Aluminium rolling and recycling company Novelis Inc., has announced that it has made ‘significant progress’ in its commitment toward reducing its carbon footprint and delivering on key measures of sustainable business performance.

In its ‘Sustainability Through Disruptive Innovation’ report, the company’s third annual sustainability report, Novelis outlines that it has:

• become the ‘world’s largest recycler of aluminum’;
• increased the recycled content of its products from 33 per cent to 43 per cent;
• reduced energy intensity by 19 per cent (using a baseline of average performance between 2007-2009);
• reduced water intensity by 16 per cent; and
• curbed greenhouse gas emissions by 14 per cent.

Novelis has said that these figures mark ‘significant progress’ towards its goals of achieving 80 per cent recycled content by 2020 and halving its absolute greenhouse gas emissions.

‘Leapfrogging toward a more sustainable world’

Speaking of the figures, Phil Martens, Novelis President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “Our intent when we established our sustainability targets two years ago was to transcend the incremental approach by radically transforming our company – and, in the process, lead the way in our industry…

“We are still in the early stages of our sustainability journey, with many hurdles yet to overcome, but our efforts are already beginning to bear fruit. I am more firmly convinced than ever that our commitment to sustainability will be the key value driver for our company going forward.”

Stuart Hart, S.C. Johnson Chair in Sustainable Global Enterprise, Cornell University and a member of the Novelis Sustainability Council, added: “I have come to the firm conclusion that leaders at Novelis are transformers who are willing and able to stake out a new direction for their company – one that will disrupt current industry structure and leapfrog toward a more sustainable world.

“Novelis aims to reinvent the entire industry to become more environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive. If successful, this strategy could make them the most dominant and profitable player in the sector for decades to come. This is the epitome of sustainable enterprise.”

Other highlights for the company in the past year include:

• the launch of evercan™, the ‘world’s first independently certified, high-recycled content aluminium beverage can sheet’;
• the beginning of operations at a new recycling facility in Yeongju, South Korea; and
• the start of construction work at ‘the world’s largest aluminium recycling facility’ in Nachterstedt, Germany.

Download the 2013 Novelis Sustainability Report.