Swedish miner and metals producer Boliden has launched two green copper products with half the carbon footprint of the traditionally mined red metal.
During Boliden’s 2021 Markets Day, Martin Eriksson, the company’s copper sales manager, said that the two new cathode products will be produced at a carbon footprint of less than 1.5mt of CO2/mt of copper. Traditional levels are around 4mt CO2/mt of copper.
One of the products will be sourced from low-emissions mining practices, which use hydropower to run equipment while the other will have recycled electronic content that requires less energy to process compared to mined copper. Both products will be externally certified by Intertek.
The company said that it has already closed some supply contracts for the products but at a small premium. It expects the premium to rise as environmental and regulatory pressure on companies to cut carbon emissions grows.