ICMM: Understanding the Minerals of the Energy Transition

The energy world’s reliance on mining and minerals is currently under intense scrutiny, spurred on by the dual pressures of decarbonisation and resource security.

That said, the findings of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) latest report – which examines how the race to expand renewable capacity is influencing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the sector – challenge some earlier assumptions.

While the push to produce critical materials for clean energy remains resource-intensive, ICMM’s analysis with Wood Mackenzie reveals that the overall emissions impact is lower than previously believed.

Mining and energy’s interlinked evolution

In the past decade, the consequences of climate change, like droughts, floods and wildfires, have spurred governments, businesses and individuals to think hard about the energy transition.

With demand for renewables rising each year, the mining industry finds itself at the heart of a global effort to decarbonise power, transport and infrastructure systems.

At COP28, world leaders endorsed the target of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030. Achieving this goal depends on a steady supply of transition minerals.

In particular, the demand for copper, nickel, lithium and cobalt has placed a great deal of pressure on extraction industries to act and scale responsibly.

But despite how central mining is to the energy transition, the ICMM suggests that quality data on the subject has not always been available.

The organisation has now collated and modelled Scope 1 and 2 emissions data from 1,700 facilities covering 14 commodities, representing 87% of global production, to create a definitive dataset on mining and metals’ emissions footprint.

"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," says Dr Emma Gagen, Director of Data and Research at ICMM.

"ICMM's Global Mining & Metals GHG Emissions Dataset provides data and data-driven insights to underpin more informed dialogue about the sector's contribution to global GHG emissions while providing the building blocks for sustainable development and the global energy transition.

“Like all large-scale datasets, this one will evolve, but establishing a transparent, industry-wide baseline is a necessary starting point. Inferred implications from the Dataset are provided separately from the data itself to allow others to be curious and make their own judgements.

"We invite all interested stakeholders to engage with the data, provide feedback or supplementary data to help improve its coverage, and collaborate with us further."

Understanding the emissions

According to the report, in 2024 the global mining and metals sector accounted for 11% of total GHG emissions – 3% from mining and 8% from metal production. Of these, 93% were Scope 1 and 7% were Scope 2.

Steel production represents the largest share (55%), followed by coal mining (23%) and aluminium production (15%). Around 70% of the world’s steel is still manufactured using carbon-intensive blast furnace techniques, underscoring the challenge of aligning heavy industry with net zero targets.

Between 2020 and 2024, the growth in demand for transition minerals and the intensity of industrial activity increased sector emissions by 3%. However, non-coal mining contributed just 0.54% to global emissions, while fugitive emissions from coal operations were responsible for 2.46%.

Regional disparities are also stark: 80% of the sector’s emissions originate in Asia, where large-scale mining and processing dominate global supply chains.

In Europe, steel production drives most emissions (93%), while in Africa and the Middle East, it is aluminium production that contributes roughly 40%.

A changing industry

As the world races to electrify vehicles, expand renewable infrastructure and digitalise the built environment, the demand for aluminium and steel (which are key to manufacturing solar, wind and EV technologies) is always climbing.

The ICMM highlights this as both a challenge and an opportunity: the same materials that enable low-carbon technologies must be produced in ways that minimise emissions.

For steel, the global pivot towards electric arc furnace (EAF) production marks a significant step away from high-emission blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) systems. Higher scrap utilisation and reduced coal dependence make EAFs more energy-efficient and better aligned with circular economy principles.

Decarbonising aluminium production rests on increasing the share of renewable electricity in smelting – a vital shift, given the process’s energy-intensive nature. Across the industry, electrification of vehicles and machinery, and wider integration of renewables into operations, are key enablers of lower carbon footprints.

The ICMM’s findings underline a broader truth: the energy transition depends as much on decarbonising resource extraction as it does on deploying clean energy technologies. As the sector seeks to balance demand, sustainability and efficiency, transparent data such as this will be crucial for shaping credible climate strategies.