CN Ch. 72–73CO₂

Iron & Steel

Agglomerated ores, pig iron, ferro-alloys, and steel products exported to the EU.

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Emissions scope

Direct only

GHGs covered

CO₂

Functional unit

Tonnes product

Indirect electricity

Excluded — Annex II

What emissions are covered?

Under EU CBAM, iron and steel exporters must report direct embedded emissions only. Indirect emissions from electricity consumption are explicitly excluded under Annex II of the applicable EU regulation. Only emissions from fuel combustion and process reactions within the installation boundary are included.

Included

✓Fuel combustion emissions (natural gas, coke, coal)
✓Process emissions from iron ore reduction
✓Emissions from precursor materials (e.g. imported wire rod, slabs)
✓Waste gas combustion within the installation

Excluded

—Electricity consumption emissions
—Upstream mining or raw material extraction emissions
—Transport emissions

Production Routes

~2.10 tCO₂e/t

Most common globally

Blast Furnace / Basic Oxygen Furnace (BF-BOF)

Traditional integrated steelmaking using iron ore and coal. Highest emissions intensity of all routes.

~0.45 tCO₂e/t

Lower emissions

Electric Arc Furnace — scrap-based (EAF)

Steel produced from recycled scrap using electric arc. Significantly lower direct emissions than BF-BOF.

~1.10 tCO₂e/t

Growing route

Direct Reduced Iron + EAF (DRI-EAF)

Iron ore reduced using natural gas then melted in EAF. Intermediate emissions — lower than BF-BOF, higher than scrap EAF.

Related Guides

CBAM Guidance

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