Is your business EU CBAM-ready?
As demand for low-emission products grows, businesses with ready access to emissions data stand to gain a competitive edge.
For UK businesses exporting goods to European Union, such as manufacturers, the operational landscape continues to become more complex to navigate with rising costs, intensifying carbon reduction expectations and ever-evolving compliance requirements.
The latest requirement is the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which places a carbon price on certain goods imported to the EU.
Understanding your obligations and the opportunities that come with early action forms the foundation for everything that follows.
What is the EU CBAM?
If your business exports applicable goods into the EU, you must comply with CBAM and report on this annually.
Compliance responsibility ultimately falls on the importer of the goods. Businesses importing into the EU must determine applicability, calculate emissions and purchase CBAM certificates.
It’s important to distinguish the EU CBAM from the UK CBAM, which takes effect from 1 January 2027 – requiring UK importers of certain carbon-intensive goods from countries with a lower or no carbon price to pay a levy on imports.
The opportunity behind the obligation
Compliance rarely feels like a competitive advantage. However, businesses with the necessary emissions data readily available are well-placed to win customers from competitors who can’t provide it.
Meanwhile, demand for low-emission products is likely to grow, since lower embedded emissions mean lower certificate costs for importers.
Nor does it stop there. With the UK import scheme on the horizon and the list of applicable goods under continual review, businesses that embed robust emissions reporting into their operations now will be ready for whatever comes next, while others race to catch up.
How can Inspired help you?
Tackled now, CBAM soon becomes business as usual. Inspired can help your organisation untangle the regulation – establishing which goods fall in scope, calculating embedded emissions and embedding the reporting into normal routines.
Every element of our CBAM support is available as a standalone service or as part of a bespoke package.
- Initial assessment: We review your products and supply chain to identify CBAM exposure, pinpointing affected goods and jurisdictions.
- Regulatory briefing: We explain your CBAM exposure and obligations, outline the data you’ll need, identify the relevant stakeholders and agree a delivery timeline.
- Data collection and gap analysis: We start with what your business already holds, then provide a gap analysis showing what’s missing, develop bespoke requests to obtain it and equip your relationship holders to ask suppliers for the right information.
- Calculation support: We collate the data from all your suppliers and calculate the total applicable emissions for each product.
- Report preparation: We prepare your CBAM reports ready for submission to your EU agent or put together a complete compliance information package for the EU businesses you supply.
- Ongoing advice: We’ll keep you up to speed on changes to CBAM reporting, addressing any gaps and flagging new opportunities along the way.
If you would like to learn more about how Inspired’s experts could support you, please email us at [email protected]
