Alcoa Corporation, Ball Corporation, and Unilever PLC have jointly introduced the first commercial trial of ELYSIS carbon-free smelting technology for use in personal care and home care packaging. The announcement comes just before the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), where leaders from government, academia, finance, and industry will meet to tackle climate change and push for joint action across sectors.
It’s also the first instance of aluminum made with the ELYSIS process being used in consumer packaging. Instead of releasing greenhouse gases during smelting, the technology produces oxygen, a cleaner way to make aluminum. The pilot features an aerosol can composed of 50% ELYSIS-produced primary aluminum and 50% post-consumer recycled material, establishing one of the lowest-carbon packaging solutions currently available in the market.
The initiative for the trial of ELYSIS shows how teamwork across the value chain can help speed up the development of low-carbon materials. It also aligns with global decarbonization goals and the growing consumer push for more sustainable products.
“Through this collaboration with Ball and Unilever, we’re helping bring low-carbon aluminum into everyday products and demonstrating how innovation at the material level can deliver tangible sustainability benefits,” said Renato Bacchi, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Alcoa. “We are proud to collaborate across the aluminum value chain to reduce carbon footprints and create real impact in people’s daily lives.”
Ramon Arratia, Chief Sustainability Officer & Vice President, Public Affairs at Ball Corporation, added, “This project combines higher recycled content and low-carbon primary aluminum – both key to decarbonize aluminum packaging and the aluminum sector at large. This is both a packaging innovation and critical supply chain collaboration at work,”
Unilever’s Chief Procurement Officer, Shailendra Sadera, emphasized, “This partnership is an example of how we can develop innovations to seize emission reduction opportunities to accelerate climate progress together,”
Bringing ELYSIS aluminum into consumer packaging marks an important move for both the aluminum and consumer goods sectors. Through this partnership, Alcoa, Ball, and Unilever show that working together can move new technology into everyday products and help lower greenhouse gas emissions.