• Q. 1 When was EAA established and why?
• Q. 2 What are the main challenges the EAA and the European aluminium industry are facing today?
• Q. 3 What is the EAA’s vision and mission in terms of sustainability?
• Q. 4 How do aluminium applications and products help reduce carbon emissions?
• Q. 5 GHG emissions are a key indicator concerning environmental sustainability. How is the industry tackling the issue?
• Q. 6 What are the key drivers for emissions reduction?
• >> Q. 7 Why does your industry support a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) approach to products?
• Q. 8 Why is your industry favouring End of Life recycling vs. the recycled content concept as an indicator of recycling efficiency?
• Q. 9 How much energy is saved by aluminium recycling compared to primary production?
• Q. 10 If recycling saves more than 95% of energy when compared to the primary production; can it replace the primary production?
• Q. 11 More and more focus is set by policymakers on energy efficiency, eco-design, eco-labelling and Green Public Procurement. How is the aluminium industry positioning itself?
• Q. 12 Why is weight reduction one of the most efficient means to reduce CO2 emissions from vehicles?
• Q.13 Is it true that light cars are not as safe as heavier cars?
• Q. 14 Recycling rates for the automotive and building sectors are very high (95% and 92% respectively), while average aluminium packaging recycling rate stands at 55%.
• Q. 15 How to combine competitiveness and environmental “performance”? Beyond current activities, what do you see as future opportunities for fostering the industry’s sustainability?

Why does your industry support a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) approach to products?

The assessment of the entire life cycle of a product allows to take into account all the improvements of the environmental, e.g. by means of efficient use of resources and energy, reduction of emissions to air and water, reduction of waste, for both the production process, the use-phase and the end-of-life (EoL) stage. LCA provides the best available tool for assessing these improvements in an integrated way, assess the environmental impacts of products all along their life cycle. LCA is also the best framework for avoiding the so-called shift of burdens. As an example, the food production chain has the most important impact within the food sector, while the development of advanced packaging solutions for some food products can lead to higher environmental impacts for packaging. The negative impact can be largely balanced by the benefits resulting from a longer preservation period and also by the reduction of food wastage.

Similarly, the benefits of moving to electric vehicles can only be properly evaluated if the whole life cycle of the vehicle itself is addressed, including the electricity production, the use phase model and the EoL stage.

Only an LCA framework allows an appropriate environmental assessment.