Social Justice and Aluminium: How the ASI Performance Standard makes a difference

25 February 2025

Social justice is defined by the United Nations as “an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations”, but is interpreted as a world where there is fair and equitable distribution of resources and opportunities within a society, as well as upholding human rights and recognising human dignity.[1]

The main principles of social justice are:

• Equity: recognising that different people have different needs and circumstances
• Access: ensuring everyone has access to resources and opportunities as well as essential services
• Participation: everyone has a voice and can participate in the political, economic and social aspects of their community
• Rights: human rights are safeguarded and everyone is treated with dignity, respect and protection from discrimination
• Diversity: valuing and respecting different cultures, identities and perspectives
• Accountability: outlining the responsibilities that different actors have for upholding social justice.

Every year on 20^th February the United Nations celebrates the World Day of Social Justice, with this years’ theme being ‘Strengthening a Just Transition for a Sustainable Future’. Aluminium is at the core of the green transition, and the ASI Performance Standard integrates ASI’s four sustainability priorities throughout – Climate Change, Circularity, Nature Positive and Human Rights – all of which are essential for a just transition.

A just transition supports social justice by establishing criteria that ensures Indigenous Peoples, workers and marginalised communities are not burdened and negatively impacted by the transition. It promotes equity by ensuring that people receive the information and support they need, as well as benefit from the transition. This may be through training opportunities, job creation, social protection measures and protecting and promoting rights, including the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent.

The ASI Performance Standard aims to support a just transition throughout all of its principles by ensuring that aluminium production is sustainable, fair, inclusive and socially responsible. This is done through:

1. Protecting workers’ rights and promoting fair labour practices including fair wages and working conditions, freedom of association, collective bargaining and ensuring non-discrimination and equal opportunities (Principle 10)
2. Protection of Indigenous Peoples’ rights through compliance with international instruments, by requiring Free, Prior and Informed Consent principles are applied when  developing projects that impact Indigenous lands (as well as throughout the mining process) to maximise community inputs, that identify collaborative opportunities, mitigate impacts and provide protective measures (Principle 9)
3. Support for affected populations by encouraging entities to commit resources to local community development initiatives that respect and support their livelihoods (Principle 9)
4. Protection of the environment and surrounding communities through requiring the reduction of Greenhouse gas emissions (Principle 5), protection of biodiversity (Principle 8), monitoring of air and water pollution (Principle 6), promoting circular economy practices (Principle 4) and recognising the need for the entity to protect ecosystem services (Principle 8).
5. Requiring mined land rehabilitation and community participation efforts through proper mine rehabilitation and closure (Principle 8)
6. Ensuring entities are sourcing aluminium responsibly by requiring comprehensive human rights due diligence (Principle 9)

By upholding protection for workers, communities and the environment, the ASI Performance Standard supports a just transition, not just through decarbonisation, but also through requiring inclusive policies, protection of rights, accountability of entities and recognising the interconnection between the environment and communities. The Performance Standard seeks to minimise the unintended negative impacts of the aluminium value chain and maximise positive outcomes, so that those most impacted by the green transition are prioritised and opportunities and resources are redistributed to support social equity and economic prosperity.

For more information on ASI Standards and Social Justice, please visit www.aluminium-stewardship.org.

[1] https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/02/1160301

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