Aluminum GHG Emissions Reporting Guidance

The RMI Aluminum GHG Emissions Reporting Guidance (2023) provides a standardized framework for aluminum producers to report product-level greenhouse gas emissions. It introduces fixed system boundaries—a benchmarking boundary (mine-to-cast house) and a full boundary (cradle-to-gate)—to ensure comparability across different levels of vertical integration. The guide mandates the reporting of specific metrics, including emissions intensity and scrap-based content, while strongly advocating for the use of primary data to accurately reflect climate performance and incentivize decarbonization.

• The aluminum sector is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for over 1.1 gigatons (Gt) of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) in 2018, which represents approximately 2% of global anthropogenic emissions.
• To ensure comparability between aluminum products with different specifications, the guidance establishes a 'benchmarking boundary' that covers all processes from bauxite mining to the final cast house. A separate 'full boundary' includes the benchmarking boundary plus semi-fabrication and further downstream processes to capture total cradle-to-gate emissions.
• The guidance requires emissions reporting at the product level for individual sites (assets) on an annual basis. Key metrics to be reported include the benchmarking footprint, full footprint (if relevant), mine-to-smelter emissions intensity, share of scrap-based content, and the share of primary data used in calculations.

APA

RMI (2023). Aluminum GHG Emissions Reporting Guidance. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2023/11/aluminum_guidance.pdf

Chicago

RMI. Aluminum GHG Emissions Reporting Guidance. 2023. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2023/11/aluminum_guidance.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Aluminum GHG Emissions Reporting Guidance |date=December 2023 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2023/11/aluminum_guidance.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2023aluminum, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Aluminum GHG Emissions Reporting Guidance}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2023}, month = dec, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2023/11/aluminum_guidance.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }