Fertilizer sector gets wake-up call at Argus conference in Lisbon

CBAM will push up the price of imported fertilizers into the EU by up to 30% over the coming years, CBAMBOO warned the sector at a conference in Lisbon this month.

The EU imports some 13 million tonnes of urea, ammonia and other fertilizers each year that are crucial for crop development. From January, CBAM will start to be phased in on these imports, leading over a nine-year period to a cost increase of around €150/tonne, as our team explained at the Argus Fertilizer Europe Conference 2025.

Participants described recent weeks as marking a “turning point” for the industry on CBAM, noting that it comes as they are in the middle of their annual fertilizer procurement for the upcoming farming season. Some described plans to stockpile as much fertilizer as possible within the EU before the start of CBAM. Others warned of a pushback from farmers when CBAM costs become visible.

Our analysis stressed the high carbon-to-value ratio of fertilizers, another way of describing the fact that CBAM will be especially inflationary for fertilizers.

While the cost of CO₂ associated with a tonne of fertilizers is roughly the same as the cost of CO₂ for a tonne of steel, the unit price of the product itself is much lower. This drives the inflationary effect.

This basic logic is at the heart of the challenge that the industry now faces in adapting to a world of carbon pricing at the border.

At the same time, our presentation also stressed the market signals that CBAM will send to decarbonise ammonia worldwide. If the CBAM is successful it will provide crucial certainty for capital to flow into the production of low- and zero-carbon ammonia production in the coming years.

NEWS: Commission signals overdue methodology publication early December

Crucial ‘Implementation Acts’ for CBAM will be published by early December, one of the EU's top CBAM officials told a think-tank webinar this week.

Martin Becker, Deputy Head of Unit at the European Commission's DG TAXUD, announced that 10 of the 11 documents that the EU has promised to publish are now in their final stage and are likely to be formally adopted by early December.

Becker was responding to a question from CBAMBOO's Pauline Miquel at a webinar organised by the European Roundtable on Climate Change and Sustainable Transition (ERCST), a think-tank.

The announcement is welcome. Businesses have consistently raised with CBAMBOO that the European Commission is far behind schedule in setting out full details of how CBAM will operate.

According to Becker, Member States will first review and vote on the drafts around mid-November. The implementation legislation will set out the marked-up default values, scope for emission data collection, benchmark methodology, and recognised carbon prices paid in third countries.

While a definitive list of benchmark values won’t be available until Q1 2026, preliminary methodological notes should be included, helping importers better anticipate costs and plan for 2026.

CBAM amendments take effect

The European Commission’s Omnibus changes to CBAM entered into force on 20 October 2025, following their publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This final step in the legislative process, which follows sign-off by the European Parliament and the Council, means that the much-debated changes to CBAM are now a new law, referred to as Regulation 2025/2083.

This is now the second time that the EU has enacted a Regulation for CBAM, following the enactment of the original Regulation in 2023. It acts as further confirmation that the system will begin on time on 1 January 2026 as planned.

For all that, the changes to CBAM in 2025/2083 are relatively modest.

As has been widely noted, small importers who fall below a 50-tonne annual threshold are now exempt from CBAM. In a separate change, the start date for purchasing CBAM certificates has been delayed to February 2027.

However, CBAM financial obligations remain effective from 1 January 2026, requiring businesses to carefully monitor emission data throughout 2026 and provision the necessary amounts.

CBAMBOO helps clients monitor their CBAM costs in real time. For more information, get in touch.

EU solar industry urges CBAM expansion

As part of the recent public consultation on downstream scope expansion, the European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) called on the the European Commission to include key solar PV components, such as modules and mounting systems, in CBAM.

ESMC noted that imported finished solar equipment currently avoids carbon costs, giving non-EU producers, particularly in China, a competitive edge. Extending CBAM would level the playing field and protect EU manufacturers facing rising carbon costs and cheap competition.

Furthermore, unlike other more complex products, mounting structures are considered feasible for inclusion due to standardised steel and aluminium inputs, clear emissions data, and existing customs codes.

The Commission will publish a new legislative proposal on 17 December 2025, specifying which steel- and aluminium-based semi-finished or finished products could fall under the mechanism. Adoption through Parliament and Council could take up to a year, making formal changes unlikely before 2027.

Other sectors, such as European mining, have also expressed interest in including raw materials such as nickel to shield the industry from more carbon-intensive imports.

Norway takes a step forward in CBAM implementation

Norway has launched a public consultation ahead of implementing the EU CBAM Regulation into its own national law.

The proposed CBAM Act would introduce a carbon price adjustment for imports of certain goods into the European Economic Area, an agreement which includes Norway and other non EU countries. It would also help close an existing loophole currently allowing CBAM-free imports into the EU via Norway or other EEA states.

Norway already applies the EU ETS nationally, making trade with the EU CBAM-exempt. The new law would therefore extend carbon pricing to third-country imports, counteracting carbon leakage and motivating non-EEA countries to reduce emissions.

Like with the EU CBAM, importers above defined thresholds would need to register as CBAM declarants, monitor embedded emissions, and purchase CBAM certificates corresponding to their imports.

The consultation is open all stakeholders until 2 January 2026.