Following on from our assessment of CCS/U in the iron and steel sector, we conduct another sectoral deep dive into the relevance of CCS/U, this time focusing on aluminium production. 

We find that CCS/U is unlikely to play a significant role in decarbonising aluminium production. In both alumina refining and aluminium smelting, the nature and distribution of CO2 emissions present significant technical and economic barriers to widespread CCS/U deployment.  

This technical brief highlights more practical and scalable pathways: 

• Fuel switching & energy recovery is expected to slash alumina refinery emissions 

• Inert anodes are a breakthrough technology to eliminate smelting emissions at the source 

• Increasing circularity to reduce demand for primary aluminium and strengthen industrial resilience 

• The analysis finds how Europe’s aluminium sector can cut emissions and stay globally competitive — without CCS/U. 

Electrification and energy recovery can reduce refining emissions close to zero well before 2050.  

Inert anodes, now nearing commercial deployment, provide a long-term solution that eliminates process CO₂ emissions entirely. 

Secondary aluminium production uses just 5% of the energy of primary aluminium production, and must be maximised in Europe to reap economic as well as environmental benefits.