At this point, jainism is starting to look pretty good to me.
The basic summary - if I'm in a charitable mood - that I've come to about our environmental impact is that everything we do changes the environment. If I'm feeling a little less neutral, it's more that everything we do harms the environment.
Yes, the aluminum industry's carbon dioxide emissions are - from the graphic above (source) - far less than those of the iron & steel industry, cement manufacturing, or - by leaps, bounds, and a broken scale - our consumption of fossil fuels. And, according to the Aluminum Association's website, "Energy demand to produce new (primary) aluminum is down more than a quarter since 1995 and the industry's carbon footprint is down nearly 40 percent." That doesn't, however, remotely mean that the carbon dioxide released by the aluminum industry is negligible.
A recent article from C&EN, highlighted one of the industry's further efforts to reduce CO2 emission by developing more and more inert anodes instead of the current, carbon-rich anodes which produce CO2 - and CF4 and C2H6 gases, also potent greenhouse gases - throughout the aluminum production. In fact, Alcoa and Rio Tinto have formed a new venture, Elysis, to develop and market these anodes.
For two years, Alcoa has been offering a premium, sustainable aluminum line guaranteeing that the aluminum produced creates 75% fewer CO2 emission than the industry average.
All of these are among many industry efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and environmental impact - within all industries, honestly, not just aluminum. As a presentation titled "Can the global aluminum industry achieve carbon neutrality" writes, "we didn't inherit aluminum from our parents. We are borrowing aluminum from our children."
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