Charcoal

Charcoal occupies an odd corner of the NGA tables: it is a biomass fuel, so its CO₂ is zero-rated, yet its reportable factor is ten times dry wood’s. Silicon smelters and ferroalloy producers using charcoal as a renewable reductant still accumulate a real line in their Scope 1 inventory.

The culprit is methane — charcoal combustion releases far more CH₄ per gigajoule than raw wood, and charcoal packs nearly twice the energy into each tonne. Here is the 2025–26 factor with worked examples you can check in a Scope 1 and 2 calculator.

Quick Verdict

Charcoal carries a combined Scope 1 emission factor of 6.3 kg CO₂-e per gigajoule under the NGA Factors 2025 — the highest CH₄ + N₂O factor of any biomass fuel in Table 4. At an energy content of 31.1 GJ per tonne, each tonne combusted produces 195.93 kg of CO₂-equivalent. Because charcoal is wood-derived biomass, its CO₂ is biogenic and zero-rated; the reportable factor covers methane and nitrous oxide only. The organisation operating the combustion equipment reports these emissions under Scope 1. Values come from Table 4, published by DCCEEW for the 2025–26 reporting year.

How to Calculate Charcoal Emissions

Emissions (t CO₂-e) = Quantity (t) × Energy content (31.1 GJ/t) × Emission factor (6.3 kg CO₂-e/GJ) ÷ 1,000

Worked Example 1: Metallurgical plant using 1,000 tonnes

A silicon smelter consumes 1,000 tonnes of charcoal as reductant and fuel. Using the per-tonne factor:

1,000 t × 195.93 kg CO₂-e/t = 195,930 kg CO₂-e

195.93 tonnes CO₂-e (Scope 1)

Worked Example 2: Industrial kiln burning 60 tonnes

A food manufacturer’s kiln burns 60 tonnes of charcoal over the year.

60 t × 31.1 GJ/t = 1,866 GJ of energy

1,866 GJ × 6.3 kg CO₂-e/GJ = 11,755.8 kg CO₂-e

11.76 tonnes CO₂-e (Scope 1)

Worked Example 3: Energy-based records of 8,000 GJ

A site’s fuel accounting attributes 8,000 GJ to charcoal.

8,000 GJ × 6.3 kg CO₂-e/GJ = 50,400 kg CO₂-e

50.4 tonnes CO₂-e (Scope 1)

How Charcoal Compares to Other Solid Fuels

NGER and AASB S2 Reporting

Charcoal combustion is reportable under NGER: facilities above the thresholds report the CH₄ and N₂O to the Clean Energy Regulator using this Table 4 factor, with biogenic CO₂ disclosed separately outside the total. The same figures carry into your AASB S2 climate disclosure — worth noting for smelters positioning charcoal as the renewable alternative to coal coke, since the comparison (195.93 versus 2,895.21 kg CO₂-e per tonne) is the headline of that story.