Copper: Driving the Next Industrial Revolution
Copper’s exponential demand has been, and will be driven, largely because of its crucial role in the decarbonisation of economies, as countries race to meet their ambitious climate goals and net-zero emission targets.
May 28, 2025. By News Bureau
The demand for copper span different sectors from infrastructure to construction, from electronics to defence, from renewable energy to electrical vehicles. from telecom to medicine, from electrical networks to data centres, making it also the most valuable metal in the periodic table, which is virtually irreplaceable.
The Decarbonisation Metal
Its exponential demand has been, and will be driven, largely because of its crucial role in the decarbonisation of economies, as countries race to meet their ambitious climate goals and net-zero emission targets. After all, it is the metal of electrification essential to the energy transition. It is reflected in the rapid and large-scale deployment in green technologies such as the development of electric vehicles (EV) and charging infrastructure, manufacturing of solar photovoltaic cells and modules, large wind farms, modern grid networks, and EV batteries.
For instance, building solar photovoltaic (PV) plants, wind farms and electric vehicles (EVs) generally requires more minerals than their fossil fuel-based counterparts. “A typical electric car requires six times the mineral inputs of a conventional car, and an onshore wind plant requires nine times more mineral resources than a gas-fired power plant,” says a report by the International Energy Agency.
Coupled with that is the growing demand for copper from traditional industries like electronics, construction, telecom, medical sciences as nations and people become richer and urbanisation becomes much more widespread. For the electronic industry, copper’s ability to transmit electricity and transfer heat across the electronic printed circuit boards (PCBs), helps to reduce micro-fracturing thereby improving the life span of the devices. Such exceptional qualities also help transmit signals over long distances without losing power along the way.
Benefits for the Aerospace Industry
The aerospace sector also benefits from copper’s varied qualities. It is indispensable for electrical wiring, connectors, and heat exchangers resulting in its safe and efficient operation. To build Light Combat Helicopters (LCH), Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv, Medium Weight Fighter (MWF) Tejas MK 2 and the fifth generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), engineers are using carbon composite airframes. Similarly, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has been using copper in satellite parts and in launch vehicle systems.
Copper’s ability to evenly disperse heat makes it especially useful for combustion chambers for rocket engines. Combined with other metals increases the metal’s durability and it is extensively used in antennas, waveguides, and coaxial cables.
Modern medical science must thank copper for its contributions to the respiratory care systems, such as dispensing compressed medical air, such as oxygen and nitrous oxide to critically ill patients. Medical vacuum systems designed to remove gasses and fluids during surgical procedures also need copper. It is also the metal of choice for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)—a imaging technique used to take pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes inside the body—because of its ability to enhance magnetic and electrical waves in a device.
Given copper's use in a wide range of markets, it is only natural that the metal demand is going to multiply along with rising costs. More worrisome is that global think tanks like S&P Global’s “The Future of Copper: Will the looming Supply Gap Short-Circuit the Energy Transition” presents a rather bleak picture of the unprecedented shortfall in copper supply. The global copper demand is likely to nearly double over the next decade, from 25 million metric tons today to about 50 million metric tons by 2035 to deploy the technologies critical to achieving net-zero by 2050 goals. However, doubling global copper demand by 2035 in current conditions would result in significant shortfalls."
A Dire Situation
For India, the situation is even more dire, with the country’s copper demand expected to grow by 7 percent --the highest in the world—between 2020 and 204, with little chance of meeting this massive demand-supply gap. Even today, when copper consumption has risen from 494,787 tonnes in 2016-17 to 843,941 tonnes in FY2023-24, domestic copper production has seen a steep decline. It has plummeted by 60 percent falling from 798,700 tonnes to 509,000 tonnes, resulting in massive imports.
Not too long ago, 1996-97, India was exporting nearly 4.5 million metric tonnes of refined copper, enabling India's downstream finished goods industry to become an USD 18 billion industry. However, the closure of the 4-lakh tonne per annum Vedanta’s Sterlite Copper smelter in 2018, in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, contributing nearly 36 percent of the country’s refined copper, saw the country’s export plunge by 90 per cent, and becoming an importer for the first time in 18 years.
Unless immediate steps are taken to increase production by opening new plants or reopening the stalled ones, India may find many of its major projects put on hold. It could also put a spoke in India’s ambition of achieving a USD 7 trillion economy and its strategic objective of achieving Atmanirbhartha in critical minerals.
please contact: contact@energetica-india.net.
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