Aluminium Downstream

An Aluminium Product Manufacturer's Road to Net Zero Carbon

The Problem

Our client is an aluminium product manufacturer who exports majority of the products to Western Europe where life cycle product carbon footprint is now being considered to be a key procurement criteria due to the CBAM regulations in EU.

Unfortunately the carbon footprint of Indian aluminium is much high as compared to those available from suppliers in Canada, Russia or Middle East because in India most of the aluminium is produced using coal based power whereas in other countries they use hydro or gas based power. This was resulting in our client losing orders.

The Intervention

We suggested and supported our client by doing the following:

Cradle to Grave carbon footprint of select products that are in demand in Europe

Net zero product carbon plan development and demonstration of progress as per the pathway over two years to demonstrate credibility. In the process, the aluminium melting and holding furnace operations were optimized in addition to other carbon abatement projects

Offsetting additional cost of using an appropriate mix of imported (low carbon) and Indian aluminium in the production process through carbon revenue

Setting up an ancillary supplier who has an aluminium ingot manufacturing plant using imported aluminium scrap – thus the ingots have low carbon footprint

Mangrove forestry CSR project to offset carbon emissions as well as support biodiversity

The Result

Our client in on a net zero carbon pathway and regained the trust of their European customers. Orders have started to flow like before and the cost of manufacture has reduced