The International Aluminum Association releases 2050 global carbon reduction targets for the aluminum industry

Recently, the International Aluminum Association (IAI) released a series of new global decarbonization process data inventory reports  the 2before6th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, and proposed phased targets for greenhouse gas emissions reduction in the global aluminum industry by 2050 and their detailed decomposition targets.

The report points out that by 2050, the total carbon dioxide emissions from the global aluminum industry need to be reduced by 77% compared to 2018, with significant reductions in carbon dioxide emissions from alumina and electrolytic aluminum production. The report predicts that aluminum smelting should reduce carbon emissions by nearly 90%, specifically from 823 million tons to 90 million tons. In 2018, the emissions related to electricity in the aluminum smelting process were 670 million tons. According to the emission reduction path, this data needs to be reduced to 8 million tons by 2050. In terms of alumina, the report predicts that the greenhouse gas emissions of the industry should decrease from 171 million tons in 2018 to 90 million tons in 2050, a reduction of nearly half.

At the same time, the report predicts that with economic growth, urbanization, and increased infrastructure construction, the global demand for aluminum products will increase by about 81%, which also means that the aluminum industry will bear greater pressure to reduce emissions. Marlen Bertram, Director of Scenarios and Forecasting at IAI, pointed out that in order to achieve the goal of reducing carbon emissions, the aluminum industry must make significant investments in technology and require commitments from all members of the value chain. He also said, "As one of the most recyclable materials on Earth, the amount of aluminum recycled may increase by about 183%. Overall, according to our calculations, all measures taken by the aluminum industry to improve recycling rates and resource efficiency can achieve the goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 20% compared to 2050. We believe that the aluminum industry's various actions and initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its production process and increase recycling will make it effective in addressing climate change and become the best practitioner of carbon reduction in the mining industry

In March of this year, IAI released the report "2050 Global Aluminum Industry Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Pathways", which identified three paths for emission reduction in the next 30 years, namely decarbonization of electricity, reduction of direct emissions, and improvement of recycling and resource efficiency.