CBAM will be implemented in 2 Phases:
Interim Phase (October 2023 – December 2025): During these dates, reporting entities are required to provide updates. Information gathered from providers should be presented to the EU oversight body every three months as a CBAM summary. Verification of this information isn't necessary and there's no need to obtain CBAM certifications. However, significant and deterrent sanctions are enforced on reporting entities that neglect to provide these CBAM summaries.
Full-implementation Phase (Beginning in January 2026): Once the interim phase concludes, reporting entities must acquire CBAM certifications and confirm the accuracy of the details received from their providers. Post-confirmation by independent checkers, this data should be provided yearly as a CBAM statement, along with the certificates denoting the integrated emissions. Where relevant, reporting entities can request a decrease in the number of certificates they hand over, taking into account the carbon cost incurred in the producing country.
In the following section we will elaborate the past and future implementation on CBAM:
Date | Event |
2005 | Implementation of the EU-ETS emissions trading. |
July 2021 | First batch of EU's "Fit for 55" legislative package announced. |
10 May 2023 | CBAM-Regulation is adopted by the EU. |
15 September 2023 | Commission Implementing Regulation on CBAM is published. |
1 October 2023 | All EU-based companies that import CBAM-affected good from non-EU countries must now report all imports separately on a quarterly basis. Companies have the choice of reporting in three ways: (a) full reporting according to the new methodology (EU method); (b) reporting based on an equivalent method (three options); and (c) reporting based on default reference values. |
End 2023 | Default values for the calculation should be published by the EU. |
31 January 2024 | The first report must have been submitted. |
1 August 2024 | Reporting based on default reference values is no longer valid. |
1 January 2025 | Only EU method will be accepted for calculation and estimates (including default values) can only be used for complex goods if these estimations represent less than 20% of the total embedded emissions. |
1 January 2026 | Permanent system enters into force & importers will need to declare the quantity of goods imported into the EU in the preceding year as well as their embedded GHG (greenhouse gas emissions). They will have to purchase the corresponding number of CBAM certificates. The price of the certificates will be calculated depending on the weekly average auction price of EU ETS allowances expressed in €/tonne of CO2 emitted. Phasing-out of free allocation under the EU ETS will start. |
1 January 2034 | The reduction factor for free allowances phases out. CBAM is fully in place. |
From 2026 to 2034 the European Union introduced reduction factors for free allowances. These are:
Year | Factor |
2026 | 97.5% |
2027 | 95% |
2028 | 90% |
2029 | 77.5% |
2030 | 51.5% |
2031 | 39% |
2032 | 26.5% |
2033 | 14% |
2034 | 0% |
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