CBAM cost calculator: the EU carbon cost on your goods

Two routes for your imports

Above the threshold, your goods enter the EU through an authorised CBAM declarant. That company buys the certificates and files the annual declaration. You decide which company it is.

Which route suits you?

Choose an option. The calculator puts your products, tonnes and costs in the form below. You check the text and send the form yourself.

What the authorisation application needs

Your EU company applies for authorised CBAM declarant status before its first import above the threshold. In the Netherlands, the application has these parts:

1. Register your company in the Netherlands. Your company must be established in the Netherlands and registered in the Business Register of the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce (KVK). It also needs an EU customs number, the Economic Operators Registration and Identification number, free of charge from Dutch Customs. The Dutch Emissions Authority (NEa) checks this number in the EU database. Source
2. Arrange eHerkenning level 3. You log in to the EU registry with eHerkenning, the Dutch business login, at level 3 or higher. Ask your eHerkenning supplier for the service for the carbon border tax. Your adviser can prepare the full application with you. Source
3. Request the tax statement. Ask the Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst) for a Verklaring betalingsgedrag nakoming fiscale verplichtingen, a statement on your tax payments. You upload it with the application, and it may be at most one year old on that day. Source
4. Check the company details and add a contact person. The form fills in your customs number, company name and address, so check them. Add your main economic activity and a contact person with name, email address and phone number. Also state whether your company applies for itself or as an indirect customs representative. Source
5. Estimate your imports for this year and next year. List your goods with their codes from the combined nomenclature (CN), the EU list of goods codes. Give the estimated quantity and value per type for this year and next year, and the EU countries of import. The NEa compares your estimate with the imports that Dutch Customs recorded in the year before. Source
6. Sign the declaration of honour. Your company declares that it was free of serious or repeated breaches of customs, tax and market abuse rules and of serious criminal offences. This covers its business in the five years before the year of application. If there is reason, the NEa can ask for a certificate of conduct (Verklaring Omtrent het Gedrag). Source
7. Show your financial and operational capacity. Enter net profit or loss, turnover, current assets and current liabilities for the last three financial years. A company younger than two years gives the figures it has. Above 2,000 tonnes a year, add the annual accounts and a note on your administration, unless your company is an authorised economic operator (AEO). Source
8. Arrange a bank guarantee for a young company. For an application in 2026, a company set up after 31 December 2023 provides a guarantee. After a positive draft decision, the NEa sets the amount, based on the certificates for this year and next year. You then provide a bank guarantee from an EU bank, payable on first demand; the status starts on the day the NEa registers it. Source
9. Submit the form in the EU registry. Apply in the Authorisation Management Module of the European Commission's registry for the carbon border tax. At login, choose Douane as domain, Nederland as country, Marktdeelnemer as user type and Mezelf. Check every field before you send the form. Source
10. Answer questions from the NEa on time. The NEa assesses your application within 120 calendar days of receipt. If the NEa asks for more information, you get at most 30 days to reply, and the full assessment takes at most 180 days. If the NEa intends to refuse, it gives its reasons and 30 days for your response. Source
11. Use your account number at import. The decision takes effect on the day the NEa registers it in the registry. Your company then gets an account number, which you enter on the customs declaration for these goods. Report changes, such as a new address or new contact details, in the registry. Source
12. Plan the certificates and the yearly declaration. From 1 February 2027, your company buys certificates on the common central platform. From 2027, at the end of each quarter, your account needs certificates for at least 50% of the emissions in that year's imports. Each year by 30 September, you file the yearly declaration and surrender the certificates, first on 30 September 2027 for 2026. Source

How the calculator works it out

For each product, the calculator starts from the emissions per tonne. With the default value, it takes the value that the European Commission sets for the product and the country, plus a mark-up of 10% in 2026, 20% in 2027 and 30% from 2028. For fertilisers, the mark-up is 1%. With your own verified value, it uses your figure.

EU plants still get part of their emission allowances for free. Your certificates go down in the same way: the benchmark for your product times the CBAM factor. That factor is 97.5% in 2026, 95% in 2027, 90% in 2028, 51.5% in 2030 and 0% in 2034. The reduction shrinks every year, so the cost per tonne goes up. The CBAM benchmarks apply for 2026 to 2030 (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2620, with the correction factor of 100% in Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1862), and for 2031 to 2034 the calculator keeps the 2030 values as an assumption. Where the default value of a country follows production from scrap or recycled aluminium, the calculator uses the benchmark for that route.

With your own verified emissions, a carbon price already paid in the country of origin lowers your certificates. For each tonne, the calculator divides the carbon price paid on your emissions by the price of one certificate. It subtracts the result from your certificates per tonne, down to zero. For default values, the European Commission can publish default carbon prices from 2027.

The 2026 price is the average of the three quarterly prices the Commission has published so far: €75.36 for the first quarter, €75.28 for the second and €82.32 for the third. The price for the fourth quarter follows on 4 January 2027. The price from 2027 is an assumption that you can change. From 2027, the Commission publishes a price every week.

Certificate sales start on 1 February 2027. From 2027, your account must have certificates for at least 50% of the year’s imports so far at the end of each quarter. The first annual declaration, for 2026 imports, is due by 30 September 2027.

Above 50 tonnes a year of iron and steel, aluminium, cement and fertilisers together, certificates are due on the whole quantity. Hydrogen always counts, from the first shipment. Goods from Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland are exempt. Electricity is also a CBAM good, and this calculator covers the other five groups: iron and steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers and hydrogen.

Questions about CBAM costs

Who pays the CBAM charge?

The authorised CBAM declarant pays. That is the importer in the EU, or the indirect customs representative of an importer outside the EU. The declarant buys the certificates and surrenders them with the annual declaration. When your EU buyer imports the goods, your buyer pays and usually passes the cost on in the price. When your own EU company imports, your company pays and sets its own terms.

What if my imports stay under 50 tonnes a year?

The threshold counts iron and steel, aluminium, cement and fertilisers together, for each importer and each calendar year. Up to 50 tonnes, these imports are exempt from CBAM. Above 50 tonnes, certificates are due on the whole quantity of that year. Hydrogen and electricity always count, from the first shipment. An indirect customs representative needs the status in every case.

What does a verified value from your own plant save?

The default values include a mark-up of 10% in 2026, 20% in 2027 and 30% from 2028. A verified value from an efficient plant usually means fewer certificates. An accredited verifier checks the figures of your plant first. In the calculator, choose “Own verified value” to see the difference for each year.

Can an exporter from outside the EU become the CBAM declarant itself?

The status is for companies established in the EU. An exporter from outside the EU therefore works through an EU company or through an indirect customs representative. Its own EU company, such as a Dutch BV, can apply for the status itself. An indirect customs representative with the status declares the goods in its own name and is then always the declarant.

What does a CBAM certificate cost?

One certificate covers one tonne of CO2. For 2026 imports, the price is the quarterly average of EU emissions trading prices: €75.36 for the first quarter, €75.28 for the second and €82.32 for the third. From 2027, the Commission publishes a price every week. Certificate sales start on 1 February 2027.

Does a carbon price paid in the country of origin lower the bill?

Yes, with your own verified emissions. Under the CBAM Regulation, a carbon price already paid in the country of origin then lowers the number of certificates. You need verified figures for each plant. For default values, the European Commission can publish default carbon prices from 2027. Türkiye adopted a Climate Law in 2025 as the basis for its own emissions trading system.

Read next

All rules and dates for the declarant: authorised CBAM declarant for non-EU exporters.

CBAM by country of origin: Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Egypt, Morocco, India and South Africa.

Your own Dutch company, with every step and price: Dutch BV incorporation.