Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), the world’s largest aluminium smelter ex-China, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries EMEA (MHI EMEA), part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group, to collaborate on opportunities to reduce Alba’s carbon footprint.

The MoU – first-of-its-kind with an aluminium producer – will lay the foundations to conduct a feasibility study on utilising the technology to capture CO₂ from flue gas, developed by MHI Group in collaboration with Kansai Electric Power Co., to reduce Alba’s plant emissions for decarbonisation, Alba said in a statement.

The signing ceremony was attended by Alba’s Chairman of the Board Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa and Kentaro Hosomi - CEO of MHI EMEA, in the presence of Chief Executive Officer Ali Al Baqali and Chief Power Officer Amin Sultan, in addition to senior officials from MHI Group.

Speaking on this occasion, Alba’s Chairman of the Board Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa said: “Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) matters are fronting everything we do in Alba. This MoU will play a fundamental role as we want to be accelerators and embed sustainability considerations in our operations to be more environmentally responsible and inclusive.” 

The CEO of MHI EMEA, Kentaro Hosomi, added: “As a market leader in decarbonisation technology such as carbon capture, storage and utilisation, MHI Group is proud to support Alba and the Kingdom of Bahrain in reaching their ambitious sustainability goals. It is partnerships such as this that enable industry to move quickly on the way to carbon neutrality.”