USITC continues fact-finding investigation on GHG emissions

“AISI welcomes this fact-finding investigation on greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions intensities of the steel and aluminum industries in the United States,” Dempsey said in a statement to SMU.

“We believe that the data collected through this investigation will be critical to developing effective trade policy measures that take the GHG emissions-intensity of imported and domestic products into account,” he added.

Investigating emissions

A letter sent by US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai on June 5 requesting a Section 332 investigation initiated the investigation.

Recall there are ongoing negotiations between the US and EU. The two parties seek a global arrangement for carbon emissions from the global steel and aluminum industries. 

Part of the fact-finding investigation includes a survey issued by the USITC. The USITC will send questionnaires to steel and aluminum producing companies in the US. The commission will collect data on the companies’ production of the goods and GHG emissions emitted.

Per the USITC website, the report will include the GHG emissions-intensity estimates of steel and aluminum produced in the US. The report is broken down by product category and production stage from 2022. Data on Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions defined as:

•  Scope 1: Direct emissions from the facility’s owned or controlled sources.
•  Scope 2: Indirect emissions from the generation of the facility’s purchased energy, including electricity, steam, heat, or  cooling.
•  Certain scope 3 emissions: Emissions associated with material and resource inputs for the production of steel and  aluminum.
•  A description of the methodologies used to collect and analyze relevant information and to analyze product-specific GHG emissions  intensities for the range of steel and aluminum products made in the US.

Upon completion of the investigation, the USITC will submit its report to the USTR by Jan. 28, 2025.