Does cleaner electricity make aluminium emissions zero?

Identify the sources before comparing the claim

The GHG Protocol distinguishes direct emissions from owned or controlled operations, emissions associated with purchased energy, and other indirect emissions in the value chain. These are Scopes 1, 2 and 3. Press Metal’s report says its Sarawak smelters obtain electricity predominantly from renewable hydroelectric sources. That statement addresses an important input. It does not say that every direct industrial emission or every supplier’s production activity disappears when the electricity mix changes.

Sources for this section: [1] · [2]

The issuer describes several levers, not one cure

The report describes pot-control and operational improvements, including measures addressing anode effects, alongside its electricity arrangements. It separately identifies alumina supply as a significant upstream emissions hotspot and discusses supplier engagement. These are different interventions because they concern different parts of the production system. Their presence in the same report makes an electricity-only reading incomplete. The source records what the company says it is doing; this guide has not inspected the equipment or independently measured the resulting reductions.

Sources for this section: [1]

A product threshold is not the whole corporate target

The GEM product description gives a footprint below four tonnes of CO₂-equivalent per tonne of aluminium for Scopes 1 and 2. The report also discusses product life-cycle assessments, available on request, and a broader corporate climate target. Its target note includes upstream Scope 3 categories 1, 3 and 4. A reader should therefore identify the exact boundary attached to each number. A Scopes 1-and-2 threshold cannot silently become a claim about every upstream and downstream activity.

The report’s 15% reduction by 2025 and 30% by 2030 refer to intensity against a 2020 baseline. They are historical targets, not findings that those reductions occurred. Nor does a lower intensity automatically establish a lower absolute total when output changes. This distinction keeps a programme of work separate from proof of its eventual result.

Sources for this section: [1]

Original exercise: compare two improvement plans

Consider a fictional producer with a deliberately simplified, non-overlapping inventory per tonne of output: direct operations 3 units, purchased electricity 1 unit, and selected upstream activities 6 units. No downstream activities are included. Plan E reduces only electricity to 0.2 units. Plan S also reduces direct operations to 2.5 and selected upstream activities to 4.5. Calculate the totals under both plans. Then assess the proposed label: electricity improved, therefore our entire aluminium life cycle has zero emissions. Name two additional pieces of evidence needed for a real product claim. These inputs are invented teaching quantities, not Press Metal measurements or emission factors.

Sources for this section: [1] · [2]

Worked answer: the unchanged sources remain

The starting total is 3 + 1 + 6 = 10 units. Plan E gives 3 + 0.2 + 6 = 9.2. Plan S gives 2.5 + 0.2 + 4.5 = 7.2. Neither is zero, and neither includes downstream activities. The proposed label is unsupported even if the electricity improvement is valid. A real claim would need an explicitly defined product-system boundary and a documented inventory, including appropriate supplier evidence and verification. The arithmetic illustrates the need to include the remaining sources; it is not an estimate of the company’s footprint.

Sources for this section: [2]

Compare like boundaries and preserve the date

Before comparing two products, ask whether the figures cover the same processes, gases, time period and unit of output. Also ask whether a number describes a product, the company’s operations or a future target. Press Metal’s report is useful because these different kinds of statement appear together and can be separated. A low-carbon electricity advantage is meaningful within that account, while the direct-process and supply-chain records show why it cannot answer every environmental question by itself.

Sources for this section: [1] · [2]