Further levers include withdrawing from sector coupling with coal mining and increasing the production of raw materials such as lithium, nickel or copper for the energy transition. Sustainability effects lie in increased eco-effectiveness as well as in the reduction of negative social impacts. There is also great potential in increasing the recycling rates for steel, aluminum, but especially copper and all other non-ferrous metals that are crucial for the key technologies of the future. Metals, for example, have the great advantage over plastics that they can already be recycled almost 100% as often as required. At the same time, recycling makes the industry less dependent on mining products from global supply chains. In addition to developing aluminum alloys that can be recycled indefinitely, it is important to develop recycling technologies to recover lithium, nickel, cobalt and other metals and bring them back into the cycle. Globally, growth to 10 billion people and emerging middle classes in the global south will bring a drastic increase in demand. The industry has a great responsibility here not to unreflectively see this volume growth as a leap in growth, but rather to develop smart concepts together with partner industries.

The industry includes, for example, the production of pig iron, steel and ferroalloys as well as non-ferrous metals including aluminum and copper. Metal processing companies are assigned to sector 42 “Metal and mineral processing”.