EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) draft signals higher costs for imports starting 2026 – 15 December 2025
A draft EU policy update proposes lower emissions benchmarks for imported aluminium, raising potential cost burdens for non-EU exporters when the CBAM scheme kicks in next year.
👉 Source: Reuters sustainability news — EU aluminium & cement imports to face higher emissions costs Reuters
Summary :
Brussels will calculate these costs using a standardised benchmark for the CO2 emissions intensity of each product, with lower benchmarks exposing imports to higher costs.
A draft European Commission proposal seen by Reuters showed Brussels plans to fix the benchmark for unwrought aluminium at 1.423 per ton of CO2, per ton of metal, down from 1.464 in a previous draft. Grey cement clinker’s benchmark is 0.666, down from 0.693, while liquid ammonia fertiliser faces a 0.457 benchmark, versus 0.471 previously.
A second draft Commission document detailed the default emissions values the EU would use to calculate CBAM costs if producers fail to disclose their real emissions.
Primary aluminium from Mozambique – the EU’s top supplier in January-August 2025 – would face a CBAM charge of around 168 euros/ton under default values, according to Reuters calculations based on the draft values and an EU carbon price of 80 euros/tonne. Imports from India and the United Arab Emirates would both face charges of about 51 euros/ton.
Aluminium on the London Metal Exchange currently trades at about $2,900 a ton.
The EU expects to adopt the CBAM benchmarks in early 2026, a Commission official told Reuters.
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