Ron Knapp

Adviser, Office of the Chairman, China Hongqiao Group Limited (HK)

Ron joined China Hongqiao Group in January 2020, following 11 years as Secretary General of the International Aluminium Institute (London). Previous roles include Executive Director of the Australian Aluminium Council (2002 to 2008), Chief Executive of the World Coal Institute London (1997 to 2001) and senior positions with the Minerals Council of Australia (1987 to 1996). Prior to these appointments, Ron was an economist with the Australian Government (1976 to 1987). Ron is an Australian with a small beef cattle farm in Australia.

China Hongqiao Group is one of the largest fully integrated aluminum company in the world with extensive activities along the whole production chain, based on major direct investments and long-term strategic partnerships. Production is dominated by operations in China, combined with key resource developments in Indonesia and Guinea.

China Hongqiao attaches great importance to environmental protection, energy conservation and sustainable development, with clean green production and higher value products as core business goals. China Hongqiao seeks to continuously improve the full industrial chain by building unique aluminum industry clusters. Central to the industrial cluster philosophy is the development of surrounding enterprises and the cities in which the clusters are located.

China Hongqiao is committed to helping achieve China’s carbon peak and carbon neutral goals – and has adopted a roadmap to take positive actions to optimize the energy structure, carry out industrial upgrading, and promote low-carbon transformation of the industry.

All Sessions by Ron Knapp

09:45 - 11:00

Green Aluminum Session | The Roadmap to Success

Many companies around the world are working diligently on improving their emissions and reducing their footprint on the environment. But there’s still a long way to go, with technology, capital investment, and sourcing of renewable energy all presenting major hurdles.

Meantime, the message from various marketing departments is confusing. Some companies use Scope 1 and 2 in their definitions, some include Scope 3, while others don’t tell us what they have used. The reality is that many major consumers of primary aluminum are demanding zero or near-zero carbon in their aluminum, by the end of the next decade. We can’t get there if we can’t even agree on where we are at today. Let’s look at how to move from where we are at today, to where we need to be.

Key Questions to be addressed in this session
How can we work together better as an industry to increase our chances of meeting our climate goals?
What can we learn from each other? What best practices have companies employed in their efforts to improve their performance?