February 27, 2025
News Release 25-027
Inv. No(s). 332-598
Contact: Claire Huber, 202-205-1819
USITC Releases USTR-Requested Report on U.S. Aluminum and Steel Emissions Intensities

The U.S. International Trade Commission (Commission or USITC) today released a U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)-requested report that calculates the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensities of U.S. steel and aluminum industries. The report, Greenhouse Gas Emissions Intensities of the U.S. Steel and Aluminum Industries at the Product Level, was requested by the USTR in a letter received on June 5, 2023. 

USTR’s request letter asked the USITC to:

  • Calculate the GHG emissions intensity of steel and aluminum produced in the United States by product category in 2022, with data on scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. 
  • Describe the methodologies the USITC used to collect relevant information and calculate the emissions intensity estimates.
  • Identify where emissions occur during manufacturing, with respect to the production stages and sourcing location of inputs. 

To gather data for the calculation of product-level emissions intensity estimates, the USITC surveyed all U.S. facilities that produced the steel and aluminum products covered under the section 232 investigation in 2022.

This report conveys the Commission’s factual findings and analyses. The Commission makes no recommendations on policy or other matters in this report. 

Major Findings of the Investigation

The processes and inputs used in U.S. steel and aluminum production drive their emission intensities.

Semifinished Steel

The average emissions intensity estimate for U.S. carbon and other alloy semifinished steel was 1.02 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per metric ton of steel (mt CO2e/mt steel) in 2022.

  • The emissions intensities estimates of U.S. carbon and alloy steel products are primarily influenced by two factors: 
    • The production pathway (the more emissions-intensive blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace, or BF-BOF, pathway, versus the electric arc furnace, or EAF, pathway) used to produce the semifinished steel, which is used as substrate in mill products.
    • The relative use of emissions-intensive upstream material inputs like pig iron and direct reduced iron.
  • The average emissions intensity for U.S. stainless steel semifinished steel was 2.23 mt CO2e/mt steel in 2022. The emissions intensity of U.S. stainless steel products is mainly influenced by the reliance on emissions-intensive ferroalloy (an alloy of iron with a significant amount of one or more other elements, like chromium or nickel) inputs. All U.S. stainless semifinished steel-producing facilities reported operating an EAF. Therefore, variation in the production pathway does not drive emissions intensities for stainless steel.

Steel Mill Products

Average emissions intensities among carbon and alloy steel mill products ranged between 0.67 mt CO2e/mt steel for hot-worked long products and 2.17 mt CO2e/mt steel for coated flat products. Average emissions intensities among stainless steel mill products ranged between 2.31 mt CO2e/mt steel for hot-rolled flat and 4.55 mt CO2e/mt steel for wire.

  • Further downstream steel products generally had higher emissions intensities than less-processed steel products. This is because each subsequent process in steel production involves more steps and therefore more opportunities for emissions.
  • For carbon and alloy steel mill products, the most emissions-intensive processes in the U.S. steel industry occur during the upstream production of pig iron and semifinished steel. The additional subprocesses used to produce downstream products are also significant, however, leading to meaningful differences in emissions intensities across the carbon and alloy steel product categories.
  • Stainless steel mill products are more emissions intensive than their carbon and alloy steel counterparts. This is due to the heavier use of energy and ferroalloys associated with stainless steel production.

Unwrought Aluminum

The average emissions intensity for all U.S. unwrought aluminum is 3.46 mt CO2e/mt aluminum. U.S. unwrought aluminum includes primary aluminum, which is produced from alumina at smelters using electrolysis, and secondary aluminum, which is produced by remelting primary aluminum and scrap-based inputs. Most U.S. unwrought production, in terms of volume and number of facilities, is of secondary unwrought aluminum.

  • The average emissions intensity for U.S. primary unwrought aluminum is 14.52 mt CO2e/mt aluminum. The main drivers of the emissions intensity of primary unwrought aluminum are:
    • The large quantities of electricity needed for electrolysis. 
    • The fuel mix used to generate high quantities of the necessary electricity.
  • The average emissions intensity for U.S. secondary unwrought aluminum is 2.46 mt CO2e/mt aluminum. Production of secondary unwrought aluminum is much less energy intensive, using a fraction of the electricity of primary unwrought production. The emissions intensity of secondary unwrought aluminum is influenced by the amount of primary unwrought aluminum versus scrap used as inputs and, to a lesser extent, by the efficiency of the furnaces used to heat the metal.

Wrought Aluminum

The average emissions intensities for U.S. wrought aluminum products ranged from 4.97 mt CO2e/mt aluminum for plates, sheets and strip, to 8.66 mt CO2e/mt aluminum for foil. The two main factors that drive the differences in emissions intensities between wrought product categories are the:

  • Amount of primary versus secondary unwrought aluminum used. 
  • Energy intensity of the various manufacturing processes.

Note: The Commission’s emissions intensity estimates for both steel and aluminum are calculated assuming that scrap inputs have zero embedded emissions.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Intensities of the U.S. Steel and Aluminum Industries at the Product Level (Investigation No. 332-598, USITC Publication 5584, February 2025) is available on the USITC website.

About Factfinding Investigations

USITC general factfinding investigations culminating in a report, such as this one, cover matters related to tariffs, trade and competitiveness and are generally conducted under section 332(g) of the Tariff Act of 1930 at the request of the U.S. Trade Representative, the House Committee on Ways and Means or the Senate Committee on Finance. The resulting reports convey the Commission’s objective findings and independent analyses on the subjects investigated. The Commission makes no recommendations on policy or other matters in its general factfinding reports. Upon completion of each investigation, the USITC submits its findings and analyses to the requester. General factfinding investigation reports are subsequently released to the public unless they are classified by the requester for national security reasons.

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