The aluminium industry recognizes the need for a drastic reduction of the GHG emissions to counter ongoing climate changes and has taken appropriate actions: In the production of primary aluminium, continuous efforts to reduce specific GHG emissions led to significant savings: -7.7% between 2002 and 20051 .

Furthermore, the aluminium industry recycles all available scrap, saving 95% of primary energy input and GHG emissions. Transportation is a significant source of CO2 emissions with individual transportation (cars) producing a major share of it. Among the many measures to reduce CO2 emissions from cars, technological ones (i.e. the ones that are intrinsic to the car and do not depend on driver behavior) are the most reliable. Light weighting is one of the most effective and directly impacts CO2 emissions, as 100kg saved on the mass of a car is equivalent to a reduction of 9 grams of CO2 per kilometer.

The European Automotive industry, in close co-operation with the European Aluminium industry, has developed and introduced numerous innovative light-weighting solutions based on aluminium and aluminium alloys. By the intensive use of safe and cost efficient light-weight aluminium concepts which can be applied with little adaptations across all car models, the European producers have taken technological global leadership in the light weighting of passenger cars.

The aluminium industry supports ambitious CO2 reduction targets for cars and is prepared to increase joint development efforts with the Automotive industry and expand its European production capacity to cope with increasing market demand. For car buyers, fuel consumption is seldom the dominant purchasing decision criteria despite its huge impact on operating costs and the well known environmental consequences.

Therefore it would be unfair to put car manufacturers under pressure without educating the public, encouraging and stimulating the demand for low CO2 emitting cars through appropriate incentives. T h e a l u m i n i u m i n d u s t r y welcomes regulatory & fiscal initiatives aimed at stimulating the demand for low CO2 emitting cars.