Insight
Will China’s policy-driven decarbonisation strategy succeed in lowering emissions in base-metals smelting?
*Please note that this report only includes an Excel data file if this is indicated in "What's included" below
Report summary
In November 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Information (MIIT), the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) of China officially released the “Action Plan for Peaking Carbon Emissions in Non-ferrous Metals Industry”. This plan draws much attention to the progress and expectation of China’s decarbonisation goals in base metals smelting. As the government has released many related decarbonisation policies on non-ferrous smelting, we focus on the carbon emission of base metals and how policymakers react in China. In this Insight, Wood Mackenzie looks at the policies the Chinese government is using to drive decarbonisation and provides a view on the likelihood of those policies achieving their desired goals.
Table of contents
- Introduction
- Carbon emissions will continue to rise in China, driven by production growth
- How have policymakers reacted to the decarbonisation of base-metals smelting?
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Potential impact by metal
- Aluminium
- Zinc
- Copper
- What would a successful implementation of these policies look like?
- Conclusions
Tables and charts
This report includes the following images and tables:
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Carbon emissions of China’s base-metals metallurgyRecent policies and regulations2025 Base-case vs low-case scenario of carbon emissions of aluminium, copper and zinc smelting
What's included
This report contains:
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