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Certification

ASI awards Audi with Chain of Custody certificate

Audi is the first car manufacturer to be awarded the Chain of Custody - the certificate of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative

Audi is the first car manufacturer to be awarded the Chain of Custody - the certificate of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative

Audi AG is the first automobile maker to be awarded the Chain of Custody certificate of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI). This certifies that Audi can comply with the materials flow chain for sustainably produced aluminum in accordance with the ASI standard and can also input correspondingly certified material to the Aluminum Closed Loop with its suppliers. In this way, the level of sustainability attested by the ASI is completely maintained, not only for components of car making but also for the process scrap from Audi press plants that is retained in the loop.

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ASI Chain of Custody certificate guarantees single-variety processing and tracking

The Aluminium Stewardship Initiative takes account of business ethics, ecology and social criteria across the entire aluminum value chain in order to achieve constant improvements. The focus is on the efficient and economical use of the material, in order to save valuable resources and limit the demand for primary aluminum. Furthermore, the environmental impact of the extraction of bauxite and processing of the material is to be reduced. The ASI also puts the spotlight on the people who are part of the aluminum supply chain. Its members are responsible for, among other things, respecting human rights across the value chain, and they work to produce joint solutions and measure for complying with these rights. For example, representatives of indigenous peoples who live close to the bauxite mines are an established part of the organizational structure of the ASI. A dialog with labor union representatives also plays an important part.

The supply chain for aluminum comprises several pre-suppliers stages. The processes of implementing ASI standards at all levels and monitoring compliance with them are correspondingly complex. Dirk Gross-Loheide, Board Member for Procurement and IT at Audi AG, says “We are responsible for all of the people who are part of our supply chain. To future generations we owe respectful treatment of natural resources. Membership of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative is of enormous help to us in living up to this responsibility. Resource efficiency is the key to an industry that is fit for the future.”

Audi sites at Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm are certified, more sites to follow in 2021

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 t of CO2 emissions were avoided in this way.

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