Jeronimo Casas, Global Manager of SGS for Climate Solutions and Sustainable Development, spoke about verifier accreditation, emission monitoring, data integrity and reporting deadlines under the CBAM mechanism during the presentation "In the CBAM Spotlight" at the SteelOrbis Fall 2026 conference and the 95th IREPAS meeting, held in Belgrade on September 27-29.
According to Casas, SGS has applied for CBAM verifier accreditation through offices in Belgium and Italy. Final decisions on these applications have not yet been made. He noted that the accreditation granted to one of the branches will allow CBAM verification throughout the European Union, and urged operators to request commercial proposals in advance for verification.
The monitoring plan is one of the key tasks for operators
Referring to the results of the preliminary SGS inspections, Casas called the monitoring plan one of the main tasks for the companies. He explained that CBAM requires a document that describes how an enterprise collects data, calculates emissions, and complies with applicable requirements. This plan will be checked during the verification process.
According to him, the relevant regulatory section contains 22 points that operators need to study and take into account, where applicable. The monitoring plan should cover the enterprise and its processes, products identified by the CN code and functional unit, CBAM production processes and routes, non-CBAM process products, benchmarks, monitoring methods and calculation coefficients, emission sources and flows, system boundaries, precursors used and data quality control. Casas referred to annex II, section A.5 of the Commission's Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2547, which defines the minimum composition of the plan.
He also raised the issue of special free allocation of emissions (SEFA), which, according to him, should be calculated and confirmed together with data on embedded emissions. Casas explained that enterprises in the EU receive free quotas based on industry criteria, and SEFA takes this allocation into account within the framework of CBAM. He advised suppliers working with the EU market to prepare relevant information, and importers to discuss it with their suppliers in advance.
Verifier independence and data integrity
Speaking about the independence of the verifier, Casas stressed that the company that implemented the emissions monitoring system at the enterprise cannot then verify the same system. According to him, the involvement of another company from the same group does not automatically exclude a conflict of interest, and commercial agreements on the direction of consultants can also create risks. Such schemes, he noted, are evaluated by national accreditation bodies.
Casas also described
