CBAM prices the tonne but does not fund removing it
The importer measures and pays, and the emissions stay. The verified data a CBAM declaration requires is the baseline an inset credit needs.
Open the document (PDF)CBAM prices the carbon embedded in steel, cement, aluminium and more at the EU border. It puts a price on the tonne but provides no mechanism to fund taking it out.
So the importer measures and pays, and the emissions stay. There's no instrument to finance the supplier's reduction, and no way to recover the value of one. That missing half is a financing problem.
The verified embedded-emissions data a CBAM declaration already requires is the exact baseline an inset credit needs, letting importers and suppliers co-fund, allocate and recover the reduction across the chain.
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Originally published on LinkedIn, 20 July 2026.
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