The Installations Module has two screens you'll spend most of your time on: the Installations landing page, which gives you a portfolio view across every site you manage, and the installation detail page, which drills into a single installation. This article explains what each section shows and what it's telling you. (If you're looking for step-by-step instructions on entering your data, see Using the Installations Module instead.)
Both screens are built around the same idea: not just storing your CBAM data, but showing you the cost of it - and how much you could save with better, verified data.
1. The Installations landing page
This is your portfolio view - every installation in one place, framed around your total cost exposure. It answers "what's my overall CBAM cost, and where can I reduce it?"
The summary cards
The four cards across the top read your whole portfolio at a glance:
Total CBAM Exposure - the aggregate CBAM cost across all your installations and products. The green pill (Potential Savings vs full defaults) is the headline number: how much less you'd pay using your prepared data instead of falling back to worst-case default values.
Installations and Products - simple counts of what's set up across your account.
Downstream Customers - how many of your EU customers are currently receiving your data. Zero means nothing has been shared yet.
The installations table
Each row is one installation, with the figures that matter per site:
Installation - the site name, with a flag showing its country.
Reporting Period - the period currently in view. A "3 periods" tag means that site holds data for more than one period.
Products - how many products are set up for that site.
CBAM Cost - the per-tonne cost based on your best (actual) data.
Potential Savings - the per-tonne saving you'd unlock versus full default values. This is the commercial headline for each site.
Verification - a four-dot progress bar showing how far the site has moved along the verification journey (explained below).
Data Status and Sharing - whether the dataset is complete, and whether it's been shared with customers.
Click any row to open that installation's detail page.
Adding and extending
Add Installation (top right) sets up a new site.
The two cards at the bottom point to value beyond CBAM: turning the same dataset into Product Carbon Footprints, and uploading a supplier's CBAM data to explore their emissions and cost scenarios.
2. The installation detail page
This is the cost-intelligence hub for a single installation. It answers three questions: what does this site's CBAM cost look like, what's driving it, and what should I do next?
Header and controls
The Reporting Period selector (top right of the info cards) scopes everything on the page to one period - switch it to see a different period's figures.
Actions is where you add or edit the underlying activity data for the site.
Monitoring Plan opens the site's monitoring methodology document.
The three info cards show the installation's contact details, location (editable via the pencil) and the selected reporting period.
Total CBAM Cost Scenarios
This is the core panel. For each product - shown with its CN code and tonnes produced - it gives the per-tonne CBAM cost under three data-quality scenarios:
Actual Cost - using your actual, ideally verified, data. This is the best case.
Supplier Default - broadly, your own installation data applied, but with default values used for your purchased input materials where your suppliers haven't yet provided actuals.
Full Default - the worst case, where Commission default values are used for everything.
Potential Savings - simply Full Default − Actual: the per-tonne cost you save by holding good data rather than falling back to defaults.
The Per Tonne / Total Cost toggle switches between a per-tonne figure and the absolute cost. Hover the ⓘ icons for the precise definition of each scenario.
💡 The takeaway: the gap between Actual and Full Default is the money your data is worth. Closing that gap - with supplier data and verification - is the point of the platform.
Emissions Breakdown
This section explains why those costs land where they do. It splits Input Materials (what comes into your site) from Output Products (what you make), each shown in tCO₂e per tonne:
SEE Direct - the direct specific embedded emissions intensity: how carbon-heavy the material or product is.
Free Allocation - a per-tonne deduction reflecting the free allowances an equivalent EU producer would still receive. This is netted off, which lowers your cost.
In-scope Emissions - what's left after that deduction (SEE Direct − Free Allocation): the emissions that actually carry a CBAM charge.
Data Sharing
The same request-and-share mechanism, scoped to this site:
Upstream Suppliers - the material suppliers you've asked for data. "Pending Validation" means the request has been sent and you're awaiting their response.
Downstream Customers - the EU buyers you share this site's data with.
Use Share Data, Add Customer and Add Supplier to manage both directions.
🔒 You stay in control: your data only goes to customers you explicitly share it with.
Verification Journey
This is the four-step path that the landing-page progress dots refer to:
Data Prepared - your CBAM dataset is complete.
Monitoring Methodology - define your monitoring approach.
Pre-verification Review - get your data reviewed before formal verification.
Verified - complete formal verification with an accredited partner.
Each step has its own action, ending in "Talk to a Verification Partner". Moving through these steps is what unlocks the savings shown in the cost scenarios.
Data Management
The housekeeping layer for the site:
Reporting Periods - create, clone and edit periods. The status ("Draft") and data-status tag ("Shared") tell you what's been finalised and what's already been sent to customers.
Installation Data Files - the processed
.scsfiles the platform generates for each period, available to download here.
Beyond CBAM
Two cards at the bottom reuse your CBAM dataset for more:
Convert to GHG Protocol Aligned Product Carbon Footprint - generate PCFs to answer customer sustainability requests and support Scope 3 reporting. (This may be locked until your dataset is at the required stage.)
Compare to Industry Peers - see how your products' embedded emissions stack up against industry benchmarks.
Need a hand?
If anything on these screens isn't clear, reach out to your CarbonChain contact or our support team - we're happy to walk you through it.