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Time for tough decisions on climate change
240 billion reasons not to expand Alcoa’s aluminium smelters
“The Bracks Government’s ads have been really effective in raising community awareness about climate change and urging people to save energy in their homes. However to make real progress in cutting greenhouse pollution the State Government needs to take on the big polluters like Alcoa,” said Mark Wakeham, Greenpeace energy campaigner.
“The average Victorian household produces around 12 tonnes of greenhouse gases each year, or 240,000 balloons. But if Victorians could see the amount of greenhouse gas Alcoa produces they would be stunned: Alcoa uses almost a fifth of the state’s electricity, which produces greenhouse gases equal to 240 billion balloons per year. We only have 1,000 balloons here – Alcoa emits nearly eight times this number of balloons per second just from the electricity it uses.” (1)
While the Bracks Government has taken some positive steps forward on climate change, like introducing its renewable energy target, it has shied away from the tough decisions: like allowing Hazelwood to expand; ruling out the expansion of Alcoa’s aluminium smelters and setting a target for reducing Victoria’s greenhouse pollution.
“By legislating a target to reduce the state’s greenhouse pollution by 20% by 2020, Premier Bracks can set the bar for assessing new developments and encourage cleaner industry. Alcoa and other polluters will then know what targets they need to meet if they want to expand their operations,” Mr Wakeham said.
“Our current political leaders are making decisions about how much our climate will change. It’s time that they started making those decisions based on what’s best for Victorians, rather than what’s best for multinational companies like Alcoa.”
Notes to Editor
(1) Alcoa currently consumes 8,200,000 MWh of electricity per annum at an average greenhouse intensity of 1.467 tonnes per Mwh = 12,029,400 tonnes per year. The Victorian Government’s ads use balloons to visually represent greenhouse pollution. One balloon represents 50g of greenhouse pollution. Therefore there are 20,000 balloons per tonne of greenhouse pollution.
Therefore Alcoa emits the equivalent of:
240 billion balloons per year or
659,145,205 balloons per day or
27,464,383 balloons per hour or
457,739 balloons per minute or
7,628 balloons second
Note this only represents the emissions from its electricity consumption. When point-source emissions from the smelters are included the number is likely to be at least 10% higher.
(2) Alcoa has two aluminium smelters in Victoria – one older plant at Point Henry in Geelong and another larger operation in Portland. It has been estimated that the Portland smelter currently emits four times more greenhouse pollution than the aluminium industry world average. (Source: The Aluminium Industry’s Sustainable Development Report states the world average GHGs from aluminium electrolysis is about 3.6 tonnes CO2e/tonne p.7)
(3) Any expansion of Alcoa’s operations must not increase Victoria’s net greenhouse pollution levels. To ensure the expansion of Alcoa’s operations does not derail Victoria’s transition to a clean energy mix, the Victorian Government must:
-Rule out Alcoa’s expansion being powered by coal
-Publicly announce Alcoa will not receive any protection from future climate change policies (e.g. an emissions trading scheme, renewable energy target etc)
-Ensure Alcoa’s Portland and Point Henry smelters operate to world’s best practice, by building energy efficiency requirements into the approval process
-Stop subsidising Alcoa’s electricity bills to provide the company with some incentive to reduce its energy use
For further information or comment
Lou Clifton, Greenpeace Australia Pacific Communications Officer Tel: 0438 204 041 Mark Wakeham, Greenpeace Australia Pacific Energy Campaigner Tel: 0409 542 753 Images will be available for download at: http://photos.greenpeace.org.au Username: photos Password: green
