The United States of America (US), Canada and the European Union (EU) all now consider aluminum as strategic. This metal is indeed increasingly used, especially for the energy transition, be it for electric vehicles (EVs), electricity grids, wind turbines or solar panels.
Europe will, therefore, need growing aluminum supplies in the coming years. However, the European aluminum industry has been weakened over the last decades and henceforth only represents a small share of global aluminum production. As a consequence, it cannot entirely meet domestic needs.
Aluminum has a substantial environmental footprint and its production, from bauxite to primary aluminum, comes with major greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Those emissions are especially due to the tremendous amounts of energy (gas and electricity) consumed during the industrial process, particularly for electrolysis. The major use of electricity entails an important influence of the structure of the national electricity mix on aluminum’s CO2 emissions. But some emissions are also specific to aluminum production, for instance, the ones produced by the chemical reaction operated within the scope of the electrolysis in order to transform alumina into primary aluminum.
As demand will grow in the coming years, Europe will have to produce more aluminum to meet the needs of its energy transition, while reducing the carbon footprint of its aluminum industry.
To address this challenge, several decarbonization technologies are currently under consideration. As for other industries, energy efficiency or electrification of the industrial processes (using low-carbon electricity sources) can help to reduce aluminum’s footprint. However, these two solutions have often already been implemented, especially to reduce energy costs. This partial implementation allows the European aluminum industry to have a carbon footprint of 6.8 tonnes of CO2 for 1 tonne of primary aluminum, while the global average is of 16.1 tonnes of CO2.
Recycling also has a key role to play since recycled aluminum consumes 96% less energy and emits around four times less GHG (regarding direct emissions) than primary aluminum. Nevertheless, if improving aluminum recycling in Europe will be a crucial step, additional primary aluminum supplies will remain essential and recycling is no silver bullet. All these solutions are relevant tools for the reduction of the European aluminum industry’s carbon footprint but will not be sufficient to reach carbon neutrality.
About the author:
Thibault Michel is a Research Fellow at Ifri’s Center for Energy and Climate since January 2024.