Alcoa 2009 Annual Report Download - page 7

Alcoa 2009 Annual Report and Form 10-K 5
Novelis to create a new company, Evermore Recycling LLC,
for the procurement of used aluminum beverage containers
(UBCs), helping to ensure that more aluminum beverage
cans are back on the store shelf in just 60 days. It’s no
wonder 73% of all aluminum produced in the past 120 years
is still in use.
Alcoa again earned recognition as a company committed
to sustainable values and practices. For the eighth year in
a row, Alcoa was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability
Index, and we were again named one of the world’s most
sustainable corporations at the World Economic Forum in
Davos – the only U.S.-based company to make the list from
the Materials sector. Alcoa was also named one of Brazil’s
Most Sustainable Companies in Exame magazine’s 2009
Sustainability Guide, a respected corporate responsibility
publication. Given Alcoa’s presence in the high profi le
Amazon region, this ranking is a noteworthy recognition
of Alcoa’s continuing efforts towards environmental
sustainability and social and community development.
Support for communities from the Alcoa Foundation and
our employee volunteers has been especially important
during these diffi cult economic times when government
and private support has decreased. Throughout the year
Alcoans worked in their communities on a number of worthy
causes – serving meals to the hungry, building shelters and
homes, and organizing clothing and blood drives – totaling
4,000 charitable campaigns. Each October, Alcoans around
the world donate their time and energies in special Month
of Service events. In 2009, a record 37% of Alcoans took
part in 795 Month of Service events across 23 countries. It is
particularly inspiring that during diffi cult times, Alcoans rise
to the challenge with passion and purpose to make a real
difference in their communities.
Living by Alcoa’s Values has not gone unnoticed. Alcoa
was ranked in the top 10 of more than 500 companies in
the Covalence ethics reputation survey, the best of the
entire Resources sector. And we were ranked the number
one metals company in Fortune magazine’s respected 2009
Most Admired Companies list – beating out even the global
steel giants. Of the nine attributes judged, we took the top
spot in our industry for innovation, social responsibility and
product quality.
Given all that Alcoans have accomplished this past year,
it’s easy for me to feel enthusiastic about our Company’s
prospects for the future. I am also optimistic about the
prospects for the aluminum industry. As consumers
continue to demand light-weight, recyclable Apple iPods®,
laptops and electronic readers like the Amazon Kindle™,
aluminum emerges as the primary choice of material for
customers like Apple and Hewlett-Packard. As governments
around the world spend stimulus funds and build out
their infrastructures, they are looking to aluminum as the
material of choice to expand electricity transmission lines
and construct energy-effi cient buildings. As automotive
companies seek to address tightening fuel economy and
emissions standards and offer drivers cost effi ciency
without compromising durability and safety, they are
choosing aluminum.
All around us, we see an ever-growing demand for
aluminum. As the world’s demographics shift, as cities
become more and more crowded, as energy becomes
more scarce, and as environmental stewardship becomes
the responsibility of private consumers, businesses and
governments alike, aluminum becomes more and more
central to our needs.
The Alcoa Juruti bauxite mine, in the
heart of the Amazon, is a benchmark in
sustainability through its positive social,
economic, and environmental initiatives.