Appendix E Calculation Methods Appendix

Appendix E
Calculation Methods Appendix $-$ Part, V, and Bibliography

V. Data Sources Used to Generate and Validate the Commission’s Emissions Intensities

In addition to the primary data collected through questionnaire responses, the Commission drew from public and proprietary databases to generate and validate emissions intensity estimates for covered steel and aluminum product categories. As described in table E.16, the Commission used several data sources for publicly available emissions factors and emissions data to verify certain primary data received through questionnaire responses. Proprietary databases were used only to validate public and primary data collected, or to generate alternate scope 3 emissions intensities, presented in the sensitivity analyses in appendix F.

Table E.16 Data sources used to generate and validate emissions intensity estimates

$—$ (em dash) = not applicable.

Data source	Description	Use in emissions intensity estimates generation	Use in emissions intensity estimates validation	Year(s) of data coverage used in this report	Data maintained by
U.S. steel and aluminum facility-level questionnaire data	Survey of facilities producing covered steel and aluminum products in the United States, requesting information on production, energy use, and inputs	Primary data used to generate emissions intensity estimates at the process and product level	Section 7 optional responses used to validate certain average and facility-specific emissions intensities at the product level	2022	USITC
Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP)	Database of facility and unit-level emissions data from large GHG emission sources, fuel and industrial gas suppliers, and CO₂ injection sites in the iron and steel and aluminum sectors the United States	Process and fuel combustion emissions data used to allocate facility- and unit-level emissions estimates for facilities emitting more than 25,000 tons of CO₂e annually	Process and combustion emissions and fuel data used to validate primary data for facilities emitting more than 25,000 tons of CO₂e annually	2022	U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Emissions and Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID)	Database including emissions, emission rates, generation, heat input, and resource mixes of electric power generation in the United States	Subregional and plant-specific emissions and energy data used to generate emissions estimates related to generation and purchases of electricity and useful thermal output	Plant-level data and zip code subregion crosswalk used to validate primary data on facility grid purchases and plant-specific contracts	2022	EPA
Joint Research Centre Technical Reports	2023 technical report measuring the GHG emissions intensities of steel, aluminum, cement, and fertilizer products from industries in the EU and its trading partners; and 2013 technical report providing information and data on specific industrial processes within the iron and steel sector	Fuel, energy, and material input intensity data for iron and steel production processes used to generate certain iron and steel product-level emissions factors for use in scope 3 emissions estimates	$—$	2022	European Commission, Joint Research Centre
Sphera Managed Life Cycle Analysis Content (MLC) Database	Proprietary database of product-level life cycle inventories and assessments	Emissions factors for material and energy inputs used to generate alternate scope 3 emission estimates	Emissions factors for material and energy inputs used to validate USITC-generated scope 3 emissions factors used in scope 3 emissions estimates	Varies by emissions factor	Sphera Solutions, Inc. (Sphera)
International Energy Agency (IEA) Extended Energy Balances Data and Emissions Factors Database	Databases containing quantities of fuel and energy inputs and outputs across the iron and steel industry and country-specific emissions factors for electricity and heat generation	Fuel and energy quantities and emissions factors used to generate country-specific scope 3 emissions factors for certain material inputs in the partial LCI approach	$—$	2017 $-$ 22	IEA
CRU Emissions Analysis Tool	Web-based portal for benchmark data of GHG emissions and emissions intensities in steel and aluminum plants	$—$	Facility-level production data to validate primary production data collection and emissions intensity and emissions factor estimates	2022	CRU
ResponsibleSteel International Production Standard 2.1 Annex 5	Dataset of default embodied emissions factors for use as standard in site-level semifinished steel emission intensity performance determinations	Certain upstream material input emissions factors for steel production used to generate scope 3 emissions in the partial LCI approach	$—$	Varies by emissions factor	ResponsibleSteel
worldsteel Statistical Yearbook	Statistical yearbook on semifinished steel production by product, country, and process	Production data used to generate scope 3 emissions factors in the partial LCI approach	Production data used to validate primary data collected from domestic steel facilities	2021	World Steel Association
wordsteel 2020 Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) and worldsteel CO₂Data Collection User Guide	Documents containing direct and upstream emissions factors related to the production of steel	Used upstream material input emissions factors for steel production used to generate scope 3 emissions in the partial LCI approach	$—$	2020, 2022	World Steel Association
Aluminum Association (AA) Environmental Footprint of Semi-Fabricated Products Report	Cradle-to-gate life cycle inventory assessment of primary aluminum, secondary aluminum, and semi-fabricated aluminum products	$—$	Public emissions factors for secondary unwrought aluminum and wrought aluminum used to validate USITC’s emissions factors	2016	AA
Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC)	Cradle-to-gate life cycle assessments and environmental product declarations for various types of aluminum extrusions	$—$	Public emissions factors for aluminum extrusions used to validate USITC’s emissions intensity for bars, rods, and profiles	2020 $-$ 21	AEC
International Aluminium Institute (IAI) Life Cycle Inventory Data	LCI database and accompanying report on cradle-to-gate environmental metrics for primary aluminum production	Public emissions factors for upstream inputs to primary unwrought aluminum used to generate scope 3 emissions for primary unwrought aluminum; public emissions factors for primary unwrought aluminum production used to generate scope 3 emissions for secondary unwrought and wrought aluminum products with primary unwrought aluminum input	Public emissions factors for primary unwrought aluminum used to validate USITC’s emissions intensity estimates	2019	IAI

Sources: EPA, “Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP),” June 10, 2014; EPA, “eGRID with 2022 Data,” January 30, 2024; Vidovic et al., GHG Emission Intensities of the Steel, Fertilisers, Aluminium and Cement Industries, 2023; Remus et al., Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Document, January 24, 2013; Sphera Solutions, “LCA Database,” 2024; IEA, “World Energy Balances,” July 2024; IEA, “Emissions Factors 2023,” September 2023; CRU, “CRU Emissions Analysis Tool,” 2024; ResponsibleSteel, ResponsibleSteel International Production Standard: Version 2.1, May 21, 2024; worldsteel, Steel Statistical Yearbook 2023, accessed September 21, 2024; Janjua and Maciel, CO₂ Data Collection User Guide, Version 11, May 30, 2024; worldsteel, 2020 LCI Study, May 2021; AA, The Environmental Footprint of Semi-Fabricated Aluminum Products in North America: A LifeCycle Assessment Report, January 2022; Sphera Solutions, Aluminum Extrusion EPD Background Report, November 4, 2022; IAI, Life Cycle Inventory Data and Environmental Metrics for the Primary Aluminium Industry, November 2022.

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