# Our buyer says our steel or cement is an "emissions-intensive activity" under SBTi V2. What data will they want?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/sbti-v2-emissions-intensive-activities-suppliers

Your product's cradle-to-gate footprint. Under SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0, Category A buyers must identify and quantify emissions-intensive activities such as steel, cement and aluminium on a cradle-to-gate basis (modules A1 to A3). One is significant at 5% or more of Scope 3 categories 1 to 14.

## What the buyer must do (C6)

- Identify which listed activities are in its value chain. It cannot assume one is absent without checking.
- Quantify their Scope 3 emissions with the best available data, or explain the gap and close it at the next update.
- Treat an activity as significant at 5% or more of Scope 3 categories 1 to 14, adding it up across categories.
- Report tonnes and percentage for each significant one, in the next reporting cycle after validation.
- Category A buyers must later report what share of each significant activity meets the benchmark for lower carbon or net-zero aligned (C37.5).

## The list in Annex A

- Commodities, cradle-to-gate: cement, steel, aluminium, ammonia, methanol, ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylene, primary plastics, and farmed commodities such as rice, wheat, rubber, leather and timber.
- Transport, well-to-wheel: light and heavy road vehicles, rail freight, ocean shipping, aviation.
- Sold products, use phase: sold fuels, fuel- and electricity-using products, products that release greenhouse gases, and services supporting fossil fuel production.

## What cradle-to-gate means for you

- A1: raw materials, such as iron ore, scrap, coking coal, limestone, alumina.
- A2: transport of those materials to your plant.
- A3: your own manufacturing: fuel, power and process emissions.
- Footnote 69 notes that A1 to A3 is the basis for Environmental Product Declarations and lines up with the data CBAM asks for.

## What to have ready

1. Emissions per tonne of product, cradle-to-gate, for the latest year, with the method named.
2. Your own Scope 1 and 2 per tonne, from fuel invoices and power bills.
3. Input data behind A1: scrap share or clinker ratio, and where suppliers' figures came from.
4. If you export to the EU, the CBAM emissions data you already prepare.

## Example: is steel significant for the buyer?

- Buyer's Scope 3, categories 1 to 14: 50,000 t CO2e
- Purchased steel, cradle-to-gate, from supplier data: 3,100 t, which is 6.2%, so significant
- Purchased cement: 1,800 t, which is 3.6%, so not significant on its own
- The buyer reports 3,100 t and 6.2% for steel and will want your per-tonne figure each year

Example company.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible builds the A3 part, your own Scope 1 and 2, from fuel invoices and power bills, and keeps purchase lines in a Scope 3 supplier evidence trail. A full cradle-to-gate figure also needs your input suppliers' data. It does not set, validate or assure SBTi targets.

- [SBTi Net-Zero Standard V2: supplier impact](https://senseible.earth/answers/sbti-net-zero-standard-v2-suppliers)
- [SBTi V2 volume alignment targets](https://senseible.earth/answers/sbti-v2-volume-alignment-low-carbon-purchases)
- [Green steel certificates in Scope 3](https://senseible.earth/answers/green-steel-certificate-scope-3)
- [Scope 3 supplier evidence](https://senseible.earth/scope-3-supplier-evidence)

Sources: [SBTi, Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0, Criteria (final, released June 2026, effective 1 February 2027): C6, C37.5, R15.2, Annex A and footnote 69](https://files.sciencebasedtargets.org/production/files/Corporate-Net-Zero-Standard-V2-Criteria.pdf)

Last reviewed 2026-11-01.