Safeguarding 1.3 Mt of aluminium scrap could enable Europe to reduce primary metal imports by a similar volume

In conversation with Jerome Lucaes regarding aluminium scrap challenges in the European domestic market. In the interview, Mr Lucaes highlighted that if Europe had not exported 1.3 million tonnes of aluminium scrap, it could have cut a similar volume of primary imports. That could reduce Europe’s aluminium carbon footprint by around 17 million tonnes of CO₂ per tonne, according to Lucaes.The conversation also covered the risk of non-inclusion of aluminium scrap within the scope of CBAM, which, according to Lucaes, might leave EU recyclers more than EUR 200 a tonne worse off by 2035.

Jerome Lucaes is a senior leader with 35 years of experience, including 25 in the aluminum sector (incl Rio Tinto, RUSAL, Constellium, Arctial), Jerome is an independent advisor driving business transformations towards decarbonisation and circularity, balancing profitability, equity, jobs, supply-chain risks and sustainability. He is recognised for having initiated/conducted industry transformative programmes in collaboration with organisations such as IAI, ASI, AAA, EA, WEF, and Mission Possible Partnership, (notably co-founding the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, first net-zero carbon strategy for a global metals company, first low-carbon aluminum brand, first low-carbon partnerships connecting mines to consumers). His leadership experience spans over commercial, marketing, business development, sustainability, and stakeholder management. MEng-MBA.

To know the intrinsic insights on the European aluminium recycling market from Jerome Lucaes, read the full interview.

AL Circe: Europe exports close to 1.3 million tonnes of aluminium scrap annually to third countries. If this volume were processed and reused within Europe instead, how significant could the carbon-saving opportunity be? Can you estimate the potential CO₂ emissions reduction in volume terms?

Jerome Lucaes: If 1.3 million tonnes of aluminium scrap stayed in Europe, it would raise European recycled production and cut the primary consumption by a similar volume, assuming the production system adapts.

But globally, the balance between primary and secondary metal would be unchanged - and so would global emissions, or only marginally. What changes is the geographic distribution of metal flows and with it the carbon footprint, energy consumption and jobs. Europe's aluminium carbon footprint would fall sharply, by around 17 million tonnes of CO₂ a year, because we would stop importing primary metal that averages 13 tonnes of CO₂ per tonne. It would be a decisive cut in Europe's own footprint - and Europe would keep at home a strategic material it currently hands away. However, it would not be a CO₂ saving for the planet.

It is worth remembering one fundamental of climate science: CO₂ is a global problem. If emissions fall in Europe but rise by the same amount elsewhere, the climate sees no difference.

AL Circle: With aluminium scrap and recycled aluminium imports excluded from EU CBAM, is Europe leaving a blind spot in its decarbonisation policy? How can certification address risks linked to low-quality scrap, weak traceability and poorly controlled recycled aluminium products?

Jerome Lucaes: Very sharp and complex question. CBAM entered its definitive phase in January 2026, and the December 2025 review has brought pre-consumer scrap into scope. But post-consumer scrap - end-of-life metal - is still counted as zero-emission. The European industry struggles here: because scrap prices track primary metal, European recyclers already carry an embedded ETS and CBAM cost, while an importer claiming recycled content carries none. If half of imported aluminium would bypass CBAM this way, leaving EU recyclers more than EUR 200 a tonne worse off by 2035 and putting around a third of Europe's recycling capacity at risk.

To counter this competitive risk, the European aluminium industry is calling for one default carbon value for all scrap, pre- and post-consumer alike, based on the average primary-production intensity of the declared country of origin. A pre-consumer-only rule closes half the gap and invites the rest, because producers simply reclassify metal as post-consumer to escape the charge. Certification is what makes any of this enforceable. The recycled-content claim has to be tied to trusted, verified data - origin, scrap type, chain of custody, emissions per batch. And trust is difficult to establish here: European producers do not want “recycled import” to become a route to a tariff discount.

AL Circle: For aluminium end-product manufacturers, ESG is no longer limited to emissions reporting. It now covers responsible sourcing, traceability, labour standards, recycling practices and product lifecycle impact. What practical steps should manufacturers take to build stronger end-to-end ESG performance?

Jerome Lucaes: One practical step is for producers to be ASI-certified and for consumers to buy from ASI-certified suppliers. ASI is the only comprehensive sustainability standard applicable across the entire value chain of aluminium from extraction to consumption and recycling.

To go deeper, each end-product manufacturer needs to perform a supply-chain risk assessment, whereby aluminium is often one of many materials in the sourcing mix (think of beverage, car or building producers.

Another practical step is to make carbon intensity and provenance procurement criteria with consequences, alongside price and spec.

Ideally, the industry would adopt digital product passports across the supply chain – not easy because it would only be efficient if everyone used them with common data structures and definitions. It is a long way!

AL Circle: The European Deposit Return System aims for 85 per cent recycled aluminium for aluminium packaging. If similar ambitions were adopted globally, how much impact could this have on reducing CO₂ emissions from the aluminium packaging value chain?

Jerome Lucaes: The beverage can is where aluminium's circular case is strongest. An 85 per cent recycling rate is achievable; many European countries already do much better. Deposit-return systems, when well implemented, are highly efficient.

Tens of billions of cans still go to landfill each year - 60 billion in the United States alone, equivalent to close to 1 million tonnes of aluminium. The potential CO₂ savings here are massive, in the tens of millions of tonnes. I do not believe in enforcing a global target per se; it is local action at the national level, together with the global beverage companies, that has real influence here.

AL Circle: The EU CBAM currently focuses mainly on direct emissions for aluminium. By not fully covering Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions, how much of the industry’s real carbon footprint remains outside the policy framework? What risks does this create for a fair and transparent low-carbon aluminium market?

Jerome Lucaes: Most of the emissions from aluminium production fall outside CBAM's scope. For aluminium, electricity is the biggest source of the carbon footprint; globally, it accounts for around 60 per cent of primary aluminium's emissions.

By concentrating on direct emissions, CBAM captures only the hard-to-abate process emissions and leaves out Scope 2 and Scope 3. The issue here is mainly competitive, for the European aluminium industry, with very little impact on the climate. A lot of effort for little gain.

AL Circle: In many regions, awareness of recycled aluminium’s environmental value remains limited among consumers, policymakers and downstream industries. What must the aluminium industry do to accelerate awareness, build trust and stimulate large-scale demand for certified low-carbon and recycled aluminium products?

Jerome Lucaes: We tend to focus too much on recycled content. The number that really matters sits at the other end of a product's life: how much of it actually comes back (and the metric is recycling rate).

A high recycled-content figure means little if the product is landfilled when it is discarded. The priority is collection - making sure every aluminium product is captured and recycled at the end of its useful life.

Aluminium makes this easier than almost any other material: it can be remelted almost endlessly with no loss of quality, at a fraction of the energy of primary metal, whereas most plastics only degrade and downcycle. That is the message to carry - aluminium is never lost, only waiting to be used again. So, the industry should spend its energy on education and collection: designing products for disassembly, building return systems, and showing consumers and recyclers where the metal should go. Not one gram should be wasted.