Turning Challenge into Opportunity 2025

Capital intensity remains high CCUS and hydrogen fuel-switching could increase production costs significantly. Access to renewable energy and permitting timelines for grid or transmission expansion are equally decisive factors for competitiveness. Buyer behaviour and education on primary vs. recycled A recurring challenge is internal misalignment within buyer organizations. Sustainability teams set ambitious targets, but procurement departments often stick to conventional requests for quotes (RFQs). According to interviewed suppliers, there is no internal alignment within the customer between procurement and top management. For more information on this, see the World Economic Forum’s report, Green Procurement Playbook: The CPO’s Guide to Delivering Value for Business and Planet, published in October 2025. Discussions fluctuate between requests for low- carbon primary aluminium or for recycled content, without understanding the overall lifecycle carbon footprint. Suppliers acknowledged the market confusion caused by labelling both low-carbon primary and recycled products under the same “low-carbon” umbrella – and noted their own push to define recycled aluminium as low-carbon when it is produced specifically from post- consumer scrap. Customer education on the topic remains a high priority. Many suppliers encourage the development of standardized procurement templates and buyer education programmes coordinated through initiatives such as the First Movers Coalition, to ensure that purchasing decisions reflect verified carbon data rather than simplified proxies. Systemic challenges Across both primary and secondary segments, suppliers identified five interdependent structural barriers to aluminium industry decarbonization: –Uneven carbon pricing and absent market premiums, which deter long-term investment. –Infrastructure and energy limitations, as renewable power and transmission lag technology readiness. –Fragmented standards and accounting methodologies, creating verification costs and distortions. –First-of-a-kind financing gaps, with high- capex projects unable to access debt without policy backstops. –Procurement misalignment, where buyers prioritize recycled percentage over total verified footprint. These constraints reinforce each other, sustaining a confidence gap between what suppliers can technically deliver and what markets and regulations currently enable. To address these constraints, suppliers interviewed for this report identified the following opportunities, enabling levers and recommendations. Turning Challenge into Opportunity: Supplier Voices from Heavy-Emitting Sectors 41