Elkem ASA

Happy Holidays from Elkem! 🎅 Thank you to our customers, partners, shareholders and colleagues for this year’s collaboration. As our CEO Helge Aasen expresses in this year's holiday video, we sincerely appreciate your contribution to our journey, which this year marked a major milestone: Elkem turned 120 years old! We look forward to celebrating many more milestones with you in the coming years 🎉 No matter where you are in the world, or which holiday you may be celebrating, we're wishing you a joyful holiday season and best wishes for the New Year – may it be even better than the last! ✨

Ending the year with a gilded bang! 🎉 We’re proud to have come third in the annual Farmand Award for best ESG reporting 2023 among listed companies in Norway 🏅 The magazine Farmand was founded in 1891 and every year since 1955, the Farmand Prize has been awarded to the Norwegian company with the best and most complete annual report. For the past two years, Farmand has also been rating companies’ ESG reports. Sustainability reporting is a journey of continuous improvement, understanding our challenges and opportunities, and communicating openly with our stakeholders as we work on reducing our emissions to #NetZero, while supplying the #GreenTransition with the materials it needs 🌎 This recognition provides fuel to our ongoing journey and for that we are grateful. Congratulations to our fellow ESG award-winners - Norsk Hydro and Mowi – you inspire us! To read more about our Sustainability work, see link 👇

Elkem CTO Håvard Moe visited Energi og Klima's podcast to discuss CO2 emissions in industry with host Kirsten Å. Øystese from the Norwegian Climate Foundation (Norsk klimastiftelse). 🌱 Norway has committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 and to reaching #NetZero emissions by 2050. Achieving these targets requires #ClimateAction in all areas, such as increased use of renewable sources, reduced waste, electrification, replacement of fossil fuels and more. Progress has been made in Norway's road traffic and in the production of oil and gas. Norwegian industry has halved emissions since 1990, but progress on CO2 reduction has slowed 🏭 "Higher energy costs and the need for decarbonisation have put European industry at a disadvantage against competitors in other countries," Håvard explains, "That was not the goal. The goal was to both maintain competitiveness and decarbonise the industry." In this conversation, Håvard shares his insights on decarbonisation, highlighting the availability of emission-reducing technology, the economic pressures on European industries and the global challenges posed by non-participating major economies. 🎧 Listen to the episode (in Norwegian) on your preferred podcast platform, or find it on Energi og Klima's website.

Elkem participated in the 7th China International Import Expo, one of the world's biggest trade fairs. Under the theme "Exploring New 'Silicone' Paths," we showcased our cutting-edge technologies and material innovations across four key areas: smart mobility, life sciences, smart cities, and comfortable living 🔋 One of the highlights of the convention was celebrating our 120-year anniversary 🎉 We marked the occasion with a ceremony at our booth and were honoured to be joined by Marianne Sivertsen Næss, Norway's Minister of Fisheries and Ocean Policy, Vebjørn Dysvik, the Norwegian Ambassador to China, and Tobias F. Svenningsen, Norwegian Consul General in Shanghai. Sandy Chen, SVP of Elkem Silicones, and Laurent Dumont, Vice President of Strategic Business for Elkem Silicones, presented some of the company's history and achievements, highlighting how far Elkem has come since its early beginnings as a startup in 1904. Now a global leader in silicon-based solutions with over 7400 employees, including 550 researchers, worldwide, we're supplying and enabling the #DigitalTransition and #GreenTransition while developing groundbreaking solutions for a more sustainable future 🌱 Our R&D centre in Shanghai, for example, is dedicated to developing specialised silicones for hybrid and electric vehicles 🚗 and our expansion project at the Xinghuo plant has greatly increased production capacity and product quality, while reducing emissions. The key to our success? 💡 "Our spirit of innovation and willingness to pioneer new technology," Sandy told attendees at our ceremony.

At Elkem, we believe in upholding human rights and promoting respect and dignity for all. In recognition of International Day of Human Rights, we'd like to highlight the work our French colleagues have been doing in Métropole de Lyon with Bureaux du Coeur 🕊️ As recognised by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to a standard of living that is adequate for the health and well-being of him or herself, including food, clothing and housing. However, many struggle with difficult living situations. In France alone, 330 000 individuals are homeless. Bureaux du Coeur partners with businesses to provide emergency shelters for individuals in precarious situations. In the evenings and on the weekends, when offices are empty, the organisation provides those in need of shelter with a stable, secure and private space 🛌 In addition to temporary housing, the partnership also offers job search resources. This collaboration reflects Elkem’s solidarity with those in need and our commitment to upholding human rights in our operations, value chains and communities. We're proud of this partnership with Bureaux du Coeur and of our colleagues' efforts to support the important work they do 🤝

Earlier this year, Elkem achieved a significant milestone by completing our silicones expansion project in China, known as the Phoenix project, which involved the construction of a new 200,000-tonne silicon monomer production plant 🏭 We hosted Tobias F. Svenningsen, the Consul General at the Royal Norwegian Consulate General in Shanghai, yesterday at the Xinghuo plant, alongside Håvard Moe, Elkem's SVP Technology. This visit, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of Norway-China diplomatic relations, allowed us to showcase Project Phoenix and underscore the importance of international collaboration in driving innovation and sustainable industry 🌏 Our investment in expanding silicone production in China is already having a substantial impact, and the new Xinghuo production line contributed an impressive 75 MNOK in EBITDA in the third quarter, demonstrating its cost competitiveness, which we believe matches the industry's lowest 📈

On Thursday, our CEO Helge Aasen participated in Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)’s Topplederforum, engaging with leaders from academia, industry, and the public sector discussing how to strengthen collaboration on R&D and innovation between industry and academia, to meet society's needs in a changing world 🌎 Helge shared Elkem’s journey from an industrial startup in 1904 to a global leader in advanced silicon-based materials, essential for digitalisation and the #GreenTransition, as well as our focus on research, development and innovation 👩🔬 With our global team of 7,400 employees, including 550 researchers and 14 R&I centres, Elkem is committed to this area. In 2022, we invested over 2.5% of our turnover in R&I. New products introduced over the past five years make up more than 20% of our turnover. Our close collaboration with Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and SINTEF has been crucial in developing technologies like the Sicalo carbon looping project, which we celebrated last week after it received €1.8 million in support from Horizon Europe. Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) plays a vital role in our innovation efforts, providing top-tier talent and fostering research environments that keep us competitive globally. As global competition intensifies, research and innovation are essential. NTNU’s role in educating future talent is crucial for our success, and the success of many others. Going forward, we will place even greater emphasis on research that combines domain expertise (e.g. within metallurgy, chemistry and high-temperature processes) with measurement technology to optimise our operations. Thank you to Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), SINTEF and all our partners for their collaboration and support in ensuring the Norwegian process industry remains world-leading in terms of productivity and energy efficiency 🤝

We are pleased to announce that Elkem has received €1.8 million in EU funding as part of the Horizon Europe project MECALO, to explore CO2-free silicon production through our Elkem Sicalo® project. This initiative aims to eliminate all CO2 emissions from silicon production, exemplifying our commitment to achieving #NetZero in our own production as well as facilitating the #GreenTransition. The MECALO project, which has been awarded a total of €9.9 million, will further develop the carbon looping concept for general metal production, demonstrating CO2-free production of silicon and manganese alloys. This project involves collaboration with Eramet Norway, a leading manganese alloy producer, and has the potential to save 33 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually by 2050 if fully implemented in all silicon and manganese production across Europe. We have been working on Elkem Sicalo® with SINTEF as our research partner since 2021, with support from The Research Council of Norway Norges forskningsråd and Enova SF. Together with SINTEF and NORCE Norwegian Research Centre, we are now completing the first pilot phase at Elkem Technology Park in Kristiansand, Norway. Yesterday we hosted a visit to celebrate the funding and showcase the project's progress. In collaboration with our partners, we are also initiating the second phase of the project with extensive pilot testing of various stages of the production process, also with support from Enova SF. Thank you to our guests for their visit and support: Oddmund L. Hoel, Minister of Research and Higher Education, Helge Aasen, CEO, Elkem, Eli Aamot, EVP, SINTEF Industri, Bjørn Kolbjørnsen of Eramet, Håvard Moe, SVP Technology, Elkem, Aasgeir Valderhaug, Director R&D, Elkem, Halvor Dalaker, Senior Researcher, SINTEF and Trygve Veisdal Hanssen, Director, Elkem R&D Technical Center, John Vigrestad and Tor Borgar Hansen from the Research Council and Ståle Kvernrød from Enova. Read more about Elkem Sicalo® and MECALO here: https://lnkd.in/gethPeah

Since our beginning as an industrial start-up back in 1904, Elkem has been all about innovation 💡 “We must always look for new opportunities. We are never satisfied, we can always be better,” Elkem’s head of technology Håvard Moe tells Teknisk Ukeblad in an interview. This means prioritising innovation and ambitious R&D projects such as Sicalo, which aims to eliminate all CO2 emissions from silicon production, and supporting innovative entrepreneurship 🤝 Our recent partnership with Startuplab allows us to pursue the goal Elkem has had for over 100 years: to renew and improve ourselves, adapt to market needs and find more climate-friendly and efficient products and solutions 🌍 🔗 Read more about how we work with innovation and tech start-ups, such as the ones in Startuplab, for continuous inspiration and improvement: https://bit.ly/3Z9OPZ4 (in Norwegian)

This week, Norway's Minister of Energy Terje Aasland visited one of the world’s most energy-efficient smelters: Elkem’s Thamshavn plant, located near Trondheim, Norway. 🏭 Thamshavn was one of the first smelters in the world to implement an energy recovery system. Today, the plant gets about 1/3 of its electricity consumed from waste heat generated during the production process. What better setting to discuss framework conditions for Norwegian power-intensive industry? ⚡ Elkem plant manager Sondre Valle Hestvik and union representative Thomas Eggan highlighted the importance of maintaining competitive electricity prices for industry by ensuring that any increase in power consumption is preceded by additional renewable energy production, such as onshore wind. 💨 This will ensure that world-leading smelters such as Thamshavn can keep providing the silicon the world needs to drive the green and digital transition. 🌱 Pictured: Aasmund Lie, Orkland Municipality, Thomas Eggan, Union Representative Elkem, Terje Aasland, Minister of Energy, Sondre Valle Hestvik, plant manager, Jan Haugen, Labor Party and LO, Hanne Nyhus, Mayor Orkland Labor Party