Decarbonization of the Mining Sector: Case studies on the role of mining in nationally determined contributions in Chile, Indonesia, and South Africa

The report examines how Chile, Indonesia, and South Africa integrate mining sector decarbonization into their climate commitments. It finds that while mining is economically vital and essential for the energy transition, it is often not explicitly identified in NDCs, making cross-country comparison difficult. Chile is highlighted as a benchmark with sector-specific targets, whereas Indonesia and South Africa largely aggregate mining emissions within broader energy or industrial categories.

• A primary challenge in comparing national decarbonization progress is that the mining sector is frequently not explicitly identified in most countries' NDCs, meaning reporting and targets are often not directly comparable.
• Chile serves as a regional benchmark due to its robust institutions and the inclusion of specific GHG emissions reduction targets for the mining sector by 2050: a 57% reduction in open-pit copper mines, 74% in underground copper mining, and 52% in other mining activities.
• Indonesia's updated NDC (2022) provides very few mentions of the upstream mining sector, instead using downstream activities like iron, steel, and aluminum processing as proxies for emissions targets.
• Indonesia's ambition to become an electric vehicle hub is complicated by the high carbon intensity of its nickel production; producing Class 1 nickel from Indonesian laterite ore generates two to six times more CO2 emissions than production from sulfide deposits.
• South Africa's mining sector is deeply dependent on coal, with electricity generation in 2021 being 86% coal-based. Its current NDC does not use a sector-specific approach, though the 2022 Climate Change Bill proposes the future development of sectoral emissions targets for 'mineral resources'.
• South Africa faces significant challenges in its 'Just Energy Transition' (JET) due to energy security crises and rolling blackouts, which have led the government to reassess the decommissioning of old coal plants to maintain electricity supply.

APA

Schaap, F., & Karamira, A. (2024). Decarbonization of the Mining Sector: Case studies on the role of mining in nationally determined contributions in Chile, Indonesia, and South Africa. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2024-10/igf-decarbonization-mining-sector-case-study.pdf

Chicago

Schaap, Famke, and Astrid Karamira. Decarbonization of the Mining Sector: Case studies on the role of mining in nationally determined contributions in Chile, Indonesia, and South Africa. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2024. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2024-10/igf-decarbonization-mining-sector-case-study.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Schaap |first1=Famke |last2=Karamira |first2=Astrid |title=Decarbonization of the Mining Sector: Case studies on the role of mining in nationally determined contributions in Chile, Indonesia, and South Africa |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=October 2024 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2024-10/igf-decarbonization-mining-sector-case-study.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{schaap2024decarbonization, author = {Schaap, Famke and Karamira, Astrid}, title = {{Decarbonization of the Mining Sector: Case studies on the role of mining in nationally determined contributions in Chile, Indonesia, and South Africa}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2024}, month = oct, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2024-10/igf-decarbonization-mining-sector-case-study.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }