Responsible mining organisation ICMM confirms in a new research report that mining for minerals important for the green transition and sustainable development is not a major source of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions.

Non-coal mining represented just 0.54% of global GHG emissions in 2024.

By comparison, fugitive emissions from coal, which must be phased out to meet global climate goals, accounted for 2.46% of global GHG emissions.

In total, Scope 1 and 2 emissions from mining, which accounted for 3% of global GHG emissions, and metal processing, which accounted for 8% of global GHG emissions, position the mining sector as the sixth-largest source of global GHG emissions.

The sector contributed less GHG emissions than the power generation, transport and agriculture sectors, and about as much as all other industrial processing activities.

Steel and aluminium production, along with coal mining, were the largest sources of GHG emissions in 2024, accounting for 93% of Scope 1 and 2 emissions.

This while demand for steel and aluminium is poised to increase in the coming years. These commodities are equally important for infrastructure that underpins the green transition.

ICMM finds that 80% of the mining sector’s global Scope 1 and 2 emissions originate in Asia owing to its concentration of primary mines and processing facilities for most global commodities.

ICMM contracted consultancy Wood Mackenzie to analyse facility-level data from 1 700 facilities across 14 commodities for the ‘Global Mining & Metals Greenhouse-Gas Emissions Dataset’, which together represent 87% of global production. ICMM modelled emissions using regional commodity-level averages for the remaining 13% of production volumes.

The dataset was designed for high-level sector and regional insights only and is not suitable for benchmarking companies or assets, or for assessing corporate progress against targets.

Rather, ICMM says the dataset offers an industrywide picture, explores regional and commodity-specific emissions profiles and allows comparisons of mining and metals GHG emissions with emissions from other major industries.

The findings offer important context at a time when demand for minerals and metals is rising rapidly to support the global energy transition and the infrastructure and urbanisation needs of a growing population.

As the world progresses towards the goal of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030, demand for minerals and metals is projected to grow significantly, reflecting the sector’s essential role in building clean technologies.

Simultaneously, producing these materials is energy-intensive, which means the mining and metals industry is both a contributor to GHG emissions and a key enabler of the energy transition.