Hilde Merete Aasheim
Norsk Hydro
We, the industry, are experts at competing on costs. We should transfer that expertise to climate emissions, fiercely competing for the lowest level. As a global energy and aluminium company, we are committed to leading the way. Embracing renewable energy through investments and production, shaping responsible supply chains, ensuring that products and materials are recycled and reused while creating more for less.
Commitment
Hydro has the ambition of reducing GHG emissions by 30% compared to 2020 and a vision of carbon-free production by 2050. Our low-carbon and circular products help our customers to reduce their emissions.
Climate action has been a priority for Hydro for decades. We have built a pilot plant in Karmøy, Norway, with the world’s most energy- and climate- efficient aluminium smelter technology. Over the last years, we have increased production in areas with renewable power sources and have entered several long-term wind power contracts. Today, 75% of our metal production is based on renewable energy, a main contributor in reducing emissions.
Hydro is also an active member of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI), a global, non-profit standards setting organization, working toward responsible production, sourcing and stewardship of aluminium. Hydro is ASI certified throughout the entire value chain.
Lighthouse initiative
HalZero – zero-emission electrolysis from Hydro
Aluminium is a key enabler in the green transition, but production must become emission free across the entire value chain. Since 2016, Hydro’s technologists have worked to develop a breakthrough technology for primary aluminium production. The proprietary HalZero* technology is based on converting alumina to aluminium chloride prior to electrolysis in a process where chlorine and carbon are kept in a closed loop. Carbon and chlorine are recycled and reused again and again, thus eliminating emissions of CO2 and emitting oxygen instead.
The Hydro HalZero technology will fully decarbonize the smelting of aluminium, eliminating emissions from both electrolysis and anode baking, resulting in emission-free aluminium. The results of the initial test phase are very promising, and we are now ready to start piloting the technology in lab scale. If successful, the ambition is to produce first pilot volumes by 2025 and to have an industrial-scale pilot up and running by 2030.
Hydro has been working to decarbonize its operations since the 1990s. Today, we are committed to being able to produce aluminium while emitting nothing. HalZero is a quantum leap on the path to zero where we aim to demonstrate that nothing is possible.
