A coalition of NGOs and industry associations participating in the CBAM Expert Group has published a joint statement calling on the European Commission to exclude domestic and international carbon credits from the calculation of the effective carbon price paid under the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

The statement responds to the draft Implementing Regulation on “Carbon Price Paid in Third Countries”, which would allow certain carbon credits to be recognised as part of the carbon price paid by producers outside the EU.

This approach would be inconsistent with the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), where carbon credits are not accepted for compliance purposes, and could undermine the climate integrity of the mechanism. The statement also notes that the treatment of carbon credits remains the subject of ongoing legislative discussions on the future development of CBAM.

The coalition therefore urges the Commission to maintain consistency between the EU ETS and CBAM by excluding both domestic and international carbon credits from the calculation of the effective carbon price paid under the mechanism.Read the full joint statement hereechanism, and prejudging ongoing legislative discussions on the role of carbon credits within CBAM.

The full joint letter is available below.