The United States is pushing for cleaner, greener energy across all sectors — including aluminium — using federal funding, new technology and expanded recycling to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 while still meeting rising demand. The industry’s main book for decarbonisation comes from the Aluminum Association’s North American aluminium decarbonisation roadmap, which pictures a world where emissions would drop by 92 per cent from 2021 levels to 2050, even as output grows 78 per cent.
A cleaner grid is supposed to do 36 per cent of the work. Turning off natural-gas furnaces and shifting them to electrification, green hydrogen and carbon-capture tools handle another slice. Inert-anode smelting brings in 15 per cent, while cleaning up alumina refining adds 17 per cent more.
The federal government seemed ready to help. The Department of Energy started floating some big proposals, including a potential USD 500 million grant for Century Aluminum, meant to build the first renewables-powered, low-carbon smelter in more than forty years. And the project wasn’t alone — a much broader USD 6 billion DOE package aimed at cleaning up some of America’s most energy-intensive industries sat beside it. For a while, everything looked aligned: roadmap, technology, federal funding, climate goals. The industry could see the path ahead.
Also read: World Recycled ALuminium Market Analysis Industry forecast to 2032
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