Carbon footprint of metal production could be more than 10 times higher than estimated

New Research from the University of St Andrews has discovered that the carbon footprint of metal production could be more than 10 times higher than previously estimated, with serious implications for ambitions to reach net zero. 

The senior author of the project Dr Luke Bridgestock from the School of Earth and Environmental Science , said: “This is a shocking result. We estimate that the full emission budget for acid mine drainage by the time all the extracted sulfides have ‘weathered’ to produce acid mine drainage – will be more than 10 times higher than conventional carbon footprints for copper production. This presents a challenge for reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions given the need for increased metal production to supply green technologies. It’s essential that we now look at changing how acid mine drainage is remediated to reduce these emissions” 

More information can be found below:
https://news.st-andrews.ac.uk/archive/carbon-footprint-of-metal-production-could-be-more-than-10-times-higher-than-estimated/