The Pathway To Decarbonising The Copper Value Chain

The copper industry stands at the heart of the global energy transition. As the demand for a renewable energy infrastructure and electrification accelerates, copper is proving indispensable for the widely desired low-carbon economy. The copper industry’s central role in driving sustainability comes with an equally significant challenge: that of decarbonising its own operations in line with a 1.5°C climate trajectory.

The dual imperative of meeting expected increases in demand, while reducing emissions, places copper mining at a transformative juncture. Achieving this balance requires innovation, collaboration, and the adoption of a sector-specific decarbonisation strategy. The Copper Mark, in collaboration with the Rocky Mountain Institute and stakeholders across the value chain, as well as standard setters, academia, and civil society organisations, is working on a copper-specific sectoral decarbonisation approach (SDA), similar to those that were recently developed in other sectors – such as steel, aluminium, and cement. The SDA will be defined using a copper-specific emission reduction pathway that seeks to reflect the cost and availability (over time) of the technology needed to decarbonise the sector. The methodology will support copper-producing companies in setting decarbonisation goals and tracking their progress as they work toward a 1.5°C-aligned outcome.

Guidance across the value chain of copper

Requirements for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction are part of the Risk Readiness Assessment Criteria Guide v3.0 of the Copper Mark, which indicates that sites should avoid, minimise, and compensate for scope 1, 2, and relevant scope 3 emissions, through the definition of science-based goals and targets, in line with the Paris Agreement. However, further guidance is needed for copper producers to be able to set science-based targets, recognising the realities of the sector.

With its focus on the copper value chain, the Copper Mark has the capacity to convene actors along the copper value chain and across different stakeholder groups. This provides a space for industry, academia, and other stakeholders to come together for the development of an SDA for copper. A key focus of the SDA is to ensure that decarbonisation is not only a theoretical process, but provides practical and reasonable guidance. With this, the larger objective is to drive positive impact on the environment, as well as people.

This is a preview of an article that was originally published in the April 2025 issue of Global Mining Review.

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