Chapter 01 · Climate & transitionClimate & Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Best practice emissions intensity
Definition
A benchmark emissions intensity — greenhouse gases emitted per unit of product — set at the level of a sector's best performers. The flagship application is the EU Emissions Trading System, where free allowances are allocated against 54 product benchmarks reflecting the average emissions intensity of the 10% most efficient installations in each sector; the principle is "one product = one benchmark", regardless of technology, fuel or geography.
References
Supports definition and framing.
Overview
What it means
Benchmarking to best practice decouples climate policy from rewarding incumbents' past pollution: installations cleaner than the benchmark effectively receive full coverage, while laggards must buy allowances — a standing incentive to converge on best practice.
The same convergence logic underlies science-based target methods: the sectoral decarbonization approach derives company pathways that converge toward the intensity implied by a net-zero sector scenario.
How it is used
Beyond the EU ETS, best-practice intensities inform green public procurement, sustainable finance taxonomies, transition-plan assessment and industrial decarbonisation policy. Benchmarks are periodically tightened (EU ETS values are updated and reduced annually by 0. 3–2. 5% depending on sector innovation) to track technological progress.
Why it matters
Benchmarks translate "net zero" into a number per tonne of steel or cement — making performance comparable and support targetable. Their integrity (real data, steady tightening) determines whether they drive actual decarbonisation or entrench incumbents.