Field guide
Know exactly what you are doing, and where every number comes from.
A role-by-role walkthrough of EcoBorder: from a raw supplier bill to a submission-ready EU CBAM pack. Worked end to end on a real example, the EU steel case, so you can see the actual screens and the actual maths.
EcoBorder in one line
Every client moves along the same seven-stage arc. The workspace tracks where each one is, recomputes emissions as data arrives, and ends in a filed, immutable record. You rarely open a tool by hand: you follow the tracker.
For a consultant or agency
Your goal: for each client, turn scattered mill and supplier data into a defensible embedded-emissions figure, a liability number you can stand behind, the official buyer communication, and a filed record, and know precisely how every figure was derived when the importer or a verifier asks.
1. The portfolio is your desk
You land on every client at once: the total liability you are managing, what verified data has saved versus punitive defaults, and who needs attention.
2. Confirm scope, then collect the data
Open a client and the tracker pins down what is in CBAM scope: for the reference client, one product line (Hot-rolled coil, CN 72081000, 10,000 t/yr) and one installation. Then two data streams feed it: the mill’s own activity data, and each precursor supplier’s embedded emissions.
- Import instead of typing: a bill or register (AI Data Import), an EU communication template, or an accounting/CSV export (a Tally export works). Every extracted value is shown next to its source to confirm.
- For each supplier, send a secure link. You can set it to expire and revoke it at any time; a revoked or expired link stops working.
- The coverage meter shows how much of the client’s tonnage rests on primary data versus default. Push it up to cut the mark-up.
3. Read the number, and see how it was built
The emissions stage shows the live figure and recomputes automatically: SEE 1.74 tCO2e/t (1.54 direct, 0.20 indirect) and a liability of €153,759 / yr. Every calculator carries a Show working ledger, walked in full in the calculation section.
4. Communicate, verify, file, and answer back
- The official installation communication is drafted for you in the EU template; you approve, then it is sent. Aria can draft, but a human clicks send.
- Verification assembles a verifier-ready dossier before the accredited audit. It is optional to reach a filed state, which is why the reference client sits at 86%.
- Filing writes the figures to an immutable ledger. Filed numbers cannot be edited; a correction is a new version. If the importer queries after filing, you answer in the thread and reopen the period to amend.
For an exporter or producer
Your goal: prepare the embedded-emissions communication your EU buyer needs, and understand your carbon-border cost, without hiring anyone to do the arithmetic. Your path is a straight line down the same tracker, worded around your company instead of clients.
- Add your product and installation (the reference example uses CN 72081000, 10,000 t/yr).
- Import your mill data from a bill, register, or Tally export rather than typing it. Confirm each extracted value.
- Read your liability, open Show working to see how it is built, and use the Cost Forecast to see how it grows to 2034 as free allocation phases out.
97.5%
90%
51.5%
26.5%
0%
Free allocation is the share of the benchmark still granted free. As it falls to zero by 2034, more of your 1.54 tCO2e/t becomes chargeable, so the same product costs several times more.
For an EU importer or declarant
Your goal: get complete, defensible embedded-emissions figures per CN good from your non-EU suppliers, in a form you can carry into the registry, and a channel to query anything that looks off.
For a supplier
Your goal: give your customer the embedded emissions of the material you sold them, quickly, without an account and without seeing anyone else’s data.
- The link opens only your form, scoped to the one material and period you were asked about. You never see the rest of the client’s workspace.
- The link can expire and can be revoked by whoever sent it. If it has stopped working, ask for a fresh one rather than reusing an old message.
The calculation, step by step
This is the part a consultant must defend line by line. Below is the exact ledger for the reference client, the same numbers the workspace shows and the same you get from Show working in the Tax Calculator. Every value comes from the engine.
- Product: Hot-rolled coil, CN 72081000
- Volume to EU: 10,000 t/yr
- Embedded intensity (SEE): 1.74 tCO2e/t = 1.54 direct + 0.20 indirect
- Reporting year: 2026. Origin carbon price: €0
- Benchmark (BMg): 1.37 tCO2e/t
- Free-allocation factor CBAM_y (2026): 97.5%
- Cross-sectoral factor CSCF: 1 (approx.)
- Certificate price: €75.28 / tCO2
- Annex II: for steel, only direct is surrendered
| Step | How it is computed | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Declared embedded emissions | 1.54 tCO2e/t x 10,000 t | 15,400 tCO2e |
| Surrendered (relevant) basis: direct only for steel. Indirect (0.20) is excluded, because Annex II counts indirect emissions only for cement and fertilisers. | ||
| 2. Free-allocation deduction (Art. 31) | CBAM_y 97.5% x CSCF 1 x BMg 1.37 | - 1.336 tCO2e/t |
| 3. Chargeable intensity | max(1.54 - 1.336, 0) | 0.204 tCO2e/t |
| Chargeable emissions | 0.204 tCO2e/t x 10,000 t | 2,042 tCO2e |
| 4. Gross certificate cost | 2,042 tCO2e x €75.28 | €153,759 |
| 5. Origin carbon-price credit (Art. 9) | 15,400 tCO2e x €0 (none paid) | - €0 |
| Net liability | max(gross - credit, 0) | €153,759 |
The single idea to carry away: CBAM does not charge your whole footprint. It charges only the amount by which your surrendered intensity exceeds the EU benchmark, and even that is scaled by the phase-in. On the reference product, 1.54 less 1.336 of relief leaves just 0.204 tCO2e/t chargeable. That is why real data matters: it lowers the surrendered intensity, and the relief does the rest.
Tool reference
What each tool is for, and where it sits in the flow above.
CN Code Checker
OpenFind whether a product is CBAM covered, its category, and its official country-specific 2026 default values (with the mark-up) plus a cost estimate. Start here to confirm scope.
Emissions Calculator
OpenTurn production and activity data (fuels, electricity, precursors, processes) into Specific Embedded Emissions (SEE), direct and indirect, in tCO2e per tonne. Hover any term for a definition.
CBAM Tax Calculator
OpenEstimate certificate liability across product lines. Open Show working on any line to see the exact ledger, and Sign in to save it to a project. See the calculation section below.
Readiness Check
OpenA five question scored assessment of how prepared you are, with a prioritised action list shown in full. No email required.
Communication Builder
OpenAssemble the official EU installation SEE communication for your EU buyer and export the Excel workbook that mirrors the official template.
Workspace
OpenSign in to save projects, collect multi-supplier data through private links, track the delivery workflow per client, and keep an audit trail.
Glossary
- SEE
- Specific Embedded Emissions: the tCO2e in one tonne of the good, split into direct and indirect. The number CBAM is charged on.
- Direct vs indirect
- Direct = emissions from your own processes and fuel. Indirect = emissions from the electricity you bought. For steel, only direct is surrendered (Annex II).
- Precursor
- A CBAM material you bought in and consumed (iron ore, scrap, alumina, clinker, ammonia). Its embedded emissions cascade into your good.
- Precursor cascade
- How a precursor's emissions flow into your product: its intensity times how much of it goes into each tonne of your good, added to your own.
- Embedded emissions
- The total carbon in a product: your own process emissions plus the emissions of every precursor you bought to make it.
- Benchmark (BMg)
- The EU reference intensity for a good and route. Free allocation is measured against it; you are charged only for exceeding it.
- Free allocation / CBAM_y
- The share of the benchmark still granted free, phasing out from 2026 (97.5%) to 2034 (0%). What is not free becomes chargeable.
- CBAM factor
- The share of emissions actually charged in a year, the inverse of free allocation: 2.5% in 2026, rising to 100% by 2034.
- CSCF
- Cross-sectoral correction factor, set annually by the EU; approximated as 1 in the estimates.
- Country default value
- The official fallback intensity when you have no verified data. Deliberately marked up, so real data almost always beats it.
- CN code
- The 8-digit customs code that identifies your product. It decides CBAM coverage and which official default values apply.
- Production route
- How the good is made, for example EAF versus BF-BOF steel, or primary versus recycled aluminium. It sets which benchmark applies.
- Carbon price at origin
- A carbon price you already paid in your own country. It is credited against your CBAM charge, up to the EU certificate price.
- Coverage
- How much of a client's tonnage rests on primary (declared or measured) data versus default values. Higher is cheaper and more defensible.
- Verification
- Independent third-party checking of your emissions data. Required for figures to count as verified actual data in a real filing.
- Material balance
- A check that the tonnes in and out of each production step add up, with no missing tonnes and no double counting.
- Immutable ledger
- The filed record of record. It cannot be edited; a correction is a new version, leaving a full trail.