The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism now charges real money for the carbon embedded in what you import. Steel, cement, aluminium, fertilisers, hydrogen, electricity — one page, every number that matters.
Importers buy certificates covering the carbon embedded in covered goods — roughly what an EU factory already pays under the EU's own carbon market. Nothing more.
Not a tariff
Priced to the actual footprint of the shipment. A cleaner producer pays less than a dirtier one in the same category.
Not country-specific
It targets embedded emissions in a product, applied identically no matter which country it came from.
Mirrors the EU ETS
The goal is parity — an EU producer and a non-EU producer selling into the EU face a comparable carbon price.
The nine-year climb to full price
Reporting-only from 2023. Real money from 2026. Hover any bar for the number behind it.
% of embedded emissions requiring a certificate2026 → 2034
2026
2.5%
2027
5.0%
2028
10.0%
2029
22.5%
2030
48.5%
2031
~61%*
2032
~73.5%*
2033
~86%*
2034
100%
2026–2030: locked in by Commission decision.
2031–2034*: current best estimate, confirmed closer to each
year.
Six sectors. Different rules for each.
Tap a sector for what's covered and the single biggest lever for cutting your exposure.
Cement
2523
Covered: Clinker, calcined clay, Portland and blended cement.
