CBAM Phases & Timelines (2026–2034)

By Ahmed Medhat · Published11 April 2026 · Updated 14 September 2026

CBAM Phases and Timelines: The Definitive Era (2026–2034)

The Exporter’s Master Schedule for Securing European Market Access

The transitional period of reporting ended on 31 December 2025. From 2026 the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is a certificate cost your EU buyers pay on the embedded emissions of your goods.

Goods imported into the EU from 1 January 2026 count toward your European buyers' CBAM declaration for 2026. The dates below run from 2026 through 2034.

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2026: The Definitive Period is Live

As of January 1, 2026, the Definitive Period has begun. Your European customers now owe CBAM certificates for the embedded emissions of the CBAM goods they import, unless their annual CBAM imports stay within the 50-tonne threshold (Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Article 2a).

• Installations whose actual emissions will be used: Where your buyers will declare your actual emissions, you prepare an operator's emissions report under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2547, Article 10(1), which needs a monitoring methodology in place during the year it covers.
• Early April 2026 (Q1 price): The Commission publishes the Q1 2026 CBAM certificate price on its website (IR (EU) 2025/2548, Articles 1(2) and 4(1)); it was published on 7 April 2026.
• An optional pre-verification: A dry run with an independent verifier, which the regulation does not require, can find gaps before 2026 data is verified.

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2027: The Year of Audits and UK Expansion

Where actual emissions are used, the data you collect in 2026 is checked by an accredited verifier (Article 8(1)).

• Before the 2026 declaration (Verification): Where your buyer declares your actual 2026 emissions, they must be verified (Article 8(1)) for the declaration due by 30 September 2027 (Article 6(1)). The verification rules, including site visits, are in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2546.
• January 1, 2027 (UK CBAM Launch): The United Kingdom's own CBAM applies from this date, with its own in-scope goods list; our guide to UK and EU scope sets the two lists side by side.
• September 30, 2027 (Declaration and surrender): By this date your EU buyers submit their CBAM declaration for 2026 and surrender the CBAM certificates for it (Articles 6(1) and 22(1)).

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2028: The Final Mark-Up and a Proposed Scope Expansion

From 2028 the mark-up on default values reaches its final rate, and a proposed expansion of scope may follow.

• January 1, 2028 (Downstream Expansion — proposed, not adopted): The Commission has proposed extending CBAM to downstream manufactured goods from this date. Nothing in the regulations this site holds enacts it: Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2023/956 still lists the six sectors, and until an adopted act changes that list, a 2028 downstream obligation is a plan to watch rather than a date to comply with. If you manufacture vehicles, combined metal products, industrial machinery or component parts, this is the proposal to track — but treat any 2028 downstream deadline you are quoted as provisional until the amending act is published.
• The 30% Default Mark-Up: Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1740, Annex I sets the mark-up on default values for cement, iron and steel, aluminium and hydrogen at 10% for 2026, 20% for 2027 and 30% from 2028 onwards (fertilisers carry 1% throughout). A verified actual value carries no mark-up.

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2026–2034: The CBAM Factor Schedule

The CBAM timeline also carries the CBAM factor, which scales down the free allocation deducted from embedded emissions each year (Directive 2003/87/EC, Article 10a(1a)).

• 2026: The CBAM factor is 97.5%, so the deduction is the benchmark × 97.5% × the cross-sectoral correction factor (IR (EU) 2025/2620, Annex).
• 2027 to 2033: The factor falls each year, from 95% in 2027 to 14% in 2033.
• 2034: From 2034 no CBAM factor applies (Directive 2003/87/EC, Article 10a(1a)): the free allocation deducted falls to zero, and your European buyers surrender certificates for the full embedded emissions of your goods, less any Article 9 reduction.