indirect emissions will hence be reduced to zero and direct emissions stay at same level as in 2015 this alone would imply a GHG reduction of 81 compared to 1990 levels Figure 32 Emission reductions hypothetical of the EU nonferrous metals indust ry if decarbonisa tion of the EU power sector occurs using 2015 emissions The possible impact of power sector decarbonisation on the total emission of aluminium copper zinc nick el silicon ferrosilicon and ferromanganese is shown below For all these metals reducing emissions in the power sector to zero would be the single biggest action towards deep emission reductions Figure 33 Direct vs indirect emissions based on emissions data However the transition to a power system that fully runs on renewables together with nonCO 2 emitting balancing and seasonal storage will be comple x and challenging for electrointensive consumers This includes possible passing through of cost related to the support for renewable energy production balancing storage capacity mark ets and indirect CO 2 costs These elements will be further discussed in chapter 7 Chapter 8 will show how the metals industry can help facilitate the transition of the EU power system 6 GHG Mitiga tion T echnologies t o war ds clima te neutr ality in nonf err ous me tals pr oduction 6 1 Introduction While the nonferrous metals industry has seen important GHG reductions since 1990 due to the almost elimination of PFC emissions efciency improvements and fuel switch to elec tricity and natural gas there is a wide range of possible technological options to achieve GHG reductions in line with climate neutrality by 2050 However many of these options are not yet mature or commercially interesting and depend on evolutions outside of the nonferrous metals industry The options under consideration here are based on W yns Khandek ar R obson 2018 new literature and information from sectors and companies These include Decarbonisation of the EU power sector Energy efciency New processes in primary aluminium production Further electrifcation Hydrogen as a smelting reducing agent Biobased carbon as a smelting reducing agent Carbon capture and utilisation andor storage CCUS Enhanced metals recovery from secondary raw materials mining residues slag slud ges and scrap recovery Sector coupling demand response and waste heat usage outside of nonferrous met als production For each of the abovementioned options the possible application to specifc types of metals production is considered together with the current state of technology and current constraints regarding economic viability or other elements that need to be addressed for widescale application in the industry 62 Decarbonisation of the EU power sector Due to the high level of electricity use decarbonisation of EU power production will be the most important factor in the decarbonisation of nonferrous metal production Assuming that 524 953 429 18 1 18 1 Direct emissions kt CO Indirect emissions kt CO 81 1990 Hypothesis decarb power Direct emissions Indirect emissions Nick el 2016 17 83 Aluminium 2015 755 245 Zinc 2015 73 27 FM 2013 67 33 Copper 2015 562 438 Silicon 2013 49 51 FerroSilicon 2013 47 53 MET ALS IN A CLIMA TE NEUTRAL EUROPE A 2050 BL UEPRINT 51