We make 304 and 316 stainless under one CN code. Do we need a separate CBAM figure per grade?
No. The EU's CBAM Q&A 6.6 says embedded emissions are worked out per CN code, the default functional unit in Article 4 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2547. Alloy content and scrap share can vary within that code, so 304 and 316 made under the same CN code share one figure.
What sets the number of figures
- The CN codes you produce, subject to the exceptions in Article 4.
- Different codes, different figures: the Commission's iron and steel guidance puts carbon steel and stainless screws in separate production processes because their CN codes differ.
- The aluminium guidance groups CN codes that differ only in size or shape and share the same composition.
What the grade still changes
- The alloy figures sent with the goods: mass per cent of manganese, chromium, nickel and other alloy elements in total.
- Tonnes of scrap per tonne of product, and the share of that scrap that is pre-consumer.
- The precursor emissions in the shared figure. Ferro-nickel, ferro-chromium and ferro-manganese are CBAM precursors, so a nickel-rich mix raises the figure for every tonne under the code.
Example: stainless bars, one CN code, one year
- 304: 6,000 t; 316: 2,000 t
- Total embedded emissions of the process, direct and precursors: 14,400 t CO2
- One figure for both grades: 14,400 / 8,000 = 1.80 t CO2 per tonne
- Grade by grade it might have been 1.70 for 304 and 2.10 for 316 (6,000 x 1.70 + 2,000 x 2.10 = 14,400), but only 1.80 is reported
Example figures.
What Senseible does here
Senseible's CBAM Suite builds one figure per CN code and carries ferro-alloy purchases in as precursors from your invoices. We build it from your records, check every figure in-house, and an accredited verifier we partner with signs it off. Have your own verifier? Send it to them.
Sources: European Commission, CBAM Questions and Answers (15 October 2026), question 6.6, European Commission, CBAM Guidance No. 5d, iron and steel (14 August 2026), section 3.1.3 and worked examples 2 and 3, European Commission, CBAM Guidance No. 5e, aluminium (14 August 2026), section 4
Last reviewed 2026-11-01.