CBAM stopped being a reporting exercise on 1 January 2026. EU importers now buy certificates for the carbon embedded in the goods they bring in.

The scope is narrower than the headlines. Six sectors are covered: iron and steel, cement, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen.

There is a mass threshold as well. An importer bringing in more than 50 tonnes of CBAM goods a year needs authorised declarant status.

Prices are public. The Commission published 75.36 euros per tonne of CO2 for the first quarter of 2026, 75.28 for the second and 82.32 for the third. Weekly pricing starts in 2027.

Your buyer pays. You supply the numbers. That means installation data, production route and embedded emissions per tonne of product.

No verified data means default values. The Commission publishes them by product. A default value comes from a table, not from your plant, and the importer has no way to argue it down.

Carbon already priced in China can be deducted. Keep the receipts. A deduction claimed without evidence is not a deduction.

Steel and aluminium exporters feel this first. An order from an EU buyer now arrives with a data request attached to it.

Build the data sheet before the enquiry, not after the PO. Buyers drop suppliers who cannot fill a spreadsheet, and they do it quietly.

One more thing worth knowing. The 2026 figures are quarterly averages, so a shipment booked in December is priced on the quarter, not the week.

Shipping steel or aluminium into the EU? Send the product list and HS codes on WhatsApp +8613927430130. We reply within 24 hours.

Sources

  1. European Commission: CBAM definitive regime (applies from 1 January 2026)
  2. European Commission: Price of CBAM certificates (Q1-Q3 2026)
  3. European Commission: Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (overview)

Sources

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