By Desmond Hinton-Beales - 17th March 2011
MEPs should understand the global competitiveness of the industry. Europe leads when it comes to innovation, but is facing cost problems
President of Novelis Europe Tadeu Nardocci
The aluminium industry's high levels of sustainability are affecting its ability to compete in the global marketplace, a parliament hearing was told.
The debate on Wednesday on the sustainability indicators for the European aluminium industry was attended by commission and Hungarian presidency representatives and UK Tory MEP Martin Callanan.
Callanan, who chaired the discussion, said that aluminium is an industry which has "constantly expanded over the last 30 years" and is a "very sustainable" sector providing 250,000 jobs across Europe.
Sandro Starita, health and safety manager for the European aluminium association, said that "Europe produces 3.5 million tonnes" of aluminium through recycling, making it the "world leader" in this area.
However, he said that the "available stats are not good enough to quantify recycling figures" from outside Europe, making comparisons difficult.
Of the amount of aluminium produced in Europe, he said that 48 per cent is from recycled sources. However, Europe also produces four million tonnes of aluminium through primary production, amounting to 11 per cent of total world production.
Recycling aluminium uses 95 per cent less energy than primary production, and this has opened the route for global competitors to purchase large amounts of European aluminium scrap for reuse in other markets.
Patrick De Schrynmakers, secretary-general of the European aluminium association, said that this kind of distortion in the market "needs to be taken into account".
De Schrynmakers said that "competitiveness is essential to survival of the whole value chain", and that it is essential to "keep the value chain in Europe".
"It is very important that Europe keeps aluminium production. If we lose that we lose it all. It's essential," he said.
He criticised some EU policies, such as the emissions trading scheme, that "make European industry less competitive globally" and called for compensation for the "additional legislative costs of production."
He said that all laws have some kind of procedure to allow exemptions and that aluminium is "the best example of an industry that needs exemptions".
Tadeu Nardocci, president of Novelis Europe, agreed, saying "there is a need for more education" on the problems that the sector has to deal with.
"MEPs should understand the global competitiveness of the industry. Europe leads when it comes to innovation, but is facing cost problems," he said.
Marianna Jakab, energy attaché for the permanent representation of Hungary to the EU, said that sustainability represents one of the "main energy policy objectives" of the Hungarian EU council presidency.
"A resource efficient, sustainable and competitive Europe," is crucial to achieving the objectives of the energy 2020 strategy, she said.
Further comment came from Michael Kuhndt, head of the UNEP/Wuppertal institute collaborating centre on sustainable consumption and production, who said that "sustainable materials" should be looked at "as a factor of growth".
He praised the aluminium industry for "trying to understand its sustainable impact", adding that transparency is necessary in order to know what can be given to a "sustainable future".
This transparency is easier for consumers to achieve, he said, due to the "highly aggregated information" which is available online and allows the sustainability of products to be "checked immediately".
Kuhndt said that by expanding its role beyond its traditional "sphere of influence", i.e. consumption, into the macro "sphere of concern", the aluminium industry can "increase its relevance and secure a sustainable competitive advantage".
Didier Herbert, the head of unit for sustainable industrial policy at DG enterprise and industry, said that he fully supported "industry work to develop indicators" for sustainability.
"Industry has the best knowledge and knows which indicators are most relevant. Europe needs more evidence based policy and must recognise that sectors have different challenges," he said.
On the issue of resource efficiency policy he said that "the commission is preparing a broad roadmap with areas for action" and that the EU must look for "win-win situations".
"Many businesses have already begun resource efficiency measures, but require investment decisions. Life cycle benefits may outweigh costs, but costs may still be too much for some businesses."
