Emissions from metal production to meet renewable energy demand in climate scenarios

Rathod, S., Bond, T., Klimont, Z. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2630-198X, Pierce, J., Mahowald, N., Roy, C., Thompson, J., Hoal, K., & Rafaj, P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1000-5617 (2021). Emissions from metal production to meet renewable energy demand in climate scenarios. IIASA YSSP Report. Laxenburg, Austria: IIASA

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Abstract

A shift from fossil fuel to renewable energy is crucial in achieving climate goals of 2 degrees Celsius. However, the renewable energy technologies, solar photovoltaics, wind turbines, and electric vehicles are metal-intensive, while the mining and smelting processes to obtain the relevant metals are emissions-intensive. We estimate future PM2.5 emissions from mining and smelting to meet the metal demand of renewable energy technologies in two climate pathways to be around 0.3-0.6 Tg/yr in the 2030-2040 period, which could be around 10-30% of total anthropogenic PM2.5 emissions in many countries in those years. The concentration of mineral reserves in a few regions means the impacts are also regionally concentrated. The regional distributions of global emissions relative to metal demand depend on the metal production regionality and emission abatement measures. Stronger emissions abatement could reduce metal-related emissions by over 90% and avoid emission hotspot creation.

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