Wyn Jones

This article is part of the Climate project of Spinwatch.

Wyn Jones is Managing director of British Alcan (Now RioTinto Alcan UK). He is also Vice President of the Aluminium Federation. In 2003 he was awarded an OBE for 30 years service in the Aluminium industry.

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.'

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 that;

'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 it's 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.