European Union · Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism

EU CBAM cost estimator for 2026 imports

From 2026, importers into the EU buy CBAM certificates for the emissions embedded in iron and steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, hydrogen and electricity. Enter one consignment to estimate its certificates and cost.

An estimate, not legal or tax advice. It follows the published 2026 rules in outline; your CBAM declaration, verifier and customs authority decide the actual amount. The calculation runs on Contifield’s server and nothing you enter is stored.

Your import

For your own reference; 8 digits, such as 7208 51 20. The estimate does not check it against the CBAM goods list.

Default values depend on the CN code and the country of origin. Actual values must come from the installation’s verified data: direct emissions only for iron and steel, aluminium and hydrogen; direct plus indirect for cement and fertilisers.

For a default value, look up your CN code and country in the Commission’s default values (Excel, informational); the binding values are in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2621, as corrected.

The 2026 mark-up is 10%, or 1% for fertilisers. It is ignored for actual values.

For the free allocation adjustment. With default values, use Column B for the good and its production route in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2620 (Excel). Leave blank to leave the adjustment out.

Only a price effectively paid on these emissions, after any rebate or compensation, converted to euros.

Used only for Q4 2026, whose price the Commission publishes in early January 2027.

Clear

How the estimate works

Certificates = embedded emissions − free allocation adjustment − carbon price paid abroad (converted into certificates), never below zero. Cost = certificates × the certificate price for the quarter of import.

  • Default values are set per CN code and country of origin in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2621 (applying from 1 January 2026), corrected in July 2026 by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1740. Their 2026 column includes a mark-up of 10% (1% for fertilisers). This page does not hold the tables: copy the value for your good.
  • Free allocation adjustment = benchmark × CBAM factor × cross-sectoral correction factor × mass (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2620). The CBAM factor is 97.5% in 2026 (Directive (EU) 2023/959, recital 46) and the correction factor is 100% for 2026–2030 (Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1862), so in 2026 importers pay for about 2.5% of the benchmark emissions plus everything above the benchmark.
  • Carbon price paid abroad may reduce the certificates (CBAM Regulation, Article 9) if it was effectively paid, net of rebates. The Commission has not yet adopted the implementing act on how this is calculated, so this page simply converts the euros paid into certificates at the quarter’s price.
  • Electricity is not covered here: its rules differ and its free allocation adjustment is zero.

Certificate prices for 2026

Each quarterly price applies to goods imported during that quarter. From 2027 the Commission publishes weekly prices.
Quarter of importPrice per certificatePublished
Q1 2026 · January–March 2026€75.367 April 2026
Q2 2026 · April–June 2026€75.286 July 2026
Q3 2026 · July–September 2026€82.325 October 2026
Q4 2026 · October–December 2026Not yet publishedDue in early January 2027

Prices are the average of EU ETS auction clearing prices, calculated by the Commission under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2548. From February 2027, certificates are bought on the common central platform.

Sources

European Commission, Price of CBAM certificates and CBAM legislation and guidance; EU legislation on EUR-Lex as linked above. Reviewed 26 October 2026. Commission and EUR-Lex content is reused with acknowledgement under the Commission’s reuse policy (Decision 2011/833/EU); only the Official Journal texts are authentic. Contifield is not affiliated with the European Union.

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