Yohanna1906 · Oct 24, 2026 · Oct 21, 2026 · Oct 21, 2026 · Oct 21, 2026 · Oct 21, 2026
diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy.yml b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ jobs:
         run: npm install -g mystmd
       - name: Build HTML
         run: myst build --html --strict
+      - name: Copy interactive figures into the site
+        run: mkdir -p _build/html/interactive && cp figures/interactive/*.html _build/html/interactive/
       - name: Publish to the hub's eeio/ folder
         uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v4
         with:

diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr.yml b/.github/workflows/pr.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 # Build every PR, publish a preview, and check links.
 # Previews are served from this repo's gh-pages branch at
-#   https://cornerstone-data.github.io/eeio-docs/pr-preview/pr-<number>/
-# (or under docs.cornerstonedata.org/eeio-docs/ once the hub has its custom domain).
+#   https://docs.cornerstonedata.org/pr-preview/pr-<number>/
+# (this repo's Pages site has the custom domain docs.cornerstonedata.org, so the
+# base path is /pr-preview/pr-<number>, not /eeio-docs/...).
 name: PR build and preview
 on:
   pull_request:
@@ -17,7 +18,7 @@ jobs:
   build-preview:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     env:
-      BASE_URL: /eeio-docs/pr-preview/pr-${{ github.event.number }}
+      BASE_URL: /pr-preview/pr-${{ github.event.number }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
@@ -30,6 +31,9 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build HTML (fails on errors)
         if: github.event.action != 'closed'
         run: myst build --html --strict
+      - name: Copy interactive figures into the site
+        if: github.event.action != 'closed'
+        run: mkdir -p _build/html/interactive && cp figures/interactive/*.html _build/html/interactive/
       - name: Deploy or remove preview
         # Fork PRs can't push to gh-pages; they still get the build check above.
         if: github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name == github.repository

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ myst build --html --strict   # the same build CI runs
 | `releases/` | One page per model release |
 | `versions/` | Version records (one data file per release) |
 | `figures/` | Hand-made diagrams, figure generator scripts, `figures.csv` inventory |
+| `drafts/` | Unpublished drafts kept in the repo; excluded from the build in `myst.yml` |
 | `data/` | Small cached data extracts for figures |
 | `references.bib` | Bibliography; add entries as pages cite them, reusing keys from the `papers` repo where they exist |
 | `_parts/` | Navbar, footer, and custom CSS |

diff --git a/benchmarking/index.md b/benchmarking/index.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Plan §3.6.1 · target: **RC (Oct 27)**
 **Planned content**
 
 - Validation asks "did we build the model correctly?"; benchmarking asks "are the results plausible compared with independent evidence?" Both feed the next release
-- Headline v0.6 benchmark results for the RC
+- Headline v0.6 benchmark results for 2026-rc.1
 
 **Key visuals**
 
@@ -25,5 +25,5 @@ Plan §3.6.1 · target: **RC (Oct 27)**
 
 :::{div}
 :class: page-status
-Applies to: RC · Last reviewed: RC
+Applies to: 2026-rc.1 · Last reviewed: 2026-rc.1
 :::
diff --git a/drafts/update-cadence-version-1.md b/drafts/update-cadence-version-1.md
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+---
+title: "Update cadence, version 1 (draft, not published)"
+---
+
+:::{note} Draft
+Option 1 for the update-cadence section of [](../factors/whats-in-a-release.md), to follow the shared opening paragraph on annual releases: two parallel versions, with five-year stable methods and a new time series at each major update. Not published; this folder is excluded in `myst.yml`.
+:::
+
+The Cornerstone EEIO is developed in two parallel versions, each with its own release cycle (see {numref}`release-cycle`).
+
+**Research version.** This version is updated continuously and has many releases. It is where new science is developed and tested.
+
+**Corporate version.** This version is released every October with data updates, bug fixes and small improvements. Each annual release adds that year's emission factors to the existing time series. Its methods stay stable for five years, so companies can make plans, set targets and measure progress against a consistent model.
+
+**Major updates.** Every five years, a major update brings the science proven in the research version into the corporate version and starts a new time series built with the updated methods. The following annual releases extend that series for five years. The first series, built with the 2026 methods, starts in 2017 and is extended through 2030, and the next major update is in 2031.
+
+:::{figure} ../figures/diagrams/release-cycle.svg
+:label: release-cycle
+:alt: USEEIO and CEDA merge into the Cornerstone EEIO, which follows a research version updated continuously with many releases, and a corporate version released every October. Each annual release adds one year to the existing time series, and a major update every five years starts a new time series.
+:width: 100%
+
+USEEIO and CEDA merge into the Cornerstone EEIO, which follows two parallel versions. The research version is updated continuously, with many releases. The corporate version is released every October with data updates, bug fixes and small improvements, and keeps its methods stable for five years. Each annual release adds one year to the existing time series, and every five years a major update brings proven science from the research version into the corporate version and starts a new time series.
+:::
diff --git a/drafts/update-cadence-version-2.md b/drafts/update-cadence-version-2.md
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+---
+title: "Update cadence, version 2 (draft, not published)"
+---
+
+:::{note} Draft
+Option 2 for the update-cadence section of [](../factors/whats-in-a-release.md), to follow the shared opening paragraph on annual releases: a version lifecycle, with a new methodology version about every two years. Not published; this folder is excluded in `myst.yml`.
+:::
+
+The Cornerstone EEIO follows a version lifecycle, similar to the long-term support model used in software. About every two years, we release a new version with a large methodology update, named after its release year (for example, the 2026 methods and the 2028 methods).
+
+Each version is supported for about five years. For at least three years, it receives annual updates every October with data updates and bug fixes, and its methods do not change. It then moves into extended support for two more years.
+
+Companies can adopt a version when they are ready and know they will have about five years of support to set targets and measure progress, while new versions keep improving the model.
+
+:::{figure} ../figures/diagrams/release-lifecycle.svg
+:label: release-lifecycle
+:alt: About every two years a new methodology version is released. Each version has at least three years of annual maintenance and data updates, then two years of extended support.
+:width: 100%
+
+About every two years, a new version with a large methodology update is released. Each version receives annual maintenance and data updates for at least three years, then two years of extended support, so companies can rely on about five years of support from the version they adopt.
+:::
diff --git a/ee/country-tiers.md b/ee/country-tiers.md
@@ -167,5 +167,5 @@ See [Validation](#validation-hub).
 
 :::{div}
 :class: page-status
-Applies to: RC · Last reviewed: RC
+Applies to: 2026-rc.1 · Last reviewed: 2026-rc.1
 :::
diff --git a/ee/index.md b/ee/index.md
@@ -92,5 +92,5 @@ See [Validation](#validation-hub).
 
 :::{div}
 :class: page-status
-Applies to: RC · Last reviewed: RC
+Applies to: 2026-rc.1 · Last reviewed: 2026-rc.1
 :::
diff --git a/factors/choose-a-factor.md b/factors/choose-a-factor.md
diff --git a/factors/downloads.md b/factors/downloads.md
diff --git a/factors/prices-and-margins.md b/factors/prices-and-margins.md
diff --git a/factors/user-guidance.md b/factors/user-guidance.md
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+---
+title: "User guidance"
+---
+
+:::{tip} Summary
+This guidance walks you through how to apply the emission factors to your corporate carbon footprint. The factors are cradle-to-gate: they cover the emissions of producing a good or service up to the point where you buy it. They are typically used for Scope 3, categories 3.1 (purchased goods and services) and 3.2 (capital goods). They can also be used for category 3.15 (investments) to estimate financed emissions, using a company's revenue as the proxy for spend, following PCAF's guidance.
+:::
+
+This user guidance covers two topics:
+
+1. How to choose the right emission factor: the country, the year and the exchange rate.
+2. How to choose between purchaser and producer price.
+
+A separate guide explains how to think about the margin emission factors, relevant only for previous USEEIO users.
+
+## Choose the right emission factor
+
+Every emission factor is defined by a sector, a location, a year and a price basis. The steps below take you from a line in your spend data to the factor that fits it, and then to an emissions number.
+
+### Step 1: Match the purchase to a sector
+
+Find the sector that best describes what you bought, using the sector descriptions that come with the factors. Pick the sector for the final good or service you purchased. You do not add up factors along a supply chain, because each factor already includes the upstream emissions of that sector. A purchase of steel products, for example, already includes the emissions of making the steel.
+
+Each sector is related to a commodity and follows the BEA standard classification. For crosswalks to other industry classifications such as GICS, NACE and ANZSIC, please enquire about the [Watershed enterprise product](https://watershed.com/en-GB/solutions/ceda).
+
+### Step 2: Choose the country
+
+Use the location where the good or service was produced. When you do not know it for every supplier, work down this hierarchy and stop at the first one you have:
+
+1. Country of manufacture
+2. Country of the supplier
+3. Country of purchase
+4. Country of your company's headquarters
+
+If a country has no factor of its own for that sector, use the regional factor for the country's region, and use the global average only when neither is available.
+
+**Why country matters.** The same sector can have very different emissions per dollar in different places, because of each country's energy mix, the structure of its economy and its trade. The chart shows the 2026 producer-price factor for management consulting in six locations.
+
+:::{figure} ../images/user-guidance-ef-by-country.png
+:label: user-guidance-ef-by-country
+:alt: Horizontal bar chart of the 2026 producer-price emission factor for management consulting, in kg CO2e per USD. China 0.315, India 0.137, global average 0.0948, United Kingdom 0.0449 (highlighted), United States 0.0391, France 0.0390.
+:width: 100%
+
+**Emission factor for management consulting by location, 2026, producer price (kg CO₂e per USD).** The United Kingdom is highlighted because it is used in the worked example below.
+:::
+
+Applying one country's factor to all of your spend would misstate the emissions of suppliers elsewhere. A supplier in China has a factor about eight times the US factor for the same sector. A model with global coverage lets you use the factor of the country where the work is done.
+
+### Step 3: Choose the year
+
+Use the factor year that matches the year of your spend. Each factor is expressed in dollars of its own year, so a 2026 factor applies to spend in 2026 dollars. The factors for different years are not interchangeable: the same sector and country has a different factor for each year.
+
+- If your reporting year is not the calendar year, use the factors for the calendar year that holds most of your data. If the data splits evenly between two years, use the newer factors. For example, a reporting year from April 2025 to March 2026 has nine months in 2025 and three in 2026, so it uses the 2025 factors.
+
+### Step 4: Convert the factor to your currency
+
+The factors are per US dollar. Convert either the factor or your spend to the same currency using the recommended exchange rate information.
+
+**Factor per unit of local currency = factor per USD ÷ exchange rate**
+
+Use the rate for the year of the spend, not the rate on the day you do the calculation.
+
+### Worked example: consulting services in the United Kingdom
+
+A company paid £10,000 for management consulting services from a UK supplier in 2026. The 2026 factor for management consulting in the United Kingdom is 0.0449 kg CO₂e per USD, and the 2026 exchange rate is 0.74283 pounds per US dollar.
+
+:::{figure} ../images/user-guidance-worked-example.png
+:label: user-guidance-worked-example
+:alt: Four boxes joined by arrows. Your spend, £10,000 of management consulting in the UK in 2026. Look up the emission factor, 0.0449 kg CO2e per USD. Divide by 0.74283 to get the factor in pounds, 0.0604 kg CO2e per pound. Multiply by £10,000 to get emissions of 604 kg CO2e, or 0.60 tonnes.
+:width: 100%
+
+**From spend to emissions.** Look up the factor, convert it to pounds, and multiply by the spend.
+:::
+
+To see the breakdown by gas, apply the same steps to the factor for each gas.
+
+## Choose between purchaser and producer price
+
+Each year has two sets of factors. The producer price factors value a good at what the producer receives. The purchaser price factors value it at what the buyer pays, which adds the trade and transport margins on the way to the buyer. The same purchase therefore has a larger dollar value at purchaser price, and each dollar carries less emissions.
+
+**If you are unsure, use producer price.** Margins are hard to estimate globally, even for government statistical offices, and producer price is the more conservative choice, meaning it gives the higher emissions estimate for the same spend.
+
+| Your situation | Use |
+|---|---|
+| You are unsure what your spend includes | Producer price |
+| You are buying off-the-shelf goods at retail, so what you paid includes the usual wholesale and retail margins | Purchaser price |
+| You buy directly from the producer and account for transport and distribution separately in your footprint | Producer price |
+| You buy a service | Either: the two sets give the same factor in most service sectors |
+
+The consulting example shows the last case. The management consulting factor for the United Kingdom is 0.0449 at both producer and purchaser price, because a service has no trade margin.
+
+For goods, the choice changes the result. The 2026 factor for computers in the United Kingdom is 0.0814 kg CO₂e per USD at producer price and 0.0539 at purchaser price. In pounds, that is 0.1096 and 0.0726 kg CO₂e per £, so £10,000 of spend gives about 1,096 kg CO₂e at producer price and 726 kg CO₂e at purchaser price, a difference of about a third. Match the factor to the price basis of your spend data: if your invoice is what you paid at retail, pair it with purchaser price.
+
++++
+
+:::{div}
+:class: page-status
+Applies to: 2026-rc.1 · Last reviewed: 2026-rc.1
+:::