Industry Agenda Mining & Metals in a Sustainable World 2050

The report outlines a framework for the mining and metals sector to navigate the transition to a sustainable world by 2050, focusing on drivers of change, areas of transition, and future scenarios. It emphasizes a shift toward a circular economy, where recycling and reuse reduce reliance on primary extraction. A pilot study on circularity identifies critical gaps in technology, infrastructure, and regulation, while modeling steel production to show that a 'True Change' scenario could see scrap becoming the predominant input by 2050.

• The mining and metals industry is expected to shift toward a circular economy, though primary extraction will persist. While volumes of primary extraction are unlikely to grow in line with GDP growth, the industry will face continued pressure for cost efficiency and scale effects alongside demands for social and environmental responsibility.
• A transition to circularity requires significant improvements in infrastructure, particularly in developing countries, and a redesign of products to facilitate easier disassembly and metal recovery. Currently, some industrialized nations still have gaps in collection, such as the US where 30% of aluminium scrap is not collected.
• The report identifies ten critical gaps for the transition to 2050, including the need for effective waste retreatment technology to reduce the 10 billion tonnes of annual waste generated by the sector, and the resolution of a 'target conflict' where growth and employment goals may clash with circularity objectives.
• Modeling of the steel industry suggests two paths: a 'Keeping a green line' scenario where scrap usage increases slowly, and a 'True change' scenario where scrap becomes predominant due to regulation and China's adoption of electric arc furnaces (EAF), potentially keeping primary steel production only marginally above current levels by 2050.
• Recycling offers significant energy savings compared to primary production; for example, recycling aluminium requires only 5-10% of the energy of primary production, and steel produced from 100% scrap uses 60% less energy than the integrated route using primary ore.
• Mining-dependent developing countries face economic risks from the shift to circularity and may need to move value creation downstream to avoid excessive GDP reliance on extraction. For instance, mineral production currently accounts for 57% of Mauritania's GDP and 43% of Zambia's.
• The report outlines three future scenarios: 'A world of two speeds' (divided between sustainable forerunners and mineral dependents), 'Resource abundance' (driven by frontier mining or substitutes), and 'Global fragmentation' (characterized by protectionism and resource conflicts).

APA

World Economic Forum (2015). Industry Agenda Mining & Metals in a Sustainable World 2050. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_MM_Sustainable_World_2050_report_2015.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Industry Agenda Mining & Metals in a Sustainable World 2050. 2015. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_MM_Sustainable_World_2050_report_2015.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Industry Agenda Mining & Metals in a Sustainable World 2050 |date=September 2015 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_MM_Sustainable_World_2050_report_2015.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2015industry, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Industry Agenda Mining \& Metals in a Sustainable World 2050}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2015}, month = sep, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_MM_Sustainable_World_2050_report_2015.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }