Europe s nonferrous metals industry is a genuine frontrunner industry in the transition to a climateneutral society It has made several important step changes in recent decades which will form a major part of decarbonisation pathways for other energyintensive sectors and industry overall 7 0 20 0 Aluminium 9 0 70 0 Nick el 34 116 Silicon 24 6 1 Zinc x 34 x 8 x 28 x 25 European primary production of nonferrous metals also has lower GHG emissions than other areas of the world especially compared to China where base metals production can be up to 8 times more CO 2 intensive largely due to the high use of coal in the power mix HIGH LEVELS OF ELECTRIFIC A TION The nonferrous metals industry is the most electried of all energyintensive industries with a 58 share of electricity use in its overall energy consumption 18 HIGH REDUCTION IN O VERALL EMISSIONS The nonferrous metals industry has reduced its absolute emissions by 61 since 1990 matched only by the chemicals sector 19 HIGH LEVELS OF CIRCULARITY The nonferrous metals industry has already achieved high levels of circularity for base metals with over 50 of Europe s domestic supply now coming from recycled sources 20 58 61 50 2016 2050 1990 524 953 429 2005 318 312 629 2015 18 1 189 37 0 61 reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions since 1990 Indirect Emissions Direct Emissions Carbon footprint of primary metals production EU vs China tCO 2 Historical evolution of EU nonferrous metals industry greenhouse gas emissions 19902015 21 Mt COe Sources European Aluminium The Nick el Institute AlloyConsult Congcong Qi et al 2017 18 Eurostat 2018 19 EEA Eurostat complemented by commodity association data 20 Eurometaux UN COMTRADE 21 Emissions profle for EU production of aluminium copper lead nick el zinc and SiliconFerroalloys Sources EEA Eurostat 14 A frontrunner industry towards a 2050 ClimateNeutral Europe MET ALS IN A CLIMA TE NEUTRAL EUROPE A 2050 BL UEPRINT 14