IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v384y2025ics0306261925002144.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Transitioning the mining sector: A review of renewable energy integration and carbon footprint reduction strategies

Author

Listed:
  • Enemuo, Michael
  • Ogunmodimu, Olumide

Abstract

This review evaluates the critical role of renewable energy (RE) integration and carbon footprint reduction strategies in transitioning the mining sector toward sustainability. The paper first explores current energy practices and available RE sources in mining, highlighting the industry's significant contribution to global carbon dioxide emissions. Subsequently, it analyzes the potential of RE interventions, focusing on doubling renewable capacity and achieving over 50 % RE mix by 2050. Furthermore, the review investigates the impact of energy efficiency improvements, the importance of energy auditing, and the feasibility of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies in the mining context. Additionally, the paper compares business-as-usual and aggressive (accelerated) RE integration scenarios, demonstrating the transformative potential of RE adoption. Finally, the review concludes by offering actionable recommendations for industry stakeholders and policymakers and identifying critical areas for future research. In general, this study provides a holistic view of the obstacles and possibilities in decarbonizing the activities in the mining sector, emphasizing the crucial balance between environmental sustainability and economic viability in this energy-intensive industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Enemuo, Michael & Ogunmodimu, Olumide, 2025. "Transitioning the mining sector: A review of renewable energy integration and carbon footprint reduction strategies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 384(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:384:y:2025:i:c:s0306261925002144
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.125484
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261925002144
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.125484?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anke, Carl-Philipp & Hobbie, Hannes & Schreiber, Steffi & Möst, Dominik, 2020. "Coal phase-outs and carbon prices: Interactions between EU emission trading and national carbon mitigation policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    2. Negro, Simona O. & Alkemade, Floortje & Hekkert, Marko P., 2012. "Why does renewable energy diffuse so slowly? A review of innovation system problems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 3836-3846.
    3. Erik Haites, 2018. "Carbon taxes and greenhouse gas emissions trading systems: what have we learned?," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(8), pages 955-966, September.
    4. Calderon, J.L. & Smith, N.M. & Bazilian, M.D. & Holley, E., 2024. "Critical mineral demand estimates for low-carbon technologies: What do they tell us and how can they evolve?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PA).
    5. Rud, Juan-Pablo & Simmons, Michael & Toews, Gerhard & Aragon, Fernando, 2024. "Job displacement costs of phasing out coal," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    6. Haas, Reinhard & Duic, Neven & Auer, Hans & Ajanovic, Amela & Ramsebner, Jasmine & Knapek, Jaroslav & Zwickl-Bernhard, Sebastian, 2023. "The photovoltaic revolution is on: How it will change the electricity system in a lasting way," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    7. Gulley, Andrew L., 2022. "One hundred years of cobalt production in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    8. Steffen, Bjarne, 2020. "Estimating the cost of capital for renewable energy projects," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    9. Xuan-Hung Nguyen & Hiep-Thien Trinh, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility and the non-linear effect on audit opinion for energy firms in Vietnam," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 1757841-175, January.
    10. Marko Milojević & Mariusz Urbański & Ivica Terzić & Valeriy Prasolov, 2020. "Impact of Non-Financial Factors on the Effectiveness of Audits in Energy Companies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-17, November.
    11. Liang, Yanan & Kleijn, René & van der Voet, Ester, 2023. "Increase in demand for critical materials under IEA Net-Zero emission by 2050 scenario," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 346(C).
    12. Bosu, Issa & Mahmoud, Hatem & Hassan, Hamdy, 2023. "Energy audit and management of an industrial site based on energy efficiency, economic, and environmental analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    13. Hilson, Gavin & Murck, Barbara, 2000. "Sustainable development in the mining industry: clarifying the corporate perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 227-238, December.
    14. Wang, Yihan & Wen, Zongguo & Yao, Jianguo & Doh Dinga, Christian, 2020. "Multi-objective optimization of synergic energy conservation and CO2 emission reduction in China's iron and steel industry under uncertainty," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    15. Larry Hughes & Sarah Landry, 2024. "The Pushback Against Canada’s Carbon Pricing System: A Case Study of Two Canadian Provinces, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-27, November.
    16. Topno, Seema Ashishan & Sahoo, Lalit Kumar & Umre, B.S., 2021. "Energy efficiency assessment of electric shovel operating in opencast mine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    17. Xuan, Yanni & Yue, Qiang, 2017. "Scenario analysis on resource and environmental benefits of imported steel scrap for China’s steel industry," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 186-198.
    18. Yuquan Meng & Yuhang Yang & Haseung Chung & Pil-Ho Lee & Chenhui Shao, 2018. "Enhancing Sustainability and Energy Efficiency in Smart Factories: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-28, December.
    19. Johan Lilliestam & Anthony Patt & Germán Bersalli, 2021. "The effect of carbon pricing on technological change for full energy decarbonization: A review of empirical ex‐post evidence," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(1), January.
    20. Agüera-Pérez, Agustín & Palomares-Salas, José Carlos & González de la Rosa, Juan José & Florencias-Oliveros, Olivia, 2018. "Weather forecasts for microgrid energy management: Review, discussion and recommendations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 265-278.
    21. Junhai Ma & Tiantong Xu, 2023. "Optimal strategy of investing in solar energy for meeting the renewable portfolio standard requirement in America," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 74(1), pages 181-194, January.
    22. Edelenbosch, O.Y. & Kermeli, K. & Crijns-Graus, W. & Worrell, E. & Bibas, R. & Fais, B. & Fujimori, S. & Kyle, P. & Sano, F. & van Vuuren, D.P., 2017. "Comparing projections of industrial energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions in long-term energy models," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 701-710.
    23. Höök, Mikael & Tang, Xu, 2013. "Depletion of fossil fuels and anthropogenic climate change—A review," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 797-809.
    24. Noah McQueen & Peter Kelemen & Greg Dipple & Phil Renforth & Jennifer Wilcox, 2020. "Ambient weathering of magnesium oxide for CO2 removal from air," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
    25. Samira Tabrizian, 2019. "Technological innovation to achieve sustainable development—Renewable energy technologies diffusion in developing countries," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 537-544, May.
    26. Jinling Wang & Yebing Tian & Xintao Hu & Zenghua Fan & Jinguo Han & Yanhou Liu, 2024. "Development of grinding intelligent monitoring and big data-driven decision making expert system towards high efficiency and low energy consumption: experimental approach," Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 1013-1035, March.
    27. Mallah, Subhash & Bansal, N.K., 2010. "Renewable energy for sustainable electrical energy system in India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 3933-3942, August.
    28. Feio, Andrey Dias & da Silva, Flávio Castro & Teixeira, Marcos Alexandre & Lopes Maria, Ana Caroline & da Silva, Gabriel Brazo Sabino, 2024. "Viability of renewable energy integration in isolated systems in Brazil – A case study at Trindade Island (Espírito Santo, Brazil)," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    29. Parry, Ian, 2020. "Increasing carbon pricing in the EU: Evaluating the options," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    30. Mundada, Aishwarya S. & Shah, Kunal K. & Pearce, J.M., 2016. "Levelized cost of electricity for solar photovoltaic, battery and cogen hybrid systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 692-703.
    31. Paul E. Hardisty & Mayuran Sivapalan & Peter Brooks, 2011. "The Environmental and Economic Sustainability of Carbon Capture and Storage," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-18, May.
    32. James F. Fox & John Elliott Campbell & Peter M. Acton, 2020. "Carbon Sequestration by Reforesting Legacy Grasslands on Coal Mining Sites," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-19, December.
    33. Strazzabosco, A. & Gruenhagen, J.H. & Cox, S., 2022. "A review of renewable energy practices in the Australian mining industry," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 135-143.
    34. Numbi, B.P. & Xia, X., 2015. "Systems optimization model for energy management of a parallel HPGR crushing process," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 133-147.
    35. Obeng-Darko, Nana Asare, 2019. "Why Ghana will not achieve its renewable energy target for electricity. Policy, legal and regulatory implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 75-83.
    36. Rachidi, Ntebatše R. & Nwaila, Glen T. & Zhang, Steven E. & Bourdeau, Julie E. & Ghorbani, Yousef, 2021. "Assessing cobalt supply sustainability through production forecasting and implications for green energy policies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    37. Nimana, Balwinder & Canter, Christina & Kumar, Amit, 2015. "Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the recovery and extraction of crude bitumen from Canada’s oil sands," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 189-199.
    38. Obane, Hideaki & Nagai, Yu & Asano, Kenji, 2020. "Assessing land use and potential conflict in solar and onshore wind energy in Japan," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 842-851.
    39. Zeng, Shihong & Tanveer, Arifa & Fu, Xiaolan & Gu, Yuxiao & Irfan, Muhammad, 2022. "Modeling the influence of critical factors on the adoption of green energy technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    40. Leung, Dennis Y.C. & Caramanna, Giorgio & Maroto-Valer, M. Mercedes, 2014. "An overview of current status of carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 426-443.
    41. Yinjie Zhang & Chunxiang Guo & Liangcheng Wang, 2020. "Supply Chain Strategy Analysis of Low Carbon Subsidy Policies Based on Carbon Trading," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-20, April.
    42. Moya, Diego & Aldás, Clay & Kaparaju, Prasad, 2018. "Geothermal energy: Power plant technology and direct heat applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 889-901.
    43. Gilbert E. Metcalf, 2021. "Carbon Taxes in Theory and Practice," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 13(1), pages 245-265, October.
    44. Jinlong, Li & Wenjie, Xu & Jianjing, Zheng & Wei, Liu & Xilin, Shi & Chunhe, Yang, 2020. "Modeling the mining of energy storage salt caverns using a structural dynamic mesh," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    45. Hernandez, R.R. & Easter, S.B. & Murphy-Mariscal, M.L. & Maestre, F.T. & Tavassoli, M. & Allen, E.B. & Barrows, C.W. & Belnap, J. & Ochoa-Hueso, R. & Ravi, S. & Allen, M.F., 2014. "Environmental impacts of utility-scale solar energy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 766-779.
    46. Barati, Mansoor, 2010. "Energy intensity and greenhouse gases footprint of metallurgical processes: A continuous steelmaking case study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 3731-3737.
    47. Jarosław Brodny & Magdalena Tutak, 2019. "Analysing the Utilisation Effectiveness of Mining Machines Using Independent Data Acquisition Systems: A Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-15, June.
    48. Zhong, Jiarui & Pei, Jiansuo, 2022. "Beggar thy neighbor? On the competitiveness and welfare impacts of the EU's proposed carbon border adjustment mechanism," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    49. Bellamy, Drew & Pravica, Luka, 2011. "Assessing the impact of driverless haul trucks in Australian surface mining," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 149-158, June.
    50. Bistline, John E. & Rai, Varun, 2010. "The role of carbon capture technologies in greenhouse gas emissions-reduction models: A parametric study for the U.S. power sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 1177-1191, February.
    51. Dehghani-Sanij, A.R. & Tharumalingam, E. & Dusseault, M.B. & Fraser, R., 2019. "Study of energy storage systems and environmental challenges of batteries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 192-208.
    52. Sims, Ralph E. H. & Rogner, Hans-Holger & Gregory, Ken, 2003. "Carbon emission and mitigation cost comparisons between fossil fuel, nuclear and renewable energy resources for electricity generation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(13), pages 1315-1326, October.
    53. François, B. & Hingray, B. & Raynaud, D. & Borga, M. & Creutin, J.D., 2016. "Increasing climate-related-energy penetration by integrating run-of-the river hydropower to wind/solar mix," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(P1), pages 686-696.
    54. Xu, Song & Govindan, Kannan & Wang, Wanru & Yang, Wenting, 2024. "Supply chain management under cap-and-trade regulation: A literature review and research opportunities," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Prehoda, Emily W. & Pearce, Joshua M., 2017. "Potential lives saved by replacing coal with solar photovoltaic electricity production in the U.S," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 710-715.
    2. Zhang, Jiekuan, 2023. "Emissions trading scheme and energy consumption and output structure: Evidence from China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(P1).
    3. Yu, Zhen & Wang, Yilan & Ma, Xiaoqian & Shuai, Chuanmin & Zhao, Yujia, 2023. "How critical mineral supply security affects China NEVs industry? Based on a prediction for chromium and cobalt in 2030," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    4. Yapicioglu, Arda & Dincer, Ibrahim, 2019. "A review on clean ammonia as a potential fuel for power generators," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 96-108.
    5. Horbach, Jens & Rammer, Christian, 2025. "Climate change affectedness and innovation in firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(1).
    6. Eom, Seongyong & Na, Sangkyung & Ahn, Seongyool & Choi, Gyungmin, 2022. "Electrochemical conversion of CO2 using different electrode materials in an Li–K molten salt system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    7. Peter Viebahn & Emile J. L. Chappin, 2018. "Scrutinising the Gap between the Expected and Actual Deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage—A Bibliometric Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-45, September.
    8. Lo, Shirleen Lee Yuen & How, Bing Shen & Teng, Sin Yong & Lam, Hon Loong & Lim, Chun Hsion & Rhamdhani, Muhammad Akbar & Sunarso, Jaka, 2021. "Stochastic techno-economic evaluation model for biomass supply chain: A biomass gasification case study with supply chain uncertainties," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    9. Li, Wei & Liu, Xing & Lu, Can, 2023. "Analysis of China's steel response ways to EU CBAM policy based on embodied carbon intensity prediction," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    10. Holland, Robert A. & Beaumont, Nicola & Hooper, Tara & Austen, Melanie & Gross, Robert J.K. & Heptonstall, Philip J. & Ketsopoulou, Ioanna & Winskel, Mark & Watson, Jim & Taylor, Gail, 2018. "Incorporating ecosystem services into the design of future energy systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 812-822.
    11. Hickey, Conor & O'Brien, John & Caldecott, Ben & McInerney, Celine & Ó Gallachóir, Brian, 2021. "Can European electric utilities manage asset impairments arising from net zero carbon targets?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    12. Svetlana Kunskaja & Johannes Fabian Bauer & Artur Budzyński & Ilie-Ciprian Jitea, 2023. "A research analysis: the implementation of innovative energy technologies and their alignment with SDG 12," Eastern-European Journal of Enterprise Technologies, PC TECHNOLOGY CENTER, vol. 5(13 (125)), pages 6-25, October.
    13. D’Orazio, Paola, 2024. "Assessing the fiscal implications of changes in critical minerals’ demand in the low-carbon energy transition," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 376(PA).
    14. Ritter, Hendrik & Zimmermann, Karl, 2019. "Cap-and-Trade Policy vs. Carbon Taxation: Of Leakage and Linkage," EconStor Preprints 197796, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    15. Liu, Jianqiao & Liu, Jia & Zhu, Yiheng & Sun, Wenyue & Zhang, Daowei & Pan, Huanquan, 2025. "Multi-objective optimization for efficient CO2 storage under pressure buildup constraint in saline aquifer," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 382(C).
    16. Anita Punia, 2021. "Carbon dioxide sequestration by mines: implications for climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 165(1), pages 1-17, March.
    17. Yiwen Yang & Hsiu‐Chi Wu & Sheng‐Ming Hsu & Pei‐Yu Chi & Chin‐Ho Lin, 2024. "The impact of Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism on trade in the Russia‐Ukraine war context," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 45(6), pages 3791-3804, September.
    18. Rafaty, Ryan & Dolphin, Geoffroy & Pretis, Felix, 2025. "Carbon pricing and the elasticity of CO2 emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    19. Esteves, Ana Filipa & Santos, Francisca Maria & Magalhães Pires, José Carlos, 2019. "Carbon dioxide as geothermal working fluid: An overview," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1-1.
    20. Jiang, Junxia & Gao, Xiaoqing & Lv, Qingquan & Li, Zhenchao & Li, Peidu, 2021. "Observed impacts of utility-scale photovoltaic plant on local air temperature and energy partitioning in the barren areas," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 157-169.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:384:y:2025:i:c:s0306261925002144. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.