ICMM: Mining’s Climate Impact Lower Than Expected

As sustainability pressures intensify across global industries, the mining sector faces growing scrutiny over its environmental impact. With the world accelerating towards renewable energy adoption, the extraction and processing of critical minerals has become essential infrastructure for climate action.

A comprehensive new study from the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), developed in partnership with Wood Mackenzie, provides fresh insight into this complex challenge, suggesting the sector's greenhouse gas emissions could be lower than many had assumed.

The research arrives at a critical juncture for mining. Global leaders at COP28 committed to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030, a target that necessitates unprecedented volumes of copper, lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements.

Until now, comprehensive and transparent emissions data has been notably absent from public discourse, creating space for misconceptions about the sector's true climate impact.

Industry emissions under examination

ICMM's analysis examined Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions from 1,700 facilities across 14 commodities, representing 87% of global production. The findings reveal that in 2024, the global mining and metals sector accounted for 11% of total greenhouse gas emissions, with 3% originating from mining activities and 8% from metal production processes.

Dr Emma Gagen, Director of Data and Research at ICMM, told Sustainability Magazine the motivation behind the study. "Despite our sector's importance to the energy transition, up-to-date, publicly available and industry-wide data has been lacking, contributing to the circulation of misleading estimates," Emma says.

Within the sector, emissions sources are concentrated. Steel production dominates at 55% of total emissions, followed by coal mining at 23% and aluminium production at 15%.

The prevalence of highly carbon-intensive blast furnace-based processes, which currently account for approximately 70% of global steel production, explains much of this concentration.

Critically, the research found that non-coal mining accounted for only 0.54% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2024, whilst fugitive emissions from coal represented 2.46%.

Geographic distribution of emissions

The geographic spread of mining emissions reflects global production patterns, with Asia generating 80% of sectoral greenhouse gas outputs. This concentration mirrors the region's dual role as a major primary mining centre and the dominant processing hub for most commodities.

Steel production drives emissions across all regions, particularly in Europe where it accounts for 93% of mining and metals greenhouse gas output. However, Africa and the Middle East show a different pattern, with aluminium production responsible for 40% of regional emissions.

Between 2020 and 2024, greenhouse gas emissions from mining and metal production increased by 3%, driven by both mining intensity and growing global commodity demand.

The data reveals significant variations in emissions intensity across different commodities and regions, highlighting opportunities for targeted intervention strategies.

Pathways to decarbonisation

The sustainability challenge ahead centres on materials essential to renewable energy infrastructure. Electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines all require substantial quantities of aluminium and steel, the two largest contributors to mining sector emissions.

For steel, global decarbonisation efforts are shifting away from energy-intensive blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace crude steel production towards lower emissions solutions using electric arc furnace methods. These processes utilise greater volumes of scrap material and reduce reliance on coal consumption.

Aluminium decarbonisation follows a different trajectory. Given that smelting is electricity-intensive, the primary opportunity lies in transitioning to renewable electricity sources for operations.

More broadly, wholesale adoption of renewable energy across mining operations, combined with vehicle electrification and operational efficiency improvements, could represent the sector's most significant contribution to global climate goals.

The ICMM dataset provides the transparent baseline necessary for tracking progress against these ambitions, establishing accountability mechanisms that could drive meaningful change across an industry central to sustainable development.