Structuring Demand for Lower-Carbon Materials: An Initial Assessment of Book and Claim for the Steel and Concrete Sectors

The document assesses the use of 'book and claim' as a chain of custody model to decarbonize supply chains for steel and concrete. This system decouples environmental attributes from physical products, allowing companies to invest in lower-carbon materials without direct physical access or contracts with producers. The report highlights the need for this model to provide the demand signals required for producers to finance lower-carbon infrastructure aligned with 1.5°C targets, while noting the complexity of implementing such systems within the steel and concrete sectors due to long supply chains and existing EPD/PCR systems.

• Companies face barriers to purchasing lower-carbon steel and concrete at scale because they often lack direct contracts with producers or physical access to the materials for specific use cases.
• The book and claim model decouples a product's carbon intensity from the physical unit, selling it as a certificate. This allows organizations to claim environmental attributes without purchasing the physical product, potentially expanding the buyer pool and providing the demand signals needed for producers to build 1.5°C-aligned infrastructure.
• Implementing book and claim in steel and concrete requires addressing specific challenges, including complex supply chains, the integration of existing EPD/PCR systems, and the wide variety of end products in these sectors.

APA

RMI (2024). Structuring Demand for Lower-Carbon Materials: An Initial Assessment of Book and Claim for the Steel and Concrete Sectors. https://rmi.org/resources/structuring-demand-for-lower-carbon-materials-an-initial-assessment-of-book-and-claim-for-the-steel-and-concrete-sectors/

Chicago

RMI. Structuring Demand for Lower-Carbon Materials: An Initial Assessment of Book and Claim for the Steel and Concrete Sectors. 2024. https://rmi.org/resources/structuring-demand-for-lower-carbon-materials-an-initial-assessment-of-book-and-claim-for-the-steel-and-concrete-sectors/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Structuring Demand for Lower-Carbon Materials: An Initial Assessment of Book and Claim for the Steel and Concrete Sectors |date=15 July 2024 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/structuring-demand-for-lower-carbon-materials-an-initial-assessment-of-book-and-claim-for-the-steel-and-concrete-sectors/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2024structuring, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Structuring Demand for Lower-Carbon Materials: An Initial Assessment of Book and Claim for the Steel and Concrete Sectors}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2024}, month = jul, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/structuring-demand-for-lower-carbon-materials-an-initial-assessment-of-book-and-claim-for-the-steel-and-concrete-sectors/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }