.png)
DEFAULT VALUES FOR THE TRANSITIONAL PERIOD OF THE CBAM BETWEEN 1 OCTOBER 2023 AND 31 DECEMBER 2025
The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is an environmental policy instrument designed to support the EU climate ambitions of achieving a net reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of at least 55% by 2030 and of reaching climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest. The CBAM will apply the same carbon price to imported goods as would be paid by installations operating in the European Union (EU). In doing so, the CBAM reduces the risk of the EU's climate objectives being undermined by production relocating to countries with less ambitious decarbonisation policies (so-called ‘carbon leakage’) and introduces a strong signal to producers in third countries to decarbonise.
The CBAM does not target countries, but the embedded greenhouse gas emissions of goods imported into the EU for a number of specific sectors that are within the scope of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and that are at high risk of carbon leakage. These are: iron and steel, cement, fertilisers, aluminium, hydrogen and electricity. It also includes some precursors and some downstream products of the aforementioned sectors (hereinafter referred to as “CBAM goods”).
CBAM will be introduced gradually. The transitional period from 1 October 2023 to 31 December 2025 is important to allow for a careful, predictable and proportionate transition for EU and non-EU businesses, as well as for public authorities. During this period, importers of CBAM goods will only have to report greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) embedded in their imports emissions embedded in their imported goods(direct and indirect emissions), without paying any financial payments or adjustments.1 The monitoring and reporting rules for the transitional CBAM period are laid out in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1773.2 Verification of those emissions by an external third party will be purely voluntary.
The Implementing Regulation on reporting requirements and methodology provides for flexibility when it comes to the values used to calculate embedded emissions on imports during the transitional phase.
Until the end of 2024, companies will 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 (only until July 2024, i.e for Q4 of 2023 and Q1&Q2 of 2024)
(1) Regulation (EU) 2023/956 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 establishing a carbon border adjustment mechanism. OJ L 130, 16.5.2023, p. 52–104. Available from: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/956/oj.
(2) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1773 of 17 August 2023 laying down the rules for the application of Regulation (EU) 2023/956 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards reporting obligations for the purposes of the carbon border adjustment mechanism during the transitional period. OJ L228, 15.9.2023, p. 94–195. Available from: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/1773/oj.
As of 1 January 2025, the implementing regulation provides that only the EU method will be accepted. The Commission will assess this in view of the experience during the first 4 reporting periods.
In order to help declarants with their reporting obligations, additional simplifications or facilities have been integrated (or will be integrated soon) in the online dedicated reporting tool, the CBAM transitional registry. Some of them are the following:
Option for recording emission data of a specific good to be reused in subsequent reports (feasible from the second quarterly report in April 2024)
Option for reconducting the previous report updating the imported quantities
Option for reporting data based on an XML file to allow reporting declarants
Clarification that for operators, the default reporting period is twelve months to allow them to collect representative data that reflects an installation’s annual operations. The twelve-month reporting period may be either a calendar year or alternatively a fiscal year. However, operators may also choose an alternative reporting period, of a least three months, if the installation participates in an eligible MRV system and the reporting period coincides with the requirements of that MRV system.
Section 2 of this document outlines the use of default values for CBAM goods other than electricity
Section 3 of this document outlines the use of default values for determining indirect emissions embedded in CBAM goods other than electricity
Section 4 of this document outlines the use of default values for electricity as CBAM good