Seal of quality for the sustainable processing of aluminum along the entire materials chain – from the extraction of bauxite to the recycling of scrap
The sites at Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm are certified, more sites to follow in 2021
Dirk Grosse-Loheide, Audi Board Member for Procurement: “Resource efficiency is the key to an industry fit for the future”
The importance of aluminum for Audi
Since the 1990s aluminum has been in use at Audi as a key material for bodywork and chassis systems. In the context of the Aluminum Closed Loop, the company contributes to usage of this energy-intensive material in the most efficient possible way. The scrap that arises in press plants is sorted and returned to the suppliers. These suppliers can use the valuable secondary material for producing new sheet aluminum and therefore require less primary aluminum.
The Chain of Custody certificate of the ASI attests that the Audi press plants process correctly sorts and tracks certified material – and in consequence the seal of quality is also maintained for the scrap. In 2017 this Aluminum Closed Loop was initiated at the Neckarsulm site, and in 2020 the press plant in Ingolstadt followed.
From 2021 onwards the Audi site at Győr will apply the procedure. In terms of the carbon balance, in 2019 alone approximately 150,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions were avoided in this way.
Audi and the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative: cooperation since 2013
Since 2013 Audi has taken part in the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, which now has 143 members in the aluminum industry. The common aim of the stakeholders is to make aluminum production as sustainable as possible and to achieve greater transparency in the aluminum sector. In 2018 Audi was the world’s first automobile maker to be awarded the Performance Standard certificate of the ASI.
This is an attestation by the Initiative that Audi sustainably manufactures and assembles the aluminum components of the battery housing for the Audi e-tron series according to the requirements of the ASI. For this purpose, independent inspectors carried out audits at the sites in Győr, Neckarsulm and Brussels.
The next step is now the supply of the material between the process partners in accordance with the regulations. At the end of 2020 Audi received the seal of approval of the ASI for the process chain of aluminum at the Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm sites, and more sites are already scheduled to follow in 2021.