Commodity Profile – Copper

This fact sheet provides a comprehensive profile of the global copper value chain, detailing production, reserves, market concentration, and the impact of the energy transition. It highlights the dominance of China in refining and smelting, the role of major producers like Chile and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the challenges associated with recycling and ore grade decline.

• Global copper production is led by Chile, which produced 5,300 thousand metric tonnes (10.6% share), followed by Congo (Kinshasa) at 3,300 thousand metric tonnes (6.6%) and Peru at 2,600 thousand metric tonnes (5.2%).
• The copper market exhibits high concentration in the downstream stages of the value chain; China dominates refining with a 61% share and smelting with over 50%, while the mining and extraction sector remains more diversified.
• There is a significant gap between known copper resources and economically viable reserves. Global reserves total 980 million tonnes, while the U.S. Geological Survey identified 1.5 billion metric tonnes of unextracted and 3.5 billion metric tonnes of undiscovered resources as of 2015.
• Copper consumption in China grew from approximately 11,000 Mt in 2015 to about 15,000 Mt in 2024, driven largely by transport and industrial applications, whereas the rest of the world saw more modest growth from 11,400 Mt to 12,400 Mt.
• Despite the ability to be recycled without quality loss, the end-of-life recycling rate (EoL RR) for copper was only 40% in 2020, limited by a lack of industrial collection and reprocessing infrastructure.
• The emissions profile for refined copper is distributed across three scopes, with Scope 2 (indirect emissions from purchased electricity, steam, heat, and cooling) being the largest contributor at 46%, followed by Scope 3 at 30% and Scope 1 at 24%.

APA

Hamisi, J., Rezola, O. A., Madi, D., Bellois, G., Ramdoo, I., Gottschalk, E., & Gulley, A. (2026). Commodity Profile – Copper. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2026-02/commodity-profile-copper.pdf

Chicago

Hamisi, Jonathan, Ottavia Austin Rezola, Dalia Madi, Grégoire Bellois, Isabelle Ramdoo, Erin Gottschalk, and Andrew Gulley. Commodity Profile – Copper. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2026. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2026-02/commodity-profile-copper.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{hamisi2026commodity, author = {Hamisi, Jonathan and Rezola, Ottavia Austin and Madi, Dalia and Bellois, Grégoire and Ramdoo, Isabelle and Gottschalk, Erin and Gulley, Andrew}, title = {{Commodity Profile – Copper}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2026}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2026-02/commodity-profile-copper.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }