CBAM Compliance for Exporters and Importers
The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism covers cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers, hydrogen and electricity. Estimate the embedded emissions and the indicative CBAM certificate cost for a shipment below, then get the full calculation and a validated declaration package with Formist.
CBAM calculator
3 steps, about 10 minutesPick a sector and product, enter the quantity exported to the EU, and the calculator estimates embedded emissions and the certificate cost, using the European Commission’s own published default values unless you enter your own.
Choose your sector
Pick the CBAM sector your goods belong to.
Add product and volume
Choose the product, enter how much you export to the EU, and add any details you know.
Overrides the EU default value below if you know your actual embedded emissions intensity.
See your estimate
Review the estimated embedded emissions and certificate cost, and how the cost rises through 2034.
Editable. Default is the Commission’s own published price.
The share of emissions covered by CBAM certificates rises each year through 2034. Select a year to see its indicative cost.
This is an indicative estimate, not a declaration. It uses EU default values unless you override them, and does not track precursors, carbon price deductions or country-specific production routes. Formist’s CBAM skill runs the full calculation with your own documents.
Default emission values: European Commission, default values for the CBAM transitional period, 22 December 2023 (electricity: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2621, Annex III). Phase-in schedule: Directive (EU) 2023/959. ETS price: European Commission, price of CBAM certificates, Q3 2026, published 5 October 2026.
AI for CBAM
Behind the calculator above, Formist’s AI reads the invoices, supplier certificates and shipment papers a CBAM filing needs, maps them to the EU’s CN codes and default or verified emissions data, and drafts the Communication Template for exporters or the full declaration package for importers, checked against the European Commission’s own XML schema.
Formist cites the document it read each figure from, and a person reviews the package before it goes to the CBAM Registry. The two skills behind this page were developed jointly with Siemens SiTANJI, and are two of the 26 regulated deliverables in Formist’s AI ESG reporting library.
What CBAM covers
Cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers, hydrogen and electricity are in scope today.
The share of embedded emissions an importer must cover with CBAM certificates rises from 2.5% in 2026 to 100% in 2034, as EU ETS free allocation for the same domestic sectors phases out.
Since the definitive period started on 1 January 2026, actual emissions verified by an EU-accredited verifier are required for most installations; EU default values are now allowed only in narrowly defined fallback cases.
The transitional period’s quarterly reports ended in 2025. The definitive period’s annual declaration module is scheduled to open in 2027.
Go deeper
Frequently asked questions
Does Formist submit my CBAM declaration for me?
No. The EU has no submission API for CBAM. Formist drafts and validates the declaration package against the EU’s own schema; you download it and upload it yourself, logged into the CBAM Registry portal with your own EU Login identity.
Is this calculator’s result the same as my official CBAM declaration?
No. It is an indicative estimate using EU default values, for planning purposes. Your actual declaration needs verified data, precursor tracking where relevant, and any carbon price deduction, which this calculator does not do.
When can I file the next CBAM declaration?
The transitional period’s quarterly reports ended with the 2025 Q4 period. The definitive period’s annual declaration module is scheduled to open in 2027, with a first deadline of 30 September 2027.
Where do the default emission values come from?
The European Commission’s own published default values for the CBAM transitional period (22 December 2023), the most recent complete, EU-wide table for these product groups. Electricity’s factor is from the definitive-period regulation instead, since the transitional document never published one.
Get the full calculation with Formist
Tell us which CBAM goods you export or import, and Formist runs the full calculation with your own documents, then drafts and validates the declaration package.