Roadmap highlights potential strategies for aluminum decarbonization

A recently released report, Pathways to Decarbonization: A North American Aluminum Roadmap, highlights potential strategies to dramatically reduce carbon emissions in the North American aluminum industry by midcentury, laying out theoretical pathways to achieve industrywide carbon emission reductions consistent with the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Net Zero by 2050 goals.  

The report, produced by environmental consulting firm ICF and the Aluminum Association, says North America has a significant first-mover advantage in terms of its aluminum product carbon footprint, which is about 50 percent lower than global averages. This advantage can be attributed to the use of low-carbon primary aluminum, increased recycling and voluntary emissions reductions efforts over the past several decades. 

However, the report also says that meeting such aggressive emissions reductions targets by midcentury will require an all-of-society approach to decarbonization and tens of billions of dollars in both public and private investment. 

“Our industry is proud of the vital role we play in the clean energy transition and the strides we’ve made to reduce carbon emissions over the last several decades,” Aluminum Association President and CEO Charles Johnson says. “Average carbon emissions to produce a pound of aluminum in North America has dropped by more than half since 1991 giving us a significant head start over the rest of the world and an opportunity to lead the way producing lower carbon metal. But we know that much more must be done to meet net zero targets by 2050.” 

According to the roadmap, achieving net zero targets will require aluminum production emissions to decline 24 percent by 2030, 63 percent by 2040 and 92 percent by 2050. It is said that output is projected to increase by around 80 percent during this period due to growing demand for the metal to support sustainability efforts in various sectors. 

The roadmap identifies three key pathways to reach the 2050 emissions reduction targets: 

1. Aluminum production technology and efficiency improvements: Development of new primary aluminum production technologies like inert anode smelting and the chloride process to remove direct emissions. Changes to current alumina production methods and energy efficiency improvements at the plant level are suggested.
2. Alternative fuels and carbon capture: Transition to new energy sources like green hydrogen, electrification of furnaces and the deployment of carbon capture and storage technologies. 
3. Grid decarbonization: Deployment of clean energy technologies to decarbonize the U.S. electric grid based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) “high uptake” scenario enabled by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).   

In total, the report says about one-third of the required emissions reductions by 2050 can come from aluminum production technology improvements over which the industry itself has the most control. The other two-thirds of reduction must come from a combination of newly developed, affordable manufacturing technologies, deployment of state and federal research and infrastructure investment and a national policy that supports the clean energy transition.

This research sends a strong message that decarbonizing the energy sector is a prerequisite for decarbonizing not only the aluminum industry but also other heavy manufacturing,” Johnson says. “Achieving these ambitious targets by mid-century will require an all-of-society approach to decarbonization. The aluminum industry won’t be able to do this alone.” 

ICF and the Aluminum Association suggest federal and state policymakers and regulators must support the transition to lower carbon and domestic aluminum production by: 

1. ensuring the availability, abundance and affordability of clean energy to reduce emissions across aluminum manufacturing;
2. supporting policies and technologies that drive increased aluminum recycling like better scrap sorting, closed loop material management and recycling incentive programs;
3. enforcing a fair international trade system and effective monitoring that provides transparency about the carbon emissions embedded in international trade flows;
4. providing research and development incentives for clean aluminum production technologies in primary aluminum smelting, alumina refining, scrap melting and semi-fabrication; and
5. facilitating access to capital for manufacturers to deploy industrial decarbonization technologies at the plant level. 

“Our roadmap makes clear that importing carbon-intensive aluminum from outside of North America to meet growing demand will only exacerbate global emissions, cost jobs and weaken supply chain resilience,” Johnson says. “We need to make more aluminum here.”