It took the negotiators from the Polish Presidency of the EU Council and the European Parliament just ten minutes to reach an agreement over the regulation simplifying the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on Wednesday 18 June. For Pascal Canfin MEP (Renew Europe, French), who has long been involved in this dossier and was present during the negotiations, this is “a good example of intelligent simplification, which we should also follow for the other omnibuses”.
The agreement therefore incorporates the main element of the European Commission’s proposal (see EUROPE 13588/4), which is to exempt from CBAM those operators whose combined imports of steel, aluminium, fertiliser and cement do not exceed 50 tonnes in any one year.
The other changes to the initial text requested by the EU Council and European Parliament have all been maintained in the final agreement (see EUROPE 13646/18, 13649/19).
However, work on the CBAM is far from complete. The next step is to revise the regulation in the coming months to potentially broaden its scope. Some in the European Parliament hope to seize this opportunity to add a support mechanism for exporters of ‘CBAM products’ to countries that do not have a carbon pricing system.
For Pascal Canfin, this could involve free ETS allowances, a principle that already exists, but which is due to be phased out in 2036 at the same time as the CBAM comes into force. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)