CBAM key dates and deadlines

The CBAM definitive period began on 1 January 2026. From that date the financial obligation is live: emissions embedded in CBAM goods imported during 2026 must be declared and settled with certificates. The transitional period that ran from October 2023 was reporting-only — no certificates were bought or surrendered.

Sales of CBAM certificates open on 1 February 2027. From then, authorised CBAM declarants buy certificates from the common central platform at a price linked to the weekly average EU ETS auction price. There is no requirement to hold certificates through the year ahead of the surrender date under the simplified regime.

As a reference point, the EU ETS carbon price the mechanism tracks sits around €75.36/tCO₂e. The certificate price moves with the market, so the cash cost of a given tonne of embedded emissions is not fixed.

The first surrender of certificates falls on 30 September 2027, covering emissions embedded in goods imported during 2026. By that date the declarant must have submitted its annual CBAM declaration and surrendered enough certificates to cover the declared emissions, after the phase-in adjustment.

The obligation phases in. Through the early years, free allocation under the EU ETS is mirrored on the CBAM side, so only a fraction of embedded emissions requires certificates. That fraction rises each year until 2034, when full coverage applies: