Achieving climate goals demands an unprecedented amount of raw materials from the world, while the decommissioning of shutting-down fossil industries consumes astronomical sums. However, a study published in March 2026 in the journal Nature Communications by researchers from ETH Zurich and Empa in Switzerland proposes a revolutionary solution: instead of dismantling aging oil rigs, gas pipelines, and coal power plants, the massive metal reserves locked within them should be recycled. The research highlights that extracting the steel and copper “locked” in fossil infrastructure could reduce the carbon footprint of future wind and solar energy projects by up to one-third.
Climate Power Plants and the Paradox of Sustainability
To curb global warming, modeling calculations indicate that the world will absolutely need to install 6.0–8.1 terawatts (TWp) of wind energy and 8.5–14.0 TWp of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity by 2050. However, building this climate-friendly infrastructure requires an enormous amount of raw materials, and mining and refining these from primary (virgin) sources severely burdens the environment on its own.
At the same time, with the closing of the fossil era, the world faces tens of thousands of closed coal mines, oil and gas drilling platforms, and abandoned power plants. The study’s authors highlight that the traditional dismantling and disposal of these facilities not only poses a financial burden on the industry to the tune of tens to hundreds of billions of dollars globally, but also entails significant additional greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, Hauke Schlesier, Gonzalo Guillén-Gosálbez, and Harald Desing conducted a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) to examine the potential of using old facilities as a secondary raw material base.
Steel and Copper Reserves Measured in Gigatons
The most important findings of the study relate to the exact quantification of the accumulated metal stocks inherent in fossil infrastructures. The research data clearly proves that recycling the industry would cover the raw material needs of the green transition for key metals at an astonishing rate:
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Steel: Fossil facilities contain approximately 1.34 gigatons of steel. This impressive amount alone represents 145 percent of the median steel demand projected for the period between 2020 and 2050 required for the green energy transition.
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Copper: The aging infrastructure hides about 10.03 megatons of copper, which can cover roughly 32 percent of the median copper demand for future green technologies.
The document also details how the recoverable steel reserves are currently distributed among types of facilities: the largest proportion (46 percent) is found in the structural elements of oil and gas extraction equipment, followed by power plants (26 percent), pipelines (21 percent), and finally coal mine infrastructure (6 percent).
Rare Earth Metals and Drastic Toxicity Reduction
Beyond classic structural metals, old infrastructure also contains highly valuable and critical raw materials. A prime example is the cobalt found in superalloys used in gas turbines, which can be safely recovered through specialized leaching of metal waste.
However, the environmental benefits do not stop at resource savings. Slag generated during primary steel production (such as the basic oxygen furnace process) severely contributes to both human and ecosystem toxicity. By ensuring that renewable energy-producing wind and solar power plants could now be built largely from secondary (recycled) steel and copper, the researchers’ model calculations show that the overall carbon footprint of these climate-friendly technologies would be reduced by an additional one-third (33 percent).
Beyond Recycling: Repurposing and Circular Strategies
As a final conclusion, the analysis emphasizes that the circular economy does not necessarily and exclusively mean physical melting and recycling. The physical attributes of closed facilities can be ingeniously utilized in other ways during the transition: repurposing the deep boreholes of depleted oil and gas wells could be excellently suited, for example, for storing clean hydrogen, geological sequestration of captured carbon dioxide (CO2), or even geothermal energy production.
Official Sources and References:
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Original Study (Nature Communications, March 15, 2026): Recycling fossil infrastructure for cleaner energy transitions
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(State organ financing and supporting the Swiss research: State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation, SERI – sbfi.admin.ch)