The European Commission has unveiled plans to expand the scope of CBAM before publishing preliminary emissions data, which is the basis for calculating emissions taxes for steel buyers.
Yesterday (December 17), Executive Vice President Stefan Sejerne and Climate Commissioner Vopke Hoekstra spoke at a press conference. presented a package of implementation documents and policy proposals that mark a crucial shift in CBAM policy development.
The European Commission has confirmed plans to expand the scope of CBAM's activities as part of new plans to support EU manufacturers, as the system moves from reporting to full financial support on January 1, 2026.
Yesterday's press conference This happened just hours before CBAM's publication of country-specific standard values and free allocation adjustment coefficients (commonly known as European benchmarks), which play a central role in determining the final carbon costs faced by importers.
However, as MEPs continued to analyze the data, John Carruthers—Green, a steel market analyst, emphasized that CBAM taxes should be calculated on a case-by-case basis.
"This release from the Commission covers a wide range of information that is key to understanding the effects of CBAM. However, after publishing more than 2,000 pages of materials, the market will need time to fully digest and interpret the consequences," said Carruthers—Green
" It is important to note that the confirmation of benchmarks and default values allows us to better assess the potential impact of CBAM on prices and at least reduce the likelihood of errors in cost estimates. However, the single most important variable remains the EU ETS carbon price, which will continue to change week by week. Continued volatility means that steel importers and buyers will experience some uncertainty as they try to plan and manage their future carbon costs."
The cost of carbon, as defined by the EU ETS, currently stands at around 84 euros per tonne. These ETS values, which determine the value of CBAM certificates used for EU importers to pay emissions taxes, are projected to exceed 120 euros per tonne between now and 2030.
Preliminary default values and emission benchmarks
Two other key factors affecting the cost of CBAM taxes are the EU-specific default emission values and European emission benchmarks. These are the parameters that were previously the subject of
