ISO 14404-2:2013

Calculation method of carbon dioxide emission intensity from iron and steel production - Part 2: Steel plant with electric arc furnace (EAF)

ISO 14404-2:2013 specifies calculation methods which companies using EAF to manufacture steel can use to evaluate the total annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the emission factor of CO2 per unit of steel production of the entire steel production process. ISO 14404-2:2013 is applied to the plants that produce mainly carbon steel. It includes boundary definition, material and energy flow definition, and emission factor of CO2. Besides direct source import to the boundary, upstream and credit concept is applied to exhibit the plant CO2 intensity. ISO 14404-2:2013 supports the steel producer to establish CO2 emissions attributable to a site. ISO 14404-2:2013 cannot be used to calculate benchmarks or to compare CO2 intensities of production processes that are operated inside the site.

Méthode de calcul de l'intensité de l'émission de dioxyde de carbone de la production de la fonte et de l'acier — Partie 2: Usine sidérurgique équipée d'un four électrique à arc (FEA)

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 17-Mar-2013
• ICS: 13.020.40 - Pollution, pollution control and conservation
• ICS: 77.080.01 - Ferrous metals in general
• Technical Committee: ISO/TC 17 - Steel
• Drafting Committee: ISO/TC 17 - Steel
• Current Stage: 9599 - Withdrawal of International Standard
• Start Date: 16-Sep-2024
• Completion Date: 13-Dec-2025

Relations

• Revised: ISO 14404-2:2024 - Calculation method of carbon dioxide emission intensity from iron and steel production - Part 2: Steel plant with electric arc furnace (EAF)
• Effective Date: 28-Oct-2023

Overview

ISO 14404-2:2013 defines a standardized calculation method for carbon dioxide (CO2) emission intensity specifically for steel plants that use an electric arc furnace (EAF). The standard helps EAF-based steel producers evaluate total annual CO2 emissions and the emission factor (CO2 per unit of steel production) for a site. It covers boundary definition, material and energy flow mapping, and the application of emission factors, including upstream and credit concepts, so companies can establish site-attributable CO2 emissions consistently.

Key topics and requirements

• Scope and applicability: Applies to plants producing mainly carbon steel with EAF processes; intended for site-level CO2 emissions intensity, not product footprints or intra-site process benchmarking.
• Principles: Emphasizes relevance, completeness, consistency, accuracy and transparency for CO2 emissions accounting.
• Boundary definition: Requires clear site boundaries and categorization of emissions (direct, upstream and credit). The document provides category frameworks (Categories 1–4) to define what is included.
• Emission source types: Defines direct CO2 (on-site), upstream CO2 (imported materials, electricity, steam), and credit CO2 (exported materials/electricity). Aligns terms with ISO 14064-1 classifications.
• Material & energy flows: Specifies how to record fuels, auxiliary materials (e.g., lime, electrodes), ferrous materials and energy carriers used in EAF steelmaking.
• Calculation procedure: Clause 6 details the calculation method; Annex A converts consumption to energy metrics, Annex B offers templates for emission factor application, and Annex C provides worked examples.
• Limitations: Not intended for establishing regulatory benchmarks or for comparing CO2 intensities of discrete processes inside the same site.

Applications and practical value

• Calculate annual CO2 emissions and CO2 emission intensity (t CO2 / t crude steel) for an EAF steel plant.
• Standardize site-level greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting for sustainability reports, investor disclosure, or internal emissions management.
• Identify major emission sources and prioritize emissions reduction opportunities (fuel switching, energy efficiency, raw material sourcing).
• Provide a consistent basis for corporate aggregation of site data (e.g., worldsteel data collection) and for internal benchmarking across sites using the same methodology.

Who should use it

• Environmental managers, sustainability teams, EAF plant managers, environmental consultants, GHG auditors and corporate reporting officers at steel manufacturers using electric arc furnaces.

Related standards

• ISO 14404-1 (steel plant with blast furnace)
• ISO 14064-1 (GHG quantification and reporting)
• worldsteel CO Emissions Data Collection User Guide

Keywords: ISO 14404-2, EAF, electric arc furnace, CO2 emission intensity, steel plant CO2, greenhouse gas accounting, emission factor, steel industry.

Standards Content (Sample)

INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 14404-2
First edition
2013-03-15
Calculation method of carbon dioxide
emission intensity from iron and
steel production —
Part 2:
Steel plant with electric arc furnace
(EAF)
Méthode de calcul de l’intensité de l’émission de dioxyde de carbone
de la production de la fonte et de l’acier —
Partie 2: Usine sidérurgique avec four à arc électrique
Reference number
©
ISO 2013
© ISO 2013
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on the internet or an intranet, without prior
written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below or ISO’s member body in the country of
the requester.
ISO copyright office
Case postale 56 • CH-1211 Geneva 20
Tel. + 41 22 749 01 11
Fax + 41 22 749 09 47
E-mail [e-mail]
Web www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii © ISO 2013 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Terms and definitions . 1
2.1 Emissions . 1
2.2 Gas fuel . 2
2.3 Liquid fuel . 2
2.4 Solid fuel . 2
2.5 Auxiliary material . 3
2.6 Energy carriers . 3
2.7 Ferrous containing materials . 4
2.8 Alloys . 4
2.9 Product and by-product . 4
2.10 Others . 4
3 Symbols . 5
4 Principles . 6
4.1 General . 6
4.2 Relevance . 6
4.3 Completeness . 6
4.4 Consistency . 6
4.5 Accuracy . 6
4.6 Transparency . 6
5 Definition of boundary . 7
5.1 General . 7
5.2 Category 1 . 7
5.3 Category 2 . 7
5.4 Category 3 . 8
5.5 Category 4 . 8
6 Calculation . 8
6.1 General . 8
6.2 Calculation procedure . 8
Annex A (informative) Calculation of energy consumption and intensity .13
Annex B (informative) An example of template for using different emission factors or emission
sources from Table 4 .14
Annex C (informative) An example of CO emission and intensity calculations for steel plant .16
Bibliography .19
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of technical committees is to prepare International Standards. Draft International
Standards adopted by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting.
Publication as an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies
casting a vote.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO 14404-2 was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 17, Steel.
ISO 14404 consists of the following parts, under the general title of Calculation method of carbon dioxide
emission intensity from iron and steel production:
Part 1: Steel plant with blast furnace
Part 2: Steel plant with electric arc furnace (EAF)
iv © ISO 2013 – All rights reserved

Introduction
The steel industry recognizes the urgent need to take actions concerning climate change. Slowing
and halting global warming requires reductions in GHG emissions on a global scale. To play a part in
achieving these reductions, it is necessary for steel plants to identify the amount of CO emitted during
the production of steel products, in order to identify next opportunities for reduction of CO .
The production process of steel involves complex chemical reactions, various heating cycles, and the
recycling of various by-products. This variety of imports, including raw materials, reactive agents,
fuel and heat sources are transformed into wide range of steel products, by-products, waste materials
and waste heat.
Steel plants manufacture various products including: sheet products, plate products, long products,
pipe and tubes and many other types of products. In addition, steel plants produce unique speciality
grade steel products with high-performance, which are achieved by various sub-processes including
micro-alloying and applying surface treatments like galvanizing and coating that require additional
heat treatments. Therefore, none of the steel plants in the world is exactly identical.
Climate regulations in each country require steel companies to devise methods to lower CO emissions
from steel plants while continuing to produce steel products by these diverse and complex steelmaking
processes. To accomplish this, it is desirable to have universally common indicators for determining
steel plant CO emissions.
There are many methods for calculating CO emission intensity for steel plants and specific processes.
Each method was created to match the objectives of a particular country or region. In some cases, a
single country can have several calculation methods in order to fulfill different objectives. Every one
of these methods reflects the unique local characteristics of a particular country or region. As a result,
these methods cannot be used for comparisons of CO emission intensity of steel plants in different
countries and regions.
The World Steel Association (worldsteel), which consists of more than 130 major steel companies in 55
countries and regions of the world, has been working on the development of a calculation method for CO
emission intensity of steel plants to facilitate steel plant CO emissions improvement by the objective
comparison of the intensity among the member companies’ steel plants located in various places in the
world. An agreement was reached among members, and worldsteel has issued the method as a guideline
called “CO Emissions Data Collection User Guide.” Actual data collection among worldsteel members
based upon the guide started in 2007. Furthermore, worldsteel is encouraging even non-member steel
companies to begin using the guide to calculate CO emission intensity of their steel plants.
This calculation method establishes clear boundaries for collection of CO emissions data. The net CO
2 2
emissions and production from a steel plant are calculated using all parameters within the boundaries.
The CO emission intensity of the steel plant is calculated by the net CO emission from the plant using
2 2
the boundaries divided by the amount of crude steel production of the plant. With this methodology, the
CO emission intensity of steel plants is calculated irrespective of the variance in the type of process
used, products manufactured and geographic characteristics.
This calculation method only uses basic imports and exports that are commonly measured and recorded
by the plants; thus, the method requires neither the measurement of the specific efficiency of individual
equipments or processes nor dedicated measurements of the complex flow and recycling of materials
and waste heat. In this way, the calculation method ensures its simplicity and universal applicability
without requiring steel plants to install additional dedicated measuring devices or to collect additional
dedicated data other than commonly used data in the management of plants. However, because different
regions have different energy sources and raw materials available to them, the resulting calculations
cannot be used to determine a benchmark or best in class across regions.
With this method, a steel company can calculate a single figure for the CO emissions intensity of a plant
as a whole. As was explained earlier, most steel plants manufacture vast range of products with various
shapes and specifications. This calculation method ensures the simplicity and universal applicability
by not accommodating the differences in the production processes of such diverse products, and treats
a whole steel plant as one unit with one CO emission intensity. Therefore, this calculation method is
not applicable for calculating and determining the carbon footprint of any specific steel product. Also,
and for this reason, this method can be used neither for establishing caps or benchmarks for emissions
under emissions trading scheme in any specific local or regional economic system, nor for the generation
of CO data that would allow a comparison of CO intensities of production processes that are operated
2 2
inside the site.
vi © ISO 2013 – All rights reserved

INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 14404-2:2013(E)
Calculation method of carbon dioxide emission intensity
from iron and steel production —
Part 2:
Steel plant with electric arc furnace (EAF)
1 Scope
This part of ISO 14404 specifies calculation methods which companies using EAF to manufacture steel
can use to evaluate the total annual carbon dioxide (CO ) emissions and the emission factor of CO per
2 2
unit of steel production of the entire steel production process. This part of ISO 14404 is applied to the
plants that produce mainly carbon steel.
It includes boundary definition, material and energy flow definition, and emission factor of CO . Besides direct
source import to the boundary, upstream and credit concept is applied to exhibit the plant CO intensity.
This part of ISO 14404 supports the steel producer to establish CO emissions attributable to a site. This
part of ISO 14404 cannot be used to calculate benchmarks or to compare CO intensities of production
processes that are operated inside the site.
Conversion to energy consumption and to consumption efficiency can be obtained using Annex A.
2 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
2.1 Emissions
2.1.1
emission source
process emitting CO during production of steel products
Note 1 to entry: There are three categories of CO emission sources: direct, upstream and credit. Examples of
emission sources that are subject to this part of ISO 14404 are given in 2.1.2, 2.1.3 and 2.1.4.
2.1.2
direct CO emission
CO emissions from steel production activity inside the boundary
Note 1 to entry: Direct CO emission is categorized as “direct GHG emissions“ in ISO 14064-1.
2.1.3
upstream CO emission
CO emissions from imported material related to outsourced steel production activities outside the
boundary and from imported electricity and steam into the boundary
Note 1 to entry: CO emissions from imported material in this term is categorized as “other indirect GHG
emissions“ in ISO 14064-1.
Note 2 to entry: CO emissions from imported electricity and steam in this term is categorized as “energy indirect
GHG emissions“ in ISO 14064-1.
2.1.4
credit CO emission
CO emission that corresponds to exported material and electricity or steam
Note 1 to entry: Credit CO emission is categorized as “direct GHG emissions“ in ISO 14064-1.
2.2 Gas fuel
2.2.1
natural gas
mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane, occurring naturally in the earth and used
principally as a fuel
2.2.2
town gas
fuel gas manufactured for domestic and industrial use
2.3 Liquid fuel
2.3.1
heavy oil
No. 4- No.6 fuel oil defined by ASTM
Note 1 to entry: ASTM: American Society for Testing and Materials
2.3.2
light oil
No. 2- No.3 fuel oil defined by ASTM
2.3.3
kerosene
paraffin (oil)
2.3.4
LPG
liquefied petroleum gas
2.4 Solid fuel
2.4.1
EAF coal
coal for EAF, including anthracite
Note 1 to entry: EAF: electric arc furnace.
2.4.2
steam coal
boiler coal for producing electricity and steam, including anthracite
2.4.3
coke
solid carbonaceous material
2.4.4
charcoal
devolatilized or coked carbon neutral materials
EXAMPLE Trees, plants.
2 © ISO 2013 – All rights reserved

2.4.5
SR/DRI coal
coal for SR/DRI including anthracite
Note 1 to entry: SR: smelting reduction; DRI: direct reduction iron.
2.5 Auxiliary material
2.5.1
limestone
calcium carbonate, CaCO
2.5.2
burnt lime
CaO
2.5.3
crude dolomite
calcium magnesium carbonate, CaMg(CO )
3 2
2.5.4
burnt dolomite
CaMgO
2.5.5
electric arc furnace graphite electrodes
EAF graphite electrodes
net use of EAF graphite electrodes or attrition loss
2.5.6
nitrogen
N
inert gas separated from air at oxygen plant, imported from outside the boundary or exported to
outside the boundary
2.5.7
argon
Ar
inert gas separated from air at oxygen plant, imported from outside the boundary or exported to
outside the boundary
2.5.8
oxygen
O
gas separated from air at oxygen plant, imported from outside the boundary or exported to outside the
boundary
2.6 Energy carriers
2.6.1
electricity
electricity imported from outside the boundary or exported to outside the boundary
2.6.2
steam
pressurized water vapour imported from/exported to outside the boundary
2.7 Ferrous containing materials
2.7.1
pellets
agglomerated spherical iron ore calcinated by rotary kiln
2.7.2
hot metal
intermediate liquid iron products containing 3 % to 5 % by mass carbon produced by smelting iron
...