<p>With the growth of the new energy industry and the continuous demand for nickel, ensuring the sustainability of global nickel resource trade has become increasingly critical. This article optimized the global nickel industry chain trade network from 2012 to 2021, with the goal of reducing transportation costs and embodied carbon emission costs. The study found that the midstream segment of the nickel industry chain offered the greatest potential for optimizing embodied carbon emission costs and transportation costs, with optimization ratios ranging from 3.8% to 20.3% and from 42.3% to 78.3%, respectively. After optimization, the largest supply centers in the midstream and downstream shifted from Indonesia and China to Japan and Belgium, respectively. In order to maximize overall benefits, the transportation costs and embodied carbon emission costs of various economies changed in different directions and degrees. While the costs of some economies decreased, those of others increased. The stability of the trade system in the nickel industry chain was enhanced after optimization. The sustainable supply of global nickel resources requires cooperation among economies under the leadership of relevant international resource governance organizations.</p>