distortion of international trade impacting the entire value chain and undermining global efforts to decarbonize the economy.
They highlighted the consistent improvement they made in their production processes over the past two decades as measured by primary energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions per ton of product produced. Both the association always insist on searching for solutions to ongoing challenges through technological progress, improvements in resource use and waste minimization, and increasing incentives for recycling and encourage other countries with major production profiles to do the same. With that in mind, they urged for support to press China to meet its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) commitments.
They highlighted the fact that ten years ago China supplied 24% of the world’s primary aluminum and today, spurred by energy subsidies, Chinese manufacturers have more than doubled their output and supply 52% of all primary aluminum produced globally. In their view, this massive increase in production entails a significant environmental consequence.
They emphasized that a ton of aluminum produced in China is at least twice as carbon-intensive as that same metal produced in North America. They opined that given the rapid expansion of high-carbon aluminum production in China, many of the efficiency and emission reduction gains made by the global aluminum industry over the last several decades are being offset.
The 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention (UNFCC) on Climate Change (COP21) represents an historic opportunity for governments to set ambitious, evidence-based commitments to combat climate change. They however, applauded the fact that China’s INDC commits to deeper cuts to carbon dioxide emissions, to a cap on coal consumption, and to accelerating the elimination of outdated production capacity.
They urged the governments to press China make concrete commitments, including a verification framework, to address the problems of both overproduction and emissions from its domestic primary aluminum production. They urged that China should be encouraged to make the following commitments:
• In addition to capping coal consumption, China should set a sub-goal to limit and reduce the overall CO2 emissions by its primary aluminum production.
• China should also commit to setting appropriate standards for aluminum production emissions and coal usage, taking offline production assets that do not meet those standards.
They opined that international verification and clear reporting to the UNFCC of emissions reductions made by all parties should be enshrined in any future agreement.
The U.S. and Canadian aluminum industry is concerned that overproduction in China will continue unabated and is insufficiently regulated. These commitments represent a critical opportunity for China to advance energy efficiency and emissions reductions targets in support of global commitments to address climate change and to assure fair trade conditions globally.
