EGA’s Al Taweelah Site Certified to Aluminium Stewardship Initiative Responsibility Standards

Aluminium Stewardship Initiative certification is the aluminium industry’s internationally-recognised standard for sustainability performance, and Emirates Global Aluminium is the first company in the Middle East to achieve a certification to ASI standards

by Alberto Pomari

Emirates Global Aluminium’s Al Taweelah site has received certification from the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative for its sustainability practices and performance. The Aluminium Stewardship Initiative is a global non-profit standards setting and certification organisation. Its members are mining and metal companies, end-users like Apple and Nespresso, and non-governmental organisations, and it aims to maximise the contribution of aluminium to a sustainable society. Abdulla Kalban, EGA’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, said: “People around the world are more and more concerned that the products they use every day to make their lives better do not harm other people or the planet. Aluminium Stewardship Initiative certification provides assurance to our customers, in industries from automotive to packaging, building and construction, aerospace, electronics, that EGA is committed to helping them meet global consumers’ increasing expectations or responsibility. This is an important milestone for EGA and we intend to seek certification for other facilities in the future.”
The successful certification follows a rigorous independent audit process to assess EGA’s practice and performance at Al Taweelah in relation to environmental, social and governance standards, including biodiversity, human rights, transparency, community engagement, emissions and waste. The certification covers EGA’s aluminium smelting facilities at Al Taweelah in Abu Dhabi, producing more than 1.5 million tonnes of aluminium each year, and includes EGA’s port, power generation, carbon plant, potlines and casthouse.
Fiona Solomon, Chief Executive Officer of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative said that EGA, the first Middle East headquartered company to apply to join the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative in December 2017, is the first Middle-East-based member to achieve ASI Performance Standard Certification. EGA is the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas and employs over 7,000 people including almost 1,200 UAE Nationals. In 2018 the company produced 2.6 million tonnes of cast metal, supplied aluminium to more than 350 customers in over 60 countries, it is the only UAE producer and makes the UAE the fifth largest aluminium producing nation in the world. Over 80 per cent of EGA’s production is value added products, one of the highest proportions of any aluminium company in the world.