*Visits also aimed at highlighting examples of successful ventures
* EGA has invested $1 billion in environmental technologies since 2010
Dr Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi, United Arab Emirates cabinet member and minister of climate change and environment, on Sunday toured Emirates Global Aluminium’s site in Dubai, as part of a series of ministerial visits aimed at encouraging public and private sector entities to lower their carbon footprint, and highlighting prime examples of successful ventures.
He also met with EGA’s top management to discuss ways to enhance the company’s contribution to the UAE’s environmental efforts and to set the country on a course towards carbon neutrality.
Al Nuaimi said: “Cutting down on carbon emissions is the cornerstone of our fight against climate change. The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment seeks to motivate the private sector to step up its role in the country’s climate action through emissions reduction with the ultimate goal of reaching net-zero.”
He added: “We are proud to see commercial and manufacturing giants making great strides towards that goal. EGA, in particular, has voluntarily raised the bar on corporate sustainability through a host of steps that minimize carbon emissions generated from its operations.”
The minister applauded the company’s environmental commitments and invited other private sector players to join the battle against climate change.
Since 2010, EGA has invested almost $1 billion in environmental technologies and solutions with the aim of reducing carbon emissions from its operations and implementing sustainable production criteria through material recycling and treatment.
In 2019, EGA’s greenhouse gas emissions intensity in smelting and casting was 38 percent lower than the industry average, and its total release of perfluorocarbons (PFC) – greenhouse gases produced during momentary imbalances in the aluminum smelting process – was 91 percent below the global average.
EGA is a global industry leader in the productive re-use of waste streams from aluminum smelting as feedstock for other industries, such as spent pot lining, which it supplies to UAE cement manufacturing companies.
EGA has announced that it will transfer almost all of its carbon dust, another byproduct of aluminum smelting, for use as an alternative fuel, also by the UAE cement industry. Within two years, the move saved 36,000 tons of CO2 emissions.
In addition, EGA signed an agreement with Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), under which DEWA will provide the company’s smelter with solar power from the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, making the UAE the first country in the world to produce aluminum using solar power.