What does the EU worked example give for stainless steel slabs and products from an EAF?
The Commission's iron and steel guidance gives 1.337 t CO2 per tonne for stainless slabs from an EAF and AOD, and adds 0.355 t per tonne for rolling into bars, sheets and pipes. Bought alloys and crude steel make up 94% of the slab figure. Because the plant sells slabs, it cannot report one combined figure.
The plant in Example 2
- An EAF and AOD melt shop makes 2,234,000 t of stainless slabs a year, all with more than 2.5% nickel.
- It sells 1,007,000 t of slabs and rolls the other 1,227,000 t into bars, sheets and welded pipes.
- Its direct emissions are 573,251 t CO2 a year from a carbon mass balance: natural gas, graphite electrodes, additives and the carbon in scrap and alloys, minus the carbon that leaves in steel and slag.
- Rolling gets 402,245 t of that, shared by the gas each product uses per tonne. Melting keeps 171,005 t.
Why it needs two figures, not one
Guidance 5d allows one combined figure for melting and rolling only when every slab made on site goes on to be rolled there. This plant sells part of its slabs, so slabs and rolled products each get their own figure. If your melt shop sells even some slabs or ingots, the same applies to you.
Where the slab figure comes from
The plant's own melting adds only 171,005 t. The alloys and bought crude steel add 2,816,238 t, because each tonne of ferro-nickel, ferro-chrome and ferro-manganese carries its own figure. The example assumes a US plant in 2027 with no verified supplier reports, so it uses the EU default values with the 2027 mark-up: 4.176 for ferro-nickel, 2.280 for ferro-chrome and 2.028 for ferro-manganese, per tonne.
Ferro-nickel alone is 1,448,124 t, nearly half the slab total. For an Indian melt shop, a verified figure from your ferro-chrome and ferro-nickel suppliers can move your number more than any saving inside your own plant.
From slab to rolled product
- Slabs used per tonne of product: 1,227,000 / 1,133,000 = 1.083, because cut-offs and scrap leave the line.
- Slab share: 1.337 x 1.083 = 1.448 t CO2.
- Rolling share: 402,245 / 1,133,000 = 0.355 t CO2.
- The guidance prints 1.783 t CO2 per tonne of product, but its own two lines add to 1.448 + 0.355 = 1.803. Check this gap before you copy the printed figure into a file or a contract.
Doing it with your plant's numbers
- Tonnes of each alloy and of bought crude steel charged in the year, from purchase and stock records.
- Each supplier's verified figure, or the default value for the alloy's CN code and country.
- Your own direct emissions, split between melting and rolling by gas or fuel use per product.
- Slabs made, slabs sold and slabs rolled, so the slab figure covers both.
- Electricity is not counted for these goods. The exception is a precursor that carries it, such as sintered ore or hydrogen.
Worked example from the Commission's guidance
- Ferro-nickel: 346,773 t x 4.176 = 1,448,124 t CO2
- Ferro-chrome: 331,213 t x 2.280 = 934,021 t CO2
- Ferro-manganese: 60,595 t x 2.028 = 122,887 t CO2
- Bought crude steel: 80,540 t x 3.864 = 311,207 t CO2
- Precursors 2,816,238 + melting 171,005 = 2,987,243 t CO2
- Slabs: 2,987,243 / 2,234,000 = 1.337 t CO2 per tonne
- Products: 1.337 x 1.083 + 0.355 = 1.803 t CO2 per tonne (printed in the guidance as 1.783)
These are the Commission's example values for a plant in the US, with US default values for 2027. They are not Indian figures. Use your suppliers' verified figures or the India default values.
What Senseible does here
Senseible's CBAM Suite builds the slab and product figures from your alloy purchase invoices, fuel bills and production records, and checks every figure in-house. An accredited verifier we partner with signs it off, or you send the file to your own verifier.
- Build your stainless CBAM file
- Ferro-alloys as steel precursors
- Own precursors in one installation
- India default values for ferro-alloys
Last reviewed 2026-11-03. Re-check if the Commission revises Guidance 5d, especially the printed product figure in Table 4-10.