"Once the world’s top aluminum producer, the U.S. is now making much less of it — just as cleantech industries drive up demand for the metal and advocates try to drive its emissions down."
"When U.S. aluminum maker Alcoa signed a $2.2 billion deal to gain more control of its global supply chain last week, analysts described the move as a “bet” and a “gamble” that demand for the commodity will soar in coming years — driven largely by the clean energy transition.
Yet as Alcoa grows its business abroad with its latest deal, its presence back home is declining. The dynamic is reflective of larger industry trends, and it’s one that experts say is complicating U.S. efforts to curb emissions from aluminum production itself and industrial supply chains more broadly.
Aluminum is a key component of solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, heat pumps and power cables. It’s mind-bogglingly ubiquitous beyond the energy transition, too, found in everything from soda cans, deodorant and smartphones to car doors, bridges and skyscrapers. The lightweight material is the second-most-used metal in the world after steel.
With global aluminum demand set to increase by up to 80 percent by 2050, the producers of the essential clean-energy ingredient are under mounting pressure from policymakers and consumers to clean up operations, which account for 2 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions every year."
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