Book and Claim for Cement: How EACs Could Reshape Scope 3 Strategy
Cement is local. Demand for low-carbon cement is not. A new framework from RMI and GMA proposes Environmental Attribute Certificates to bridge the gap — and the SBTi Net Zero Standard may open the door.
By Abhishek Das • • 12 min read
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~8%
of global GHG from cement & concrete
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~30
organizations in RMI/GMA working group
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2026
SBTi V2 net zero standard expected
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The SBTi Net Zero Standard and the Role of EACs |
For years, the corporate climate playbook was straightforward: set a science-based target, reduce what you can, and offset what you cannot. But when it comes to Scope 3 emissions — the indirect emissions embedded in supply chains — the playbook breaks down. Particularly in hard-to-abate sectors like cement and concrete, where the physical product is tightly bound to geography, chemistry, and legacy infrastructure.
This is where Environmental Attribute Certificates (EACs) enter the picture — and where the standards landscape is finally catching up.
SBTi V2 Draft: A Pivotal Signal
In November 2025, SBTi released an updated V2 draft of its Corporate Net Zero Standard that explicitly acknowledges the need for indirect mitigation instruments — including book and claim. This is a significant shift from the previous position, which limited Scope 3 accounting to direct, physically traceable procurement.
The final standard is expected sometime in 2026. If adopted, it would formalize a pathway for companies to claim Scope 3 inventory reductions through EAC purchases — even when the low-carbon product was never physically delivered to the buyer.
In parallel, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP) has assembled an Actions and Market Instruments (AMI) technical working group to develop guidance on how companies should account for market-based instruments like book and claim certificates. However, final guidance from the AMI working group is not expected until approximately 2028.
Concurrently, the Advanced and Indirect Mitigation (AIM) Platform — co-organized by GMA alongside Gold Standard and C2ES — has published the first draft of its Quality, Accounting, and Reporting Standard (AIM QAR), providing foundational cross-sectoral guidance for book and claim transactions. ISO has also recently published ISO 22095-3 requirements specifically addressing book and claim chain of custody.
What Is an EAC?
An Environmental Attribute Certificate is a certificate representing the environmental attributes (including carbon intensity and GHG reductions) associated with a given quantity of lower-carbon product. It decouples the environmental benefit from the physical product, allowing it to be issued, sold, and transferred independently. Also referred to as a book and claim unit (BCU), credit, or token.
The concept is not new. Renewable energy certificates (RECs), guarantees of origin (GOs), and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) certificates have operated on a book and claim basis for years. What is new is the application of this model to cement and concrete — and the prospect of major accounting standards finally recognizing it.
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Why Cement Is Different: The Local Supply, Global Demand Mismatch |
Cement is one of the most geographically constrained industrial products. High transport costs relative to product value mean that cement markets are inherently local or regional. A cement plant typically serves a radius of a few hundred kilometers. You build where you pour.
Cement Supply Is LocalConstrained by geography and cost • High weight-to-value ratio limits transport distance |
Demand Is GlobalDriven by infrastructure and data centers • Large developers with global Scope 3 targets |
This creates a structural problem. A tech company building a data center in a region with no low-carbon cement plants cannot physically procure what does not exist locally. A developer with a science-based target and portfolio-wide net-zero commitments cannot wait for the local supply chain to decarbonize before addressing their Scope 3 footprint.
The Core Tension
Supply of low-carbon cement is geographically fixed. Demand for it is not. Without a mechanism to decouple the environmental attribute from the physical product, buyers in underserved regions have no credible way to financially support decarbonization or to reduce their Scope 3 inventory.
EACs offer a solution. By decoupling the environmental attribute from the physical product, a producer in one region can issue certificates representing the carbon intensity of their low-carbon cement, and a buyer in another region can purchase those certificates to claim the benefit against their Scope 3 inventory. The physical cement still moves locally. The financial signal — and the accounting benefit — can move globally.
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The RMI/GMA Framework: How Book and Claim Works for Cement |
In December 2024, the Center for Green Market Activation (GMA) and RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute) convened approximately 30 organizations — including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Holcim, Heidelberg, Cemex, Prologis, and others — to develop a foundational framework for book and claim in cement and concrete. Version 1, adopted January 2026, outlines the core principles and design components.
The Book and Claim Value Chain
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Produce
Low-carbon clinker, cement, or concrete
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Book
EAC issued after shipment/deployment
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Sell
EAC transferred to buyer via registry
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Claim
Buyer retires EAC for Scope 3 reporting
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Track
Registry ensures no double counting
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Three Functional Units
EACs may be generated at three stages of the value chain, each representing a different intervention point for decarbonization:
ClinkerThe intermediate product produced by heating limestone to ~1,450°C. The most carbon-intensive component of cement production. |
CementHydraulic cement conforming to ASTM C150, C595, C1157, AC529, or EN 197-1. Reducing the clinker ratio is a key decarbonization lever. |
ConcreteComposite of cement, aggregates, and water conforming to ASTM C94 or CSA A23.1. The final construction product. |
Key Design Principle
EACs may only be issued after the physical product has been deployed or shipped to the next step in the supply chain. Production alone does not constitute eligibility — there must be proof of shipment or deployment (bill of lading, delivery ticket, invoice, or declaration of performance).
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Eligibility: GCCA Ratings and Regulatory Transparency |
Not every tonne of cement qualifies for an EAC. The framework sets a floor for environmental integrity using the GCCA Global Low Carbon Ratings — a standardized, regionalized system that categorizes products from Near Zero (best) through G (worst).
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Phase 1
2025 – 2030
Products must achieve a minimum GCCA rating of C band for their specific production region. For example, US cement C band: 340–452 kg CO₂e/ton. Canada: 333–443 kg CO₂e/ton. |
Phase 2
2030 Onward
The threshold tightens to B band or better. US: 227–339 kg CO₂e/ton. Canada: 222–332 kg CO₂e/ton. This progressive tightening drives deeper decarbonization over time. |
Emissions intensity must be demonstrated through a third-party verified Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) conducted within 12 months of EAC issuance, or with third-party validation that underlying EPD practices have been maintained.
Regulatory Disclosure Categories
Each EAC must disclose the regulatory environment the producer operates in, allowing buyers to assess regulatory surplus and additionality:
1) Policy-free — No government obligations or incentives affecting emissions
2) Incentive-driven — Government incentives facilitating lower emissions intensity
3) Action-oriented mandates — Regulations requiring specific emissions actions (caps, intensity limits)
4) Market-based regulatory system — Economy-wide emissions trading schemes or caps
Catalytic Procurements
The framework encourages buyers to prioritize EAC procurement from technologies and products that require the additional revenue stream to reach investment viability — what the framework calls financial additionality. EACs should not simply fund existing low-cost production but should catalyze investment in emerging decarbonization technologies.
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Accounting, Co-Claiming, and the Digital Registry |
The framework defines two accounting approaches for how buyers can claim EAC benefits in their Scope 3 inventories, along with clear rules on co-claiming across value chains and a robust digital registry requirement.
Direct SubstitutionPreferred method — tight product matching The buyer substitutes the EAC emissions intensity for an equivalent product in their inventory. Requires matching on functional unit, geography (national/supranational), product type, and compressive strength. The most straightforward approach when a close match exists. |
Enhanced SubstitutionBroader applicability — baseline-adjusted Compares the EAC-generating product against a regional baseline (the most likely displaced alternative), then applies the marginal reduction per functional unit. Used when direct matching is not possible due to geographic or product type discrepancies. Adjusted intensity may not go below zero. |
Co-Claiming Rules
Scope 1 & 2: Only one organization may claim the direct emissions impact of the EAC-generating product. No sharing at this level.
Scope 3: Multiple organizations across the value chain may co-claim the Scope 3 emissions impact for the same EAC-generating product — matching how indirect emissions are inherently overlapping across suppliers, intermediaries, and end users.
Registry Requirement: At each layer, only one entity may make claims and retire within the registry. Co-claimant layers could include producers (cement companies), market operators (contractors, engineers), and end users (developers, asset owners).
Digital Registry Requirements
The integrity of the entire system rests on a credible, third-party operated digital registry. The framework mandates:
• Third-party operation — No conflict of interest with issuers or buyers
• Public-facing retirement — Transparent retirement statements
• No dual-registry issuance — EACs must not appear on multiple registries
• 20+ tracked data fields — Including producer, location, EPD, emissions intensity, baseline, GCCA rating, regulatory disclosure, and storage certificates
Physical Recipient Rule
When the environmental attribute is separated via EAC sale, the physical recipient of that product may not make any quantitative claims about the product's low-carbon nature in GHG inventories, LCAs, LEED certifications, or corporate communications. This prevents double counting across the chain.
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Canopy: Procurement Infrastructure for the Last 20% |
The RMI/GMA framework establishes the rules. The SBTi and GHGP revisions are opening the regulatory door. But for organizations looking to act now, the operational challenge remains: once you have reduced what you can, how do you credibly manage the residual emissions that remain — and where do cement and concrete EACs fit into that procurement strategy?
Climate Decode's Canopy is an AI-powered residual emission procurement platform built for exactly this challenge.
Canopy replaces fragmented spreadsheets with a single, auditable workspace for managing the last 20% — the residual emissions that persist after compliance reductions are complete. It provides an end-to-end procurement workflow spanning calculation, curation, RFQ, portfolio optimization, procurement management, and audit-ready reporting.
Scope 3 StrategyCalculate residual emissions at corporate, product, or customer level across Scope 1, 2, and 3. Set neutralisation targets, benchmark against peers, and define your procurement strategy — Spot or Multi-Year — with SBTi, VCMI Claims Code, and regulatory standard alignment built in. |
EAC OriginationCanopy's AI Curator matches your residual profile with curated offsets, SAF credits, RECs, and EACs — ranked by value chain relevance, geography, quality rating, and peer alignment. Policy guardrails ensure only GCCA-eligible, EPD-verified cement and concrete EACs make the shortlist. |
EAC ProcurementSend RFQs directly to EAC suppliers and project developers. Compare quotes side-by-side. Optimize your portfolio across High Quality, Balanced, and Cost Effective strategies. Track every stage — PO, invoicing, payment, credit delivery, and retirement — with Ariba and Coupa sync. |
EAC ReportingGenerate audit-ready compliance reports for CSRD, AB1305, and VCMI disclosures. Maintain a full inventory ledger of offsets, RECs, and EACs with retirement status. Build your project impact library for CSR storytelling and push data to CDP Portal, Ariba ESG, and Coupa Climate Suite. |
Why Canopy for Cement EACs
As book and claim for cement moves from framework to market, the procurement challenge will mirror what organizations already face with carbon credits, RECs, and SAF certificates — identifying credible supply, managing complex accounting, and maintaining audit trails across value chain participants.
Canopy is built to handle exactly this: an end-to-end procurement workspace where cement and concrete EACs can sit alongside offsets, RECs, and SAF credits in a unified residual management strategy. From GCCA eligibility screening to registry retirement tracking, the platform is designed to scale with the market as it develops.
The Opportunity
Book and claim for cement is not a distant concept — the framework is published, the working group is active, and the standards bodies are moving. Organizations that build their residual emission procurement infrastructure now will be positioned to integrate cement EACs into their portfolio the moment the market opens.
References
GMA & RMI, Book and Claim for Cement and Concrete, Version 1, January 2026. SBTi, Corporate Net Zero Standard V2 Draft, November 2025. AIM Platform, Quality, Accounting, and Reporting Standard (QAR), First Draft 2025. GCCA, Global Low Carbon Ratings for Cement and Concrete, 2024. ISO 22095-3, Chain of Custody — Book and Claim, 2026.
Ready to Build Your EAC Strategy for Cement & Concrete?
Climate Decode's Canopy is an AI-powered residual emission procurement platform that helps organizations manage the last 20% — from calculating residual emissions and curating EACs, offsets, and RECs, to RFQ management, portfolio optimization, and audit-ready compliance reporting.
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About the Author Abhishek DasClimate Decode Abhishek works on Climate Decode's voluntary carbon markets and residual emission procurement strategy, bridging industrial decarbonization with emerging book and claim frameworks. |
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