“Achieving More”: Aurubis publishes its Sustainability Report 2017/18

Aurubis AG has published its sixth Sustainability Report. Under the title “Achieving More”, the report provides an overview of the current status of the Sustainability Strategy. The report, which spans nearly 60 pages, also presents facts and figures on the topic of sustainability, which are guided by the internationally recognized standards of the Global Reporting Initiative. Furthermore, the report serves as the Communication on Progress for the UN Global Compact, which Aurubis signed in 2014 and whose principles the company supports.

Divided into the chapters “Economy,” “Environment,” and “People,” the Aurubis Sustainability Report looks back on a variety of sustainability activities in fiscal year 2017/18 – including stakeholder dialogue, recycling solutions, measures to protect against environmental impacts, Aurubis’ involvement in society, and the successful use of industrial heat from the production processes in Hamburg.

“Our goal is to develop from a copper producer to a leading multi-metal group by 2025. In light of this transition, sustainability remains the foundation of our activities and will continue to guide our conduct while creating a framework for responsible corporate governance,” emphasized Aurubis AG CEO Jürgen Schachler, who is responsible for the topic of sustainability in the Executive Board. He explained, “With our multi-metal recycling, for example, we close the material cycle for copper and other metals. This is highlighted by two figures: with about 700,000 t of recycling materials processed each year, we are the world’s largest copper recycler. And on average, one-third of our copper cathodes come from recycling materials.”

As a component of innovative technological developments, copper from Aurubis makes a notable contribution to the transition to renewable energies and to improving the CO2 balance in modern life. The energy transition and megatrends like e-mobility wouldn’t be possible without copper. In October 2018, Aurubis and the energy supplier enercity commissioned a 3.7-km-long district heating pipeline to transport industrial heat from a sub-process of copper production and supply the district HafenCity East with CO2-free heat. This prevents 20,000 t of CO2 each year.

Due to continuous investments in its facilities – Aurubis has invested about € 530 million in environmental protection measures in copper production since 2000 – the company has achieved a leading position in environmental protection when compared globally.

Resource efficiency is a priority at Aurubis. This means drawing even more from increasingly complex raw materials, for example. Aurubis Business Partner Screening, a key assessment tool that takes social and ecological criteria into account, contributes to improving the organization of the supply chain.

Moreover, Aurubis takes part in climate protection initiatives such as the CDP and published a separate Non-Financial Report in accordance with the German CSR Directive Implementation Act in the Aurubis Annual Report 2017/18.

Achieving More – read more: The Sustainability Report 2017/18 can be downloaded here.