EU CBAM certificate price: how certificates work and what they cost

Under the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), importers that the 50-tonne yearly exemption doesn't cover pay for the emissions in their goods by buying CBAM certificates, each covering one tonne of CO₂ equivalent (CO₂e), and surrendering them once a year 23413. For goods imported in 2026, the price is the average auction price of EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) allowances in the quarter in which you imported them, sales start on 1 February 2027 and the first surrender is due by 30 September 2027 2567. The rules are in the CBAM Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/956), with the price method in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2548 and the free allocation adjustment in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2620 5101112. Our CBAM overview explains who CBAM covers.

What is a CBAM certificate, and how many will I need?

A CBAM certificate is an electronic certificate that covers one tonne of CO₂e embedded in goods, meaning the emissions released in making them 13. You need one for each tonne of embedded emissions you declare for the year, after two reductions: one for a carbon price paid in a country outside the EU, and an adjustment for the EU ETS allowances that EU producers of the same goods get free of charge 101415. For most iron and steel goods, aluminium, hydrogen and electricity, only direct emissions from production count 16. Our explainer on default values and actual emissions shows how embedded emissions are worked out.

How does the free allocation adjustment work?

The free allocation adjustment lowers the number of certificates you surrender. It reflects the free EU ETS allowances that EU producers of the same goods still get, which are being phased out as CBAM is phased in 1017. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2620 sets how it is calculated, from the quantity of goods, a CBAM benchmark for the good and two EU ETS factors, the CBAM factor and the cross-sectoral correction factor 1718. If you declare default values, the adjustment uses the default benchmarks in Column B of the act's Annex 1819.

The Commission's guidance, which isn't binding, says the CBAM factor mirrors the phase-out of free allowances in CBAM sectors from 2026 to 2034, so the adjustment gradually shrinks and the certificates due rise 7. The benchmarks for 2026 rest on estimated EU ETS benchmarks, and the act says updated ones should apply to goods imported from 1 January 2027 17. Where the calculation for a good comes out below zero, the guidance says the obligation for that good is set at zero and can't be set against your other goods 7.

Can a carbon price paid abroad be deducted?

It depends on how you work out your emissions. With actual emissions, you can claim the carbon price effectively paid in a country outside the EU, backed by documentation certified by an independent person 15. With default values, you can claim it only by reference to yearly default carbon prices, which the Commission may make available in the CBAM registry from 2027 15.

How is the certificate price set?

For goods imported in 2026, the Commission sets one price per quarter: the average of EU ETS auction prices in the quarter in which you imported the goods 511. Each auction's price is weighted by the number of allowances sold, and the result is rounded to the nearest cent 11. The Commission calculates each quarter's price in the first calendar week of the next quarter and publishes it on its website 1120.

The Commission's price page lists €75.36 for the first quarter of 2026, €75.28 for the second and €82.32 for the third, published on 5 October 2026 21. The fourth-quarter price is due on 4 January 2027 21. The CBAM simplification (Regulation (EU) 2025/2083) says the price of certificates bought in 2027 for goods imported in 2026 should reflect the prices of EU ETS allowances in 2026 22.

From 2027, the Commission sets the price every calendar week, from that week's auctions 523. It publishes it on the first working day of the next week, and the price applies from the following working day until the first working day of the week after 524. The Commission also makes the price available to declarants in the CBAM registry, the Commission's database of declarants and their certificates 202425.

When and where can I buy certificates?

You can buy certificates from 1 February 2027, from the EU country where you are established, on a common central platform that the Commission runs 626. Only authorised CBAM declarants can buy 6. The Commission's guidance says they reach the platform through their CBAM registry account 7. That includes an indirect customs representative that holds the status for its clients 1. If you don't hold the status yet, our explainer on authorised CBAM declarants covers the application.

The Commission's guidance describes the steps: you choose the number of certificates in the registry, pay on the platform, and the certificates then appear in your account 7. Each certificate gets an identification number, and the registry records its price and date of sale 6. The platform's costs are to be paid by fees from authorised CBAM declarants, but during the first procurement contract the EU budget initially bears them 6. Our sources don't give the level of the fees.

According to the guidance, you can buy at any time once sales start, and for 2026 imports you buy from February 2027 and before 30 September 2027 7. The guidance also says certificates can't be transferred or sold to anyone else, not even to a company in the same group 7.

How many certificates must I hold each quarter?

From 2027, at the end of each quarter, your registry account must hold certificates for at least 50% of the embedded emissions in all goods you have imported since the start of the year 2. For 2026 imports there is no quarterly holding: the rule applies from 1 January 2027 26.

You can work out the 50% in one of two ways 2:

• on default values, without the mark-up that is added to default values for the certificates you surrender 227
• or on the number of certificates you surrendered for the previous year, if the goods have the same Combined Nomenclature (CN) codes, the EU's customs product codes, and the same countries of origin as your last CBAM declaration 2

Either way, the free allocation adjustment is taken into account 2. If you cross the 50-tonne threshold during the year, you must meet the holding rule by the end of the quarter after the one in which you crossed it 24. If you fall short, the Commission tells your national competent authority, which gives you one month from its notice to top up your account 2.

The CBAM simplification cut the share from 80% to 50% and built in the free allocation 22. Pages that still give 80% describe the old rule 22.

When do I surrender them, and what if I bought too many?

By 30 September each year, you must submit your CBAM declaration for the previous year in the CBAM registry and surrender the matching number of certificates; the first deadline is 30 September 2027, for 2026 2714. The Commission's guidance says you choose which certificates in your account to surrender 7.

If certificates are left over after you surrender, you can ask your EU country to buy them back at the price you paid, by 31 October of the year you surrendered 8. The buy-back is capped at the number of certificates the quarterly holding rule obliged you to buy in the year you bought them 8. If you bought certificates expecting to cross the 50-tonne threshold and stayed under it, all of them are bought back on request 48. Certificates bought in 2027 for 2026 can be bought back only in 2027 8.

On 1 November 2027, the Commission cancels the certificates bought for 2026 that are still in an account, without compensation 9. Where the number you must surrender is contested in a pending dispute in an EU country, cancellation is suspended for the disputed amount 9. In later years, each 1 November it cancels the certificates bought in the year before the previous one that are still held, also without compensation 9. Our reading: for 2026, a certificate you buy beyond what your declaration needs can be bought back only in 2027, on a request made by 31 October, and is lost on 1 November 2027 89.

If you don't surrender enough certificates by 30 September, you pay a penalty for each missing certificate and still have to surrender them 28. The penalty equals the EU ETS excess emissions penalty for the year of import: €100 per tonne of CO₂e, rising with the European index of consumer prices for allowances issued from 1 January 2013 2829. Our CBAM overview explains the penalties.

What are the dates for 2026 imports?

The table sets out, in order, each date that matters for certificates covering goods imported in 2026, plus the date the quarterly holding rule starts for goods imported from 2027.

What will CBAM cost me? An example

Example. The company and the quantities are made up to show how the rules work; the default value, the mark-up and the price are official 33. An authorised CBAM declarant established in an EU country imports 30 tonnes of carbon-steel screws and bolts (CN 7318 15) made in China in August 2026, in the third quarter 33. Its other CBAM imports take it over the 50-tonne threshold for the year, and it declares default values 33.

1. The default value for these goods from China is 6.375 tonnes of CO₂e per tonne of goods 27.
2. For 2026, default values for iron and steel goods carry a 10% mark-up 27. That gives 7.0125 tonnes of CO₂e per tonne 33.
3. For 30 tonnes, the embedded emissions come to 210.375 tonnes of CO₂e 33.
4. The price for the third quarter of 2026 is €82.32 per certificate 21.
5. Before the free allocation adjustment, the bill comes to about €17,318, or about €577 per tonne of bolts 33.
6. The company buys the certificates from 1 February 2027 and surrenders them by 30 September 2027 267.

Our reading: €17,318 is an upper limit for these goods, because the free allocation adjustment reduces the certificates due 1433. The default benchmark for these bolts, in Column B for carbon steel made by the blast furnace route, is 1.364 tonnes of CO₂e per tonne 18. That is the route the default values act gives for these goods from China 27. For 2026, the law sets the CBAM factor at 97.5% and the cross-sectoral correction factor at 100% 173031. We don't calculate the adjustment: which year's factors apply follows the reporting period rule in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2547, and the formulas in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2620 are images our sources don't reproduce 183233.

The example also leaves out any deduction for a carbon price paid in China, the platform fees, and the cost of verification and advisers 33. Our sources don't say how the CBAM registry rounds fractions of a certificate 33.

What to do

1. Check whether your CBAM goods will add up to more than 50 tonnes this year; if not, you buy no certificates 34. Our threshold explainer walks through the test.
2. List your 2026 imports by quarter of import, because each quarter has its own price 511.
3. Work out the embedded emissions of each good, from verified actual emissions or from default values with the mark-up 1427. Our explainer on default values helps you choose.
4. Budget: subtract the free allocation adjustment, and any reduction for a carbon price paid abroad, from the emissions, then multiply the certificates left by each quarter's price on the Commission's price page 5101214.
5. Buy from 1 February 2027, through your CBAM registry account 67. The Commission's guidance says you can buy at any time once sales start, so you can buy everything at once or spread your purchases until the deadline 7. Either way, for 2026 buy no more than your declaration needs: leftovers can be bought back only in 2027, and the rest are cancelled on 1 November 2027 89.
6. Submit your declaration and surrender the certificates by 30 September 2027 2714.
7. From 2027, check your account at the end of each quarter: it must hold at least 50% of the year's embedded emissions so far 2. Work the share out on default values without the mark-up, or on last year's surrendered certificates for the same goods and countries 2.

This is general information, not legal advice. For decisions about your company, check with a lawyer or adviser.