# A catalyst maker asks our Rustenburg platinum smelter for carbon data. Is it a CBAM good?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/rustenburg-pgm-smelter-buyer-scope-3

No. Platinum group metals are not CBAM goods. The buyer wants a Scope 3 figure: emissions from mining, concentrating, smelting and refining per ounce or kilogram, where Eskom electricity is usually the largest part. Give the allocation basis between metals.

## What drives the figure

- Electricity for furnaces and concentrators, at the Eskom grid factor.
- Diesel for mining equipment.
- Coal or reductants in smelting.

## Allocation

One ore yields platinum, palladium, rhodium and base metals. Say whether emissions are split by mass or by value; value allocation puts most of it on the precious metals.

## Format

Car catalyst makers usually want kilograms of CO2e per kilogram of metal, with the year and the grid factor used.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads bills, fuel invoices and production records into dated, fingerprinted records, so the figure you send a buyer can be traced to its documents.

- [Eskom grid factor](https://senseible.earth/answers/eskom-grid-factor-for-south-african-suppliers)
- [Ferrochrome on Eskom power](https://senseible.earth/answers/south-africa-ferrochrome-exporter-eskom-power-cbam)
- [Emissions share for a buyer's orders](https://senseible.earth/answers/buyer-asks-emissions-share-for-its-orders)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-value-chain-scope-3-standard), [GHG Protocol Corporate Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard), [CBAM Regulation (EU) 2023/956, consolidated](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/956/2025-10-20)

Last reviewed 2026-10-22.