Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminium, today announced its successful certification against the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative’s Chain of Custody Standard V2 (2022). The company achieved this certification for its smelter in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at its plant in Jharsuguda, Odisha. This site, with an annual smelting capacity of 1.8 million tonnes, is the world’s largest aluminium plant.
Vedanta Aluminium has previously achieved the ASI Performance Standard Certification for the manufacture and supply of primary aluminium products at its SEZ-based plant in Jharsuguda, as well as at BALCO, a unit of Vedanta Aluminium in Korba, Chhattisgarh.
The Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) is a global non-profit standards-setting and certification organization that aims to drive sector-wide transformation within the aluminium industry. ASI’s Standards apply throughout the supply chain, from bauxite mining to downstream sectors that use aluminium in their products, and are a highly-regarded indicator of sustainable operations worldwide.
A Chain of Custody (CoC) system supports the traceability of materials and associated claims through a supply chain. The ASI CoC Standard V2 sets out requirements for creating a Chain of Custody for materials produced and processed through the value chain into various downstream sectors. Implementing ASI’s CoC Standard links verified practices at successive steps of the supply chain—certified under the ASI Performance Standard—to the materials produced by ASI Certified Entities. CETIZION Verifica conducted the independent, third-party audit before certifying Vedanta Aluminium’s smelter.
Sharing the significance of the certification, John Slaven, CEO of Vedanta Aluminium, said, “We welcome the Chain of Custody Certification for our SEZ-based operations in Jharsuguda, the first in India to achieve this mark of operational excellence. Following the ASI Performance Standard Certifications for our plants in Jharsuguda and BALCO, it comes as a significant reiteration of our commitment to undertaking responsible operations. At Vedanta Aluminium, we are focused on integrating and encouraging sustainable practices within every stage of the aluminium value chain, and through this effort, fully explore the limitless potential of the ‘Metal of the Future’ in building a greener tomorrow.”
Dr. Fiona Solomon, CEO of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, said, “We congratulate Vedanta Limited (Aluminium Business) on achieving Certification against ASI CoC Standard V2 at their Jharsuguda Smelter. The certification demonstrates Vedanta’s efforts towards implementing responsible sourcing practices and is complementary to their Performance Standard (V2) Certification, which provides a pathway for continuous improvement of their sustainability performance.”
Leading the transformation of the global aluminium industry, Vedanta Aluminium has committed to achieving Net Zero by 2050. It has rolled out a two-fold strategy towards this goal, reducing its carbon footprint by increasing operational excellence and incorporating more renewables into its energy mix, while also offsetting its carbon footprint through extensive afforestation efforts. Its products have been verified as sustainably produced by Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) International.
Vedanta Aluminium, a business of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest producer of aluminium, manufacturing more than half of India’s aluminium at 2.37 million tonnes in FY24. It is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications in key industries. Vedanta Aluminium ranks first in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment 2023 world rankings for the aluminium industry, reflecting its leading sustainable development practices. With its world-class aluminium smelters, alumina refinery, and power plants in India, the company fulfils its mission of spurring emerging applications of aluminium as the ‘Metal of the Future’ for a greener tomorrow.
