Green Aluminum Maker Sees Opportunity in Green Hydrogen

With roughly half of the aluminum industry losing money, some producers may wish privately that they were making something else. According to analysts at UBS Group AG, that might actually be a good idea.

Pound for pound, aluminum is the most energy-intensive industrial metal. While most producers use fossil fuels to power the process of smelting, a handful of companies use hydropower instead to manufacture what they market as “green” aluminum. That group might better boost their environmental credentials and help cut excess industry capacity by shutting down aluminum smelters and switching into hydrogen production instead, UBS analyst Daniel Major said in an emailed note.