The spring of 2026 marks a milestone for China’s nonferrous metals industry. The “Government Work Report” has set a target of “cutting carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by around 3.8%”, sounding the clarion call for in-depth industrial transformation. The **Ecological Environment Code** dedicates a separate part to “green and low-carbon development”, laying down the strictest legal baseline for ecological civilization. Meanwhile, the “Guiding Opinions on the Construction of Zero-Carbon Factories”, jointly issued by five ministries including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, provides a clear implementation roadmap for the industry’s green and low-carbon growth. These intensive policy signals act as beacons, guiding the direction for China’s nonferrous metals industry—a fundamental raw material sector. Green is the essential foundation to uphold, while intelligence is the engine driving upgrading. At the historical starting point of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, driven by tightening resource and environmental constraints as well as high-quality development requirements, the nonferrous metals industry is embracing a systematic transformation rooted in green development and powered by intelligent upgrading. This is not merely a passive adjustment to environmental pressures, but an active breakthrough and restructuring for the industry to rebuild competitive advantages and achieve high-quality development. Green is the foundation, the source of confidence, and the bedrock of development. It has evolved from an “optional extra” to a “mandatory course” for survival. The promulgation and implementation of the Ecological Environment Code mark a new stage of systematic and codified ecological governance. For the energy- and carbon-intensive nonferrous metals industry, this means environmental compliance has become the bottom line and red line for corporate operations, forcing the sector to accelerate transformation. In recent years, the nonferrous metals industry has made remarkable progress in green transition. Leveraging hydropower resources in southwest China, the share of green power used in primary aluminum production has exceeded 45%. The aluminum sector has achieved carbon peaking ahead of schedule, with some leading enterprises emitting only 5.2 tonnes of carbon per tonne of aluminum. Through clean technologies such as oxygen-enriched top-blowing and oxygen bottom-blowing smelting, the copper industry has reduced comprehensive energy consumption per unit product by 18%. A growing number of “national-level green factories” have emerged across the industry. Zero-waste mines built by enterprises including Aluminum Corporation of China (CHALCO) and Jiangxi Copper have achieved a tailings comprehensive utilization rate of over 90%. The development of zero-waste enterprise groups has raised the share of recycled nonferrous metals to 28%. These practices prove that green development is not simply “cutting back”, but a “multiplier effect” of quality and efficiency gains through technological innovation and model restructuring. The potential for energy conservation and carbon reduction defines the future survival space for enterprises; the level of green competitiveness determines the height of industrial development. Building on green means strengthening the ecological bottom line and enhancing the sustainability of development. Green is never an abstract concept, but concrete actions: consuming every unit of green power, controlling every gram of carbon emissions, and reducing every tonne of ore tailings. Zero-carbon factories involve not only cleaner energy structures, but also the restructuring of production processes, innovation in technologies, and carbon footprint management throughout the product lifecycle. At present, CHALCO has built the world’s first zero-carbon primary aluminum smelter, achieving full-process carbon neutrality through green power substitution and process optimization. Jiangxi Copper has established a full-lifecycle carbon management system covering “mining–smelting–processing–recycling”, with carbon emissions from recycled copper 85% lower than those from virgin copper. This means the industry must embed green development into every link, from mineral exploration, mining and smelting to processing and recycling, building a full-lifecycle green and low-carbon industrial system. A complete green manufacturing system is taking shape, from green power substitution for source carbon reduction, to process reengineering for midstream emission cuts, and research on carbon capture and storage for end-use carbon sequestration. Only in this way can green development become a core corporate competitiveness and secure an advantageous position in global industrial chain competition. If green is the foundation, intelligence is the core engine propelling the industry to a higher level. Green and intelligent development are two sides of the same coin, reinforcing each other. Green transition sets the direction for intelligent upgrading, while intelligent upgrading provides technical support for green transition. As green becomes the dominant theme and intelligence the new normal of production, the nonferrous metals industry will surely integrate itself into the grand modern industrial system with a brand-new look. The Government Work Report stresses “deepening and expanding the ‘AI+’ initiative”, opening up new development avenues for the nonferrous metals industry. The sector currently faces bottlenecks including metal recovery rates of less than 70% for low-grade ores, localization rates below 30% for deep-sea mining equipment, and insufficient automation in production. The key to solving these challenges lies in the deep empowerment of digital and intelligent technologies. Digital technologies are reshaping production across the entire industrial chain: AI-powered intelligent exploration systems enable precise 3D geological modeling and boost exploration efficiency by 40%; unmanned mining trucks and intelligent robots replace human labor in deep mines and deep-sea operations, cutting safety accidents by 65%; industry-large-model-based smelting process optimization reduces copper smelting costs by 1,200 yuan per tonne; and intelligent supply chain coordination improves inventory turnover by 30%. CHALCO applies AI to rare earth material design and smelting process optimization, shifting from “trial and error based on experience” to “data-driven decision-making” and shortening R&D cycles by 60%. China Rare Earth Group uses industry large models to optimize permanent magnet material formulations, raising its market share in high-end permanent magnets by 8 percentage points. These are vivid examples of new-quality productive forces at work. The path to breakthrough is arduous and long. High-quality development of the nonferrous metals industry requires not only proactive actions from enterprises, but also coordinated efforts from governments, industry associations and research institutions. On the one hand, we must strengthen national strategic guidance, take “mineral exploration breakthroughs” as a core task, and implement strategic mineral exploration initiatives to enhance the security of key minerals such as copper, nickel, cobalt and rare earths. The goal is to increase domestic copper and nickel reserves by 20% and 30% respectively by the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan period. At the same time, we will vigorously develop the recycled metals industry, improve the recycling system for scrap copper and aluminum, and build a diversified and stable resource supply system combining virgin and recycled materials. On the other hand, we will focus on key core technologies and bottlenecks, pool industrial resources to make coordinated breakthroughs, and achieve self-reliance in ultra-high-purity metals, high-end alloy materials, deep-sea mining equipment and other fields. We will promote in-depth integration of industry, academia, research and application, build an industry-level AI large model platform, and lower the threshold for intelligent transformation. By the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the localization rate of high-end nonferrous metals materials will reach 90%, so that the initiative for innovation remains firmly in our own hands. The questions of the times have been raised, and the industry is writing its answers. The breakthrough and restructuring of the nonferrous metals industry require both forward-looking vision and down-to-earth innovation. Rooted in green, we can draw a blueprint for sustainable development; powered by intelligence, we can generate momentum to forge ahead. In this decisive battle of transformation that must be won, every nonferrous enterprise brave enough to break through will be a standard-bearer of new-quality productive forces; every innovative professional in the sector will be a founder of high-quality development. Only by unswervingly following the path of green, intelligent and high-end development can the industry stand tall in global industrial competition, provide solid material support for Chinese modernization, and write a new chapter of high-quality development worthy of the times. [Data source: Compiled from public information]