Policy record
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) — Regulation (EU) 2023/956
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) — Regulation (EU) 2023/956 policy record on H2Prism, with its status, summary, checked official source, and record date.
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8 sourced values · 0 earlier records
JurisdictionEUU
Legal statusin_force
Instrumentimport_export
Effective2026-01-01
Policy details
SummaryCBAM requires non-EU importers of six carbon-intensive goods — including hydrogen — to purchase CBAM certificates matching the embedded GHG emissions of their imports, priced at the EU ETS allowance price, effectively levelling carbon cost parity between EU domestic production and imports.
Key thresholdsCovered sectors: cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity, and hydrogen. Transitional phase: 1 October 2023 – 31 December 2025 (reporting only, no certificate purchase). Definitive phase: from 1 January 2026, importers must purchase and surrender CBAM certificates annually. Threshold: importers of >50 tonnes/year of covered goods must register as authorised declarants. Certificate price = prevailing EU ETS carbon price (EUAs traded at ~€72/tCO₂e in April 2026; range ~€60–95 during 2025–26). Carbon costs already paid in the country of origin can be deducted. Hydrogen: direct emissions covered; indirect emissions methodology under ongoing development.
Support valueNot a subsidy — a cost imposition on imported carbon-intensive hydrogen; indirectly supports EU domestic green hydrogen by pricing embedded carbon in competing fossil hydrogen imports.
Practical implicationAt ~€70/tCO₂ EUA and ~10 kgCO₂/kgH₂ for grey hydrogen, CBAM imposes an implicit ~€0.70/kg carbon cost on unabated grey hydrogen imports — narrowing the cost gap with RFNBO hydrogen and improving the economics of EU-based green hydrogen projects competing against imports.
Official source
| Source | Publisher | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Open official source ↗ | taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu | 2026-08-31T17:47:03Z |