Rio Tinto Alcan is the global leader in the aluminium industry and one of five product groups operated by Rio Tinto, a leading international mining group which acquired Alcan in October 2007. It is the world’s number one producer of bauxite and aluminium, with headquarters in Montreal, Canada and operations around the world.

Through former Alcan’s community investment program and long history of collaborating with not-for-profit and civil society organizations at local and global levels, Alcan had witnessed and learned to appreciate the enormous contribution these organizations make to pressing economic, environmental, and social issues.

In late 2003, Alcan adopted sustainability as the key focus for its community investment program. Against this background, the company created the US$1-million Alcan Prize for Sustainability in January, 2004 to support the not-for-profit sector and to underline its belief that all sectors of society must work together to address the world’s problems. Alcan committed to nine years of funding in the first cycle of the Alcan Prize for Sustainability, now in its fourth year.