the
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Green Aluminum
Alcoa has slashed its greenhouse gas emissions by 33
percent since the 1990s. And now the global aluminum
manufacturer is trying to get its employees in on the act with
an interactive website and personalized carbon calculator.
“We’ve been working on this for a long time on the business front, and we realized that our employees wanted to
make this a part of their personal lives as well,” says Libby
Archell, communications director and manager of volunteer
programs at the Alcoa Foundation, a non-profit arm of the
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA-based company.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ALCOA
COMMUNICATION
CONUNDRUM
The team knew a paper-
heavy communication strat-
egy would be counterintu-
itive to the project goals. So
the team went digital, relying
on e-mails, the website and
other online tools. And
giveaways were limited to
environmentally relevant
goodies, such as reusable
grocery bags and a three-
minute shower timer.
CARBON DATING
Fashioned off a similar effort launched
through a partnership between Alcoa
Australia and Greening Australia in 2006,
the U.S. effort was rolled out to nine
locations, with plans to add five more
early this year.
FOLLOW THE FOOTPRINTS
The Alcoa Foundation partnered with the
Pew Center on Global Climate Change to
launch Make an Impact, providing tools and
training aimed at helping Alcoa’s U.S.
employees live more sustainably while
reducing their energy costs.
CALCULATED RISK
The original plan was to adapt an existing carbon calculator, says Ms. Archell. But after
reviewing their options, the project team decided to develop a calculator from scratch.
“Our team did a lot of back-end research to compile credible information on
climate change,” she says.
WHAT DO YOU
THINK?
The project team spoke exten-
sively with close to 100 Alcoa
employees, meeting with
focus groups across the coun-
try on several occasions and
checking back regularly to get
their feedback on project
development. “Our employees
told us they wanted a
resource that separated
‘green noise’ from the accu-
rate data.”
SOLID NUMBERS
The calculator asks users
detailed questions about their
energy habits and lifestyle,
then produces personalized
suggestions. The tool also generates reports showing users
how much carbon production
they’ve reduced based on the
changes they made, and how
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much money they’ve saved.
WE WANT YOU
Alcoa also sees the project as a valuable recruiting tool—especially for the next
generation of employees. “They’re very environmentally aware and socially conscious
... and programs like Make an Impact help us establish Alcoa as an employer of
choice” says Ms. Archell.
SEEING GREEN
Within the first three months of the initial rollout, 15
percent of employees at locations where the program had been launched were using it, which Ms.
Archell attributes in part to the financial payoff.
“When we launched this project in September,
we were at the tip of the economic crash,” she
explains. “The project gained traction because it was
green, but also because it made good financial
sense. There is a clear synergy between being environmentally efficient and economically responsible.”
