# What are the emissions from building a power transmission line per km?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/transmission-line-construction-emissions-per-km

Most of the footprint is materials: galvanised steel towers, aluminium conductors and concrete foundations, which are Scope 3 capital goods. Site work adds diesel for cranes, winches and trucks, at 2.68 kg CO2 per litre. Divide by km built.

## Main parts

- Steel towers, by tonnes.
- ACSR or aluminium conductor, by tonnes.
- Foundation concrete and rebar.
- Diesel for erection and stringing.

## CBAM note

Exported steel structures and aluminium conductors can be CBAM goods. A line built in India is not.

## 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.

- [ACSR conductor per tonne](https://senseible.earth/answers/acsr-conductor-carbon-footprint-per-tonne)
- [Steel structures and CBAM](https://senseible.earth/answers/are-steel-structures-covered-by-cbam)

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)

Last reviewed 2026-10-22.