Pedal to the Lower-carbon Metal

The document describes how a global automaker used Climate TRACE and TASA Analytics data to move beyond coarse 'spend-based' emissions factors to granular, facility-level intelligence for steel and aluminium. By integrating Scope 1 and 2 emissions factors with rapid IO-LCA (rLCA) models, the project revealed significant emissions intensity variations across production methods and countries. Key findings highlight the potential for emissions reductions through increased scrap use in both steel and aluminium production and the inaccuracy of standard EEIO data in certain regions.

• Traditional 'spend-based' emissions factors using environmentally extended input-output (EEIO) approaches are often too coarse to manage unique supply chain risks because they rely on aggregated governmental data and apply single country or global averages, obscuring differences between specific companies or facilities.
• The use of hybrid-path emissions factors revealed that standard EEIO data may underestimate actual production emissions in India and China. In the US, primary steel mill emissions profiles vary widely, ranging from 0.5 to 3.8 tCO2e/t, compared to a national average of 1.4 tCO2e/t.
• Increasing scrap content in steel production in India from 50% to 90% can reduce the total emissions profile by nearly 50%, dropping from 2.14 tCO2e/tcs to 1.3 tCO2e/tcs.
• In the aluminium value chain, alumina refining and smelting are the primary emission drivers. Total embodied emissions vary from 5.7 to 18.5 tCO2e/t depending on the producing country (Canada, China, India) and refining environment (Brazil, China, Australia, India). Using recycled scrap in aluminium production can reduce emissions intensity by up to 90% compared to virgin aluminium.

APA

TRACE, B. C. (2025). Pedal to the Lower-carbon Metal. Climate TRACE. https://climatetrace.org/news/pedal-to-the-lower-carbon-metal

Chicago

TRACE, By Climate. Pedal to the Lower-carbon Metal. Climate TRACE, 2025. https://climatetrace.org/news/pedal-to-the-lower-carbon-metal.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=TRACE |first1=By Climate |title=Pedal to the Lower-carbon Metal |publisher=Climate TRACE |date=17 June 2025 |url=https://climatetrace.org/news/pedal-to-the-lower-carbon-metal |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{trace2025pedal, author = {TRACE, By Climate}, title = {{Pedal to the Lower-carbon Metal}}, institution = {Climate TRACE}, year = {2025}, month = jun, url = {https://climatetrace.org/news/pedal-to-the-lower-carbon-metal}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }