Is our UK CBAM figure the same as the product footprint our buyer wants for Scope 3?
No. The UK CBAM figure counts only direct emissions inside set system boundaries, and leaves out grid electricity until at least 2029. A cradle-to-gate product footprint for a buyer's Scope 3 Category 1 covers all upstream emissions, including purchased electricity and the materials you buy.
Side by side
- UK CBAM: direct emissions plus heat consumed and covered precursors, per tonne under one commodity code, calendar year, verified.
- Product footprint for Scope 3: cradle-to-gate, all upstream emissions of the product, including electricity and inputs not covered by CBAM.
- UK CBAM excludes plating, cutting, welding and finishing for steel products; a footprint includes what your process actually uses.
Why the numbers differ
For an induction furnace or extrusion plant, grid power can be the largest source. At India's grid factor of 0.675 kg CO2 per kWh, 500 kWh per tonne adds 0.3375 tCO2 per tonne to the footprint that the UK CBAM figure leaves out.
Send both, labelled
Give the buyer each figure with its boundary, year and method written next to it, so one is not mistaken for the other.
What Senseible does here
Senseible builds both from the same invoices: a direct-only figure for CBAM and a fuller footprint with electricity for Scope 3 requests. We build the figure from your records and check every figure in-house; for the UK it must then be verified by a verifier accredited for UK CBAM. Have your own verifier? Send it to them.
Sources: HMRC, UK CBAM monitoring, reporting and verification technical guidance (October 2026), HM Treasury and HMRC, CBAM consultation on scope expansion to refinery products (October 2026), GHG Protocol, Scope 3 Calculation Guidance, Category 1: Purchased goods and services
Last reviewed 2026-11-02.