Elcowire Rail GmbH Lichtlöcherberg 40 06333 Hettstedt Germany www.elcowire.com Elcowire Rail GmbH • PO Box 1045 • 06321 Hettstedt
To our Business Partners Hettstedt, 17.04.2025
Customer information: ESD, Environmental Self-Declaration
Elcowire Rail GmbH and the entire Elcowire Group are committed to reducing CO2 emissions in order to make an important contribution to achieving climate goals. Copper is the central material for Elcowire. Elcowire Rail GmbH primarily produces contact wires and stranded wires made from various copper materials for use in overhead contact line systems: - pure copper (Cu-ETP) - copper-silver alloy CuAg0.1 - copper-tin alloys CuSn0.1 (Valthermo) and CuSn0.2 - copper-magnesium alloys CuMg0.2 and CuMg0.5 Elcowire Rail determined the carbon footprint for these various product and material groups. It quickly became clear that the majority of the resulting carbon footprint is determined by the copper pre-material. The logical consequence of this is to exert influence precisely at this point: to identify copper producers whose cathodes have a CO2 value significantly below the global average. This is precisely what Elcowire has done: by selecting appropriate copper cathode suppliers, Elcowire is able to offer two additional options in addition to products made from standard copper: -
LCC copper (Low-carbon Copper): Copper whose CO2 emissions have been reduced primarily through electrification and automation of various process steps. More efficient ore concentration processes and a green energy mix can also contribute to reducing CO2 emissions.
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100% recycled copper: The basis here is a copper cathode with a very low carbon footprint, as it is made from 100% recycled raw materials. The use of renewable energy in the cathode manufacturing process can further contribute to the low CO2 value.
Based on the three different copper categorizations (standard copper, LCC copper, and 100% recycled copper), so-called Environmental Self-Declarations (ESDs) were created. These self-declarations of environmental aspects of Elcowire Rail GmbH's products include the CO2 equivalent as a key result. Figure 1 schematically illustrates the process for developing the self-declaration (ESD) – beginning with the collection of data on all raw materials, products, services, and energy sources used in the manufacturing process.
Elcowire Rail GmbH Lichtlöcherberg 40 | DE-06333 Hettstedt Geschäftsführer/Managing Director Paul Gustavsson Registernummer/Registration number HRB 26635 B | Registergericht/Court of registration Stendal USt-ID-Nr./VAT-ID DE 322 762 645 Steuer-Nr./Tax-ID 118/105/03191