Wyn Jones

This article is part of the Climate project of Spinwatch.

Wyn Jones is Managing director of Alcan Aluminium UK (Now RioTinto Alcan UK). He is also Vice President of the Aluminium Federation. In 2004 he was awarded an OBE for 30 years service in the Aluminium industry.

During his time as managing director of Alcan Aluminium UK he was head of Lynemouth primary smelter and it's coal power station, as well as the Lochaber smelter in Fort William, Scotland, and its two associated hydro-power stations.

According to the Newcastle Journal:

The 54-year-old, who lives in Hexham, Northumberland, began his career in 1970 when he joined the British Aluminium Company.

He subsequently worked in most sectors of the aluminium industry before joining Alcan Smelting and Power UK [ASPUK] as finance and planning director in 1992. During his time at the company, he took the business through the privatisation of the electricity and coal industries and in 1996 he became the director responsible for the 420-megawatt coal-fired power station at Lynemouth in Northumberland.

Mr Jones was also commercial manager for a smelting and power project in central China. In 2001, he was appointed managing director of ASPUK, which contributes almost 10pc of aluminium giant Alcan's global smelting capacity. The father of two and grandfather of one also holds directorships at the Aluminium Federation, Primary Aluminium Association, Association of Electricity Producers and Northern Enterprises Ltd and is also chair of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Energy Policy Committee.

Directorships

• British Alcan Aluminium plc (chair)
• Alcan Aluminium UK Ltd (MD)
• Alcan Farms Ltd (chair)
• Aluchemie (Holland)
• Aluminium Federation
• Association of Electricity Producers

Other involvements

• Chair of Materials Innovation and Growth Team (Department of Trade and Industry)
• Former chair of Confederation of British Industry Energy Policy Committee (six-year tenure)
• Expert contributor to European Commission High Level Group on Competitiveness, Energy and the Environment (2006)
• Member of Prime Minister’s G8 WEF/ Industry expert advisory panel on Climate Change, feeding into the Gleneagles summit in 2005.
• Member of Whitehall/Business Climate Change Policy Review Group
• Adviser to New and Renewable Energy Centre
• Founder member of UK Emissions Trading Steering Committee
• Member of Special Expert Group of NETA (1999-2000)

Aluminium for Argentinian weapons

A 2008 interview for The Journal states:

Jones recalls how they were supplying aluminium to the Argentinian military junta for their main strike aircraft when the Falklands conflict started.

“We had a shipment which was due for dispatch. Jonnie was in Australia, but I knew we couldn’t send it. I called the MoD, but as no embargo had yet been officially introduced they said we could.

“I knew I couldn’t do it, so I went to the airport where the shipment had already passed through Customs and was awaiting loading, so I went in and got it back.

“The following day The Times ran a piece with a picture of the cargo crates saying ‘this is a shipment of rifles to Argentina’. “Jonnie was furious because he wanted to know how we were going to sell the stock. But the funny thing is we got paid twice for the goods. Once during the conflict and then after the conflict we got a second cheque from the Argentinians.

An estimated 30% of aluminium production is used in military applications . This anecdote also exposes the fallacy of arms trading where Britain has several times armed its own opposition, and profited from it.

View on climate change and industry

Wyn Jones featured in a live Lloyds 360 debate on climate change with Trevor McDonald on 5th July 2006, where he gave his view that the aluminium industry must be 'part of the solution' to climate change. Some of his claims are examined here:

To Mr McDonald's question about whether industry wasn't part of the problem for climate change, Wyn Jones responded:

Industry accounts for approximately 21% of global emissions of CO2 gases, so therefore it is part of the problem...To the order of about 20%.

This is a fairly conservative estimate. In contrast, the IPCC 4th Assessment report states:

Total industrial sector GHG emissions were about 12 GtCO2-eq in 2004, about 25% of the global total.

The IPCC's pie chart of emissions by sector in this report attributes 19.4% of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to industry, but also 25.9% to energy supply, and 13.1% to transport, of which industry will be responsible for some share. This sectoral division of emissions also hides the role of industry in increasing demand for its products through advertising and lobbying, which in turn increase consumption, energy use and waste, all of which produce emissions. The role of industry in deforestation for power plants and mining is also not included and would raise this figure.