12.18.2006 - 08:41am ET

(CSRwire) This periodic newsletter offers a roundup of recent highlights from Alcoa’s operations worldwide. Taken individually, these summaries provide insight into Alcoa’s performance in the economic, environmental, and social realms. Taken together, they reveal the breadth of activity that ultimately delivers a sustainable outcome. More detail about Alcoa can be found on our website, www.alcoa.com.

Alcoa Foundation Calls for Global Action on Sustainability Alcoa Foundation conducted the first Advancing Sustainability Conference in Brussels last month, gathering together leaders in the sustainability and conservation movement.

Alcoa’s Hungary Operations Named Most Efficient Alcoa-Köfém in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, was ranked the most efficient of the 200 largest corporations in the country based on financial measures by major business weekly Figyelö.

Study Shows How Alcoa Encourages Employee Use of Preventive Care Services to Improve Health While Helping Control Costs A study conducted by Yale University shows how Alcoa was able to use different cost-sharing approaches in its employee benefits plans to encourage employees’ use of preventive care services while at the same time helping control the company’s overall health care costs.

Alcoa to Re-Position Downstream Operations Alcoa will re-position several of its downstream operations to further improve returns and profitability through a targeted restructuring of operations and the creation of a soft alloy extrusion joint venture.

Recipe for Success in Land Conservation A US$240,000 grant from Alcoa Foundation is the main ingredient in a collaborative effort to use scientific research to address critical issues on restoring and maintaining natural habitats on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in California specifically and land conservancies in general.

Fun, Interaction Spark Interest in Energy In a Canadian city economically centered on energy-intensive industries, 475 local children learned about energy and energy consumption through a fun and interactive Alcoa-sponsored program called Kilojoue.

Taking Fatality Prevention Wider, Deeper Not willing to rest on its strong history of fatality prevention success, Alcoa's Engineered Products and Solutions (EPS) group took its efforts wider and deeper in 2006 to further eliminate risks that could lead to a fatality.

Bringing Training to an Amazonian City To overcome the lack of infrastructure to train local people to work in a new bauxite mine and the service industry that will support it, Alcoa partnered with private training organization Senai to bring the school ship Samaúma to a remote Amazonian area in Juruti, Brazil.

Partnership Revitalizes Community, Preserves Australian History A 10-year partnership that integrates Alcoa grant-giving with senior management involvement has revitalized a historic Western Australia institution and transformed it into a renowned center for programs that develop the skills and talents of young people.

Alcoa Foundation Supports Sustainable Home Development Project Alcoa Foundation is providing the Better Housing Coalition of Richmond, Virginia, with US$137,000 over three years to support the construction of high-performance, energy-efficient homes for first-time low-to-moderate-income homebuyers.

We welcome your comments or questions on Alcoa’s sustainability efforts. We won’t necessarily reply to every e-mail we receive, but we do read and consider them all.