INSIDER: Designing Low-carbon Product Standards for Cement and Steel in the United States

The briefing proposes a federal low-carbon product standard for the U.S. cement and steel sectors to drive decarbonization. It suggests setting declining emissions intensity benchmarks and allowing the trading of emissions credits among producers and importers. For cement, the author recommends regulating the cement itself rather than concrete for administrative ease. For steel, the focus is placed on intermediate fabricated products. The document emphasizes that such a standard should include both direct and indirect emissions and be supported by price ceilings and floors to manage credit costs. Implementation via new legislation is preferred over the Clean Air Act to ensure coverage of imports and upstream emissions. Potential abatement technologies highlighted include fuel switching, carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS), energy efficiency, and hydrogen-based steel production.

• Cement and steel production are highly carbon-intensive due to high heat requirements and chemical reactions, releasing approximately one ton of CO2 per ton of cement and over two tons of CO2 per ton of steel produced via blast furnace.
• The proposed low-carbon product standard would function by setting an emissions intensity benchmark that decreases over time, requiring companies to receive or surrender tradable credits based on their product's emissions relative to that benchmark.
• For the U.S. cement sector, regulating cement is recommended over concrete because there are fewer than 100 cement plants compared to thousands of concrete plants, making it administratively simpler and the product more uniform for benchmarking.
• For the steel sector, the standard should target intermediate fabricated products—such as pipes, tubes, beams, bars, plates, and sheets—which are sold to manufacturers and construction firms.
• To prevent 'leakage' where market share is lost to unregulated foreign competitors, the performance standard must apply to importers of foreign cement and steel as well as domestic producers.
• New legislation is preferred for implementation over the Clean Air Act because the latter cannot cover imported products, emissions from purchased electricity, or certain upstream steel emissions.
• U.S. steel facilities could potentially reduce energy consumption by up to 39% through upgrades to existing best practices, with an additional 24% reduction possible if innovative technologies are deployed at scale.

APA

World Resources Institute (2021). INSIDER: Designing Low-carbon Product Standards for Cement and Steel in the United States. https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/insider-designing-low-carbon-product-standards-cement-and-steel-united-states

Chicago

World Resources Institute. INSIDER: Designing Low-carbon Product Standards for Cement and Steel in the United States. 2021. https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/insider-designing-low-carbon-product-standards-cement-and-steel-united-states.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=INSIDER: Designing Low-carbon Product Standards for Cement and Steel in the United States |date=25 March 2021 |url=https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/insider-designing-low-carbon-product-standards-cement-and-steel-united-states |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2021insider, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{INSIDER: Designing Low-carbon Product Standards for Cement and Steel in the United States}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2021}, month = mar, url = {https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/insider-designing-low-carbon-product-standards-cement-and-steel-united-states}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }