| Therefore,
reliable measurement is essential to ensure permanent
monitoring, careful evaluation, committed implementation
and tangible results. This is the basic principle behind
the sustainable development indicator exercise of the
European aluminium industry.
Stakeholders consultation process
  
The European Aluminium Association (EAA) decided to
engage outside expertise. Both the Wuppertal
Institute for Climate Environment and Energy and
the Versailles
University were asked to assist in finding
the key performance indicators for sustainable development
in the aluminium sector. Through an innovative bottom-up/top-down
process the views from hundreds of internal and external
stakeholders were collected and translated into proposals
for sustainability indicators (for further information,
see, among our on line
publications, the EAA document "Debate
on Corporate social responsibility" and Wupppertal Institute
for climate change report).
The EAA optimised the number of indicators
to a workable list of 34 for the whole sector in order
to maintain transparency. The individual indicators
are being reassessed with stakeholders on an ongoing
basis.
In order to evaluate the overall process and to discuss
the further implementation of the aluminium industry's
sustainable development strategy, the EAA organised
three different round tables in 2002 and 2003, involving
a range of external stakeholders. Representatives from
the European Parliament, European Commission, UNEP,
Trade Unions, Non-Governmental Organisations, other
industries and national bodies recognised this indicator
process as a pioneering and valuable effort.
The exercise has certainly consolidated
the industry's credibility by providing additional precise
and consistent data. It has also established a dynamic
and continuous process that will further stimulate industry
engagement. However, some stakeholders underlined the
apparent imbalance between a sustainable industry and
significant threats to its future survival in Europe.
Two issues were identified for further consideration:
• overall competitiveness,
in particular the trend in energy prices,
• access to some raw materials.
In order to address these concerns
in depth, the EAA gathered additional economic data illustrating
the deteriorating cost position of the European primary
aluminium industry and the increasing reliance on imported
and recycled metal to meet the growing demand. This situation
can progressively lead to industry migration to other
regions of the world, affecting both primary and downstream
production. |
