Rolling Forward: Strengthening the Systems That Support Responsible Aluminium
Fion Cheung, Head of ESG at SNTO, discusses how responsible sourcing, credible data and a more integrated approach to sustainability, quality and competitiveness are helping build resilient aluminium supply chains, meet evolving customer expectations and create long-term value.
10 July 2026
What does your ASI membership mean to you? Why does it matter?
ASI membership provides a common baseline for responsible aluminium production and continuous improvement. When we joined ASI in 2018, the goal was not only certification, but also to better understand how responsible sourcing, production, traceability and stewardship could be managed within a recognised global framework.
It matters because sustainability in aluminium is not defined by a single issue. Carbon, recycling and energy are important, but they sit within a wider system that also includes governance, water stewardship, biodiversity, human rights and stakeholder engagement. ASI has helped us approach these areas in a more structured and consistent way.
It has supported a shift in thinking from individual initiatives to a more integrated operating model, where responsible sourcing, material traceability, customer requirements and business resilience are considered together. ASI also provides a shared language with customers and partners, particularly as expectations increase around material origin, recycled content, carbon footprint and verified sustainability claims.
For us, ASI is more than a certification. It is a practical framework that supports clearer decision-making, stronger customer trust and responsible long-term growth.
How has ASI membership helped your organisation strengthen business resilience while meeting growing expectations for responsible sourcing?
ASI membership is an important part of our business resilience because it helps us respond to evolving customer expectations in a structured way. While quality, delivery and cost remain essential, customers are increasingly focused on material origin, certified content, carbon footprint, recycled content and traceability.
ASI provides consistency in how these expectations are managed. It reduces complexity by allowing us to respond with a defined framework, rather than treating each request as a separate requirement.
This has strengthened our internal systems for supplier engagement, documentation, audit readiness, data quality and accountability. It has also helped us prepare earlier for emerging market and regulatory expectations, rather than reacting when requirements become urgent.
As an aluminium producer, we must balance three priorities: product quality, cost competitiveness and the transition towards lower-carbon production. ASI helps provide the structure needed to manage this balance and maintain resilience in a changing market.
Ultimately, resilience is not only about supply continuity. It is also about the ability to meet evolving expectations with credible evidence and reliable systems. ASI supports this by helping us align customer trust, market access and long-term competitiveness.
What improvements or changes have you made to align with, support, or implement ASI standards?
One of the most valuable aspects of ASI is the way it connects sustainability with day-to-day operations. For us, sustainability has to work in practice. It is reflected in how energy is managed, how materials are tracked, how production is controlled, and how evidence is maintained to support customer expectations, audits and internal decision-making.
On energy, we continue to strengthen a stable renewable energy profile. Our low-carbon foundation includes 100% renewable electricity, hydro-powered aluminium sourcing, solar energy storage development and long-term energy planning.
On circularity, we have developed a systematic approach to material recovery and reuse. This includes production scrap recovery, aluminium formwork recycling, a dedicated recycling operation at our Hunan Industrial Plant, and the reuse and recovery of aluminium jumbo cores across our manufacturing activities.
For post-consumer recycled (PCR) aluminium foil, we are taking a staged approach. We have recently validated an 11% PCR pathway, which has now reached the customer validation stage. Our ambition is to increase PCR content to between 35% and 50% by 2028, provided product quality, traceability and customer approval remain robust.
Working with our downstream recycling partner, which is also an ASI member, we have developed an upstream PCR traceability process covering source segregation, batch creation, material identification, transfer documentation, custody transfer and receipt validation. This helps maintain visibility from recycled material collection through to our production process and finished aluminium foil.
We have also expanded our focus on human rights and responsible sourcing across the value chain. Rather than assessing risks only at our own sites, we are working more closely with upstream partners, from bauxite mining operations through to aluminium ingot suppliers, to better understand potential risks and impacts. While many of these suppliers are ASI certified, we recognise that certification alone does not remove the need for ongoing due diligence and engagement.
Our work increasingly looks beyond labour practices to include areas such as community grievance mechanisms, biodiversity, nature-related impacts and concerns raised by local stakeholders. To support this process, we have taken additional steps to prioritise risks and develop a risk heat map that helps inform both our internal decision making and the information increasingly requested by downstream customers. This has reinforced the importance of working across the value chain. It is not something any one company can achieve alone and requires collaboration, transparency and sustained engagement. While carbon footprint data is often readily available through published sustainability reporting, engagement with upstream bauxite suppliers can be more challenging. Information is often more sensitive, requiring additional dialogue and explanation around why greater visibility is important.
Despite these challenges, we remain positive. This is a key focus area for us and we want to work more closely with our upstream partners through stronger communication, engagement and knowledge sharing to help align expectations and values. We recognise that transparency across the industry remains a shared challenge, but we are seeing greater collaboration and believe this will help create a more sustainable and responsible future for everyone involved.
These initiatives reflect the direction of our sustainability strategy. Responsible sourcing, circularity, human rights and customer trust cannot be managed separately; they need to be managed as one connected system. ASI provides the framework that helps make this approach more structured, transparent and credible.
What impacts have you observed as a result of your initiatives or actions?
We have observed impacts in two areas: external impacts from our sustainability initiatives, and internal impacts supported by ASI membership.
From a customer and market perspective, conversations increasingly go beyond the finished aluminium product. Customers want to understand the material journey, responsible sourcing practices, traceability and verified recycled content. They are looking for credible evidence to support sustainability claims.
Across the packaging industry, we are seeing a material transition, but aluminium continues to have long-term relevance due to its protective qualities and circular value. Our focus is to make low-carbon, traceable aluminium foil more practical and valuable for customers.
Our work on post-consumer recycled (PCR) content reflects this direction. The challenge is ensuring recycled content can be introduced without compromising product performance, food safety or customer approval, while also meeting expectations for verified and cost-competitive solutions. This is complex but not impossible.
We have already validated an 11% PCR pathway and are working to increase this over time. This is not only about increasing recycled content, but also strengthening the systems behind it, including source verification, batch traceability, process control, mass balance approaches and customer validation.
This systems thinking extends into other areas of the business. In construction applications, we have focused on reusing aluminium formwork and aluminium core reels where technically suitable. These initiatives extend circularity beyond the finished product into production and logistics systems.
We are also seeing tangible environmental outcomes, including reduced reliance on timber formwork and associated reductions in deforestation in China’s Hunan Province, as well as measurable CO2 emissions reductions of XXXX.
Alongside these external outcomes, ASI membership has strengthened our internal capabilities. It has provided access to practical tools, industry collaboration and shared learning that support our work in circularity, traceability and carbon reduction.
Through ASI and its Circularity Working Group, we have been able to exchange experience from China’s aluminium foil sector and learn from peers across the value chain. One example is carbon management: ASI has helped deepen our understanding of Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions and how they connect across operations and the wider value chain.
The ASI GHG Pathway Tool, together with the SBTi framework, has supported the development of an emissions reduction pathway aligned with a 1.5 degree scenario.
Overall, the most significant impact has been the ability to translate sustainability ambition into practical implementation, through PCR development, traceability systems, circularity initiatives and structured emissions reduction planning.
How are you looking to improve on your current achievements? What is your future outlook?
Looking ahead, ASI is expected to continue playing an important role as customer and market expectations increase around verified data for carbon footprint, recycled content, traceability and responsible sourcing.
As these expectations grow, the industry will require more consistent frameworks. Without them, reporting complexity risks increasing without necessarily improving sustainability outcomes.
The focus going forward is not only on low-carbon or circular claims, but on better connecting product performance, sustainability outcomes, value creation and verifiable data systems.
Through continued innovation, we aim to strengthen traceable, low-carbon aluminium foil solutions and enhance the systems that support them. Our goal is to ensure aluminium remains a responsible, long-term material choice in sustainable packaging, backed by credible data and practical implementation.
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