Alcoa recently reaffirmed its commitment to the
pursuit of a sustainable future, drawing a clear connection between
environmental and economic
sustainability in the current climate.
Alcoa recently reaffirmed its commitment to the pursuit of a
sustainable future, drawing a clear connection between environmental
sustainability, through efficiency and conservation, and economic
sustainability in the current climate. Speaking at the Alcoa Foundation’s
worldwide Advancing Sustainability conference in Barcelona, Spain, Klaus
Kleinfeld, president and chief executive officer, said that, for Alcoa, operating
in a sustainable way is as much about ensuring a solid economic future as a
secure environmental future and that it is false to suggest business could have
either economic security or sustainability, but not both.
“For Alcoa, sustainability has always been an integral part
of our company culture, and today more than ever it is critical that we
continue to integrate sustainability into all corporate decision making-both
inside our business through the products we make and how we manufacture, to our
interaction with our external environment through a core focus on energy
efficiency and resource conservation,” said Kleinfeld. “Sustainability is about
more than just ‘doing good.’ It is also about smart business, and at times like
these when the economy is down, it is important to make that point very clearly.”
Kleinfeld’s comments were made before more than 160
sustainability thought leaders and practitioners, as well as Alcoa’s senior
global leadership, at the foundation’s second biennial Advancing Sustainability
Conference, convened to share research results from its flagship Conservation
and Sustainability Fellowship Program, and facilitate global cross-sector
partnerships and networks to move to the next level of unlocking the collective
potential to address global sustainability challenges.
In addressing the convention, Kleinfeld also announced a
renewed commitment by the Alcoa Foundation to the advancement of a sustainable
future, confirming a six-year extension of the foundation’s flagship
Conservation and Sustainability Fellowship Program. The Fellowship Program,
which commenced in late 2005, delivers fresh insight into the opportunities and
challenges facing the field of conservation and sustainability-environmentally,
socially and economically-and links academia, business, government, and
non-governmental organizations around sustainable solutions for joint action.
In making the announcement, Kleinfeld said the extension of
the Conservation and Sustainability Fellowship Program would unlock answers to
the most challenging sustainability issues facing the world today, including climate
change, energy use, water management, accelerated growth and development in
emerging countries, by ensuring continued support for the work of over 90
research fellows in all corners of the globe.
“From Australia
to Zambia, the
program’s fellows are tackling issues that have local impact and global
implications-with a goal of providing government and business leaders with
usable information they can apply to meet specific sustainability and conservation
challenges,” said Kleinfeld. “The fellows of this program today are the leaders
of tomorrow, and their work is not only defining the challenges we face as a
global community, but giving decision makers usable information in the creation
of appropriate policy responses to ensure a sustainable future for us all.”
For more information, visit
www.alcoa.com/advancingsustainability.
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