“The world needs a green transition to fight climate change. This is both our most important challenge and our biggest opportunity. The world must reduce its carbon emissions and I am excited to announce Hydro’s ambition to deliver the first commercial volumes of near-zero carbon aluminium already in 2022,” said President and CEO Hilde Merete Aasheim when the company launched its new sustainability ambitions December 13, 2021.

How would the company produce near-zero aluminium? This is a feat never achieved before in the aluminium industry. It is considered a milestone needed to meet the demands of increasingly climate conscious consumers and important contributors to the ambitious targets imposed by European regulators.

On May 10, 2022, five months later, Hydro announced its recycling plant in Clervaux, Luxembourg, had produced 130 tonnes of near-zero carbon aluminium with 100 percent post-consumer aluminium scrap. The production milestone was a significant improvement, compared with the current 2.3 kg CO2/kg aluminium in Hydro CIRCAL extrusion ingot with 75 percent post-consumer aluminium scrap. The use of post-consumer scrap significantly reduces the CO2 footprint compared to pre-consumer/process scrap as well as primary aluminium.

The team in Clervaux knew the degree of difficulty, precision and process control that is needed to make a spearhead product such as near-zero aluminium. Steve Buechi, a Hydro employee since 1998, was one of the key operators given the responsibility to overlook the final quality control of the milestone production.

Steve’s life story reveals he could have ended up anywhere else in the world than at the recycling plant in Clervaux. As we meet him inside the plant, his bright smile, coolness and calmness gives an indication to a remarkable human being that has seen it all.