By Eric Onstad
LONDON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - About $1.5 trillion of investmentis needed to decarbonise electricity supplies used to makealuminium so the sector can start meeting United Nations climategoals, an industry group said on Tuesday.
But that huge investment is only a portion of the fundsneeded so output of aluminium, one of the most energy intensemetals, can cut emissions by 2050, the International AluminiumInstitute (IAI) said in an online presentation.
Around 60% of the aluminium sector's emissions are from theproduction of electricity consumed in the smelting process, butinvestment is also needed to shift to green hydrogen, deploycarbon capture and boost recycling, it added.
"It's a big number... It's not something that the industryhas the resources to achieve on its own," said Pernelle Nunez,director of sustainability at the IAI.
"It's a joint effort in terms of the industry, government,and investors playing their role to deliver on thesecommitments."
The aluminium sector would have to slash greenhouse gasemissions by 95% by 2050 to 53 million tonnes from 1.1 billiontonnes to help limit a rise in global temperatures to 1.5degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, Nunez said.
The total price tag was unclear because of the rapid changestaking place, she added. "It's quite challenging because some ofthese technologies are quite new."
Under the 1.5C scenario, the carbon intensity of primaryaluminium would have to tumble to below 1 tonne of CO2 per tonneof metal by 2050 from 16.1 tonnes currently, the IAI said.
Primary aluminium production would rise only modestly by 4million tonnes to 68 million by 2050, but recycled output wouldmore than double to 81 million tonnes from 32 tonnes under thatscenario.
Recycling cuts about 95% of emissions compared to primaryoutput.
(Reporting by Eric Onstad; editing by Jonathan Oatis)