Alcoa joins first suppliers hub

Alcoa Corporation (ASX: AAI) has joined the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) First Suppliers Hub, a global repository of innovative suppliers providing materials needed to support the ambition of industrial decarbonisation in the world by 2050.

First Suppliers Hub is a database of global final product and value chain suppliers created by the First Movers Coalition.

Members of FMC set a target that at least 10% of their annual primary aluminium procurement volumes meet or exceed the Coalition’s definition for low-carbon primary aluminium.

FMC defines low-carbon as below three tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per tonne of primary aluminium on a cradle-to-gate basis.

First Suppliers Hub simplifies First Movers Coalition members’ aim to leverage their purchasing power by sharing emerging decarbonisation technologies that meet or exceed FMC’s low-carbon levels.

Alcoa executive vice president and chief commercial officer Renato Bacchi says the company’s breakthrough technologies support its customers’ decarbonisation efforts now and into the future.

“By joining the First Suppliers Hub, we are further simplifying options for end-users at some of the world’s leading companies to reduce emissions within their supply chains,” he said.

“With ELYSIS, we are capable of producing aluminium using an innovative carbon-free smelting process.

“Alcoa is working to bring our customers — and the world — closer to a lower carbon future.”

ELYSIS uses proprietary inert anode technology to eliminate all direct greenhouse gas emissions from the aluminium smelting process, making it possible to produce aluminium meeting the FMC definition when paired with renewable power to the smelter and low-carbon alumina.

Alcoa and its ELYSIS technology partnership recently announced the next step in developing this technology with an industrial-scale demonstration project that will provide Alcoa with an offtake of ELYSIS material to help meet customer needs for more sustainable solutions.