CBAM Importer Calculator: certificates, cost and deadlines for EU imports
The Seetalabs® CBAM Importer Calculator is a free tool for EU importers and authorised CBAM declarants of steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers and hydrogen. From the CN code, country of origin, tonnes and quarter of each import line, it checks the 50-tonne threshold and estimates CBAM certificates, cost and deadlines under the CBAM definitive regime.
Before the first calculation the tool shows its disclaimer: the results are estimates, not legal or tax advice, and the texts in the Official Journal and the decisions of the competent authorities prevail.
What the calculator gives you
Enter your import lines by hand or paste them from Excel. For each line you get the embedded emissions per tonne, the free allocation adjustment, the number of CBAM certificates and their cost in euro. The same numbers are added up per supplier, so you can see which suppliers weigh most on your bill and how much of it comes only from the mark-up on default values.
The calculator then turns the numbers into dated actions: whether you need the status of authorised CBAM declarant, when certificates go on sale, how many certificates you must hold at each quarter end from 2027, and when the declaration and surrender are due. It gives a 2026 budget with a range, the quarter in which you cross the threshold, and scenarios up to 2034.
Every choice the tool makes is written once in an interpretation log, with its legal source, the official definitions and the import lines it affects. Where a CN code has several TARIC lines with different default values, the log shows the alternatives in euro. You can print the result, save a JSON evidence file with inputs, data versions and sources, and reopen it later.
For each supplier, the tool also drafts a data request you can send: it asks for verified actual emissions, and names the official Commission communication template and the Seetalabs® supplier data file as ways to answer.
How the calculator gets from tonnes to certificates
Embedded emissions. Without verified supplier data, the tool uses the default value for the country of origin and the CN or TARIC code, from the longest matching line of the Commission table in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2621, as corrected by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1740. If the country has no value, it uses the line for "Other countries and territories". Indirect emissions are counted only for cement and fertilisers, the sectors that Annex II of Regulation (EU) 2023/956 does not exclude. Where the table distinguishes TARIC lines under one CN code, the tool asks for the 10-digit code instead of choosing one.
Mark-up. Default values carry a mark-up of 10 % in 2026, 20 % in 2027 and 30 % from 2028, and 1 % for fertilisers (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2621, Annex I). Verified actual emissions replace default values without mark-up.
Free allocation adjustment. The CBAM benchmark, column B, for the production route and year, multiplied by the CBAM factor of the year (97.5 % in 2026, down to 14 % in 2033 and zero from 2034) and by the cross-sectoral correction factor, which is 100 % for 2026 to 2030 (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2620, Equation 6). The benchmark table stops at 2030, so the tool does not evaluate 2031 to 2033.
Certificates and cost. Certificates = (embedded emissions per tonne minus free allocation adjustment per tonne) × tonnes, never below zero. In 2026 the price is the Commission's average for the quarter of import. For a quarter whose price is not yet published, the tool uses the latest published price and marks the result as an estimate. The Q3 2026 price is due on 5 October 2026.
Worked example: 100 t of grain-oriented electrical steel from China
An importer brings in 100 t of grain-oriented electrical steel sheet, CN 7225 11 00, from China in the first quarter of 2026, with no actual emissions data from the supplier.
| Step | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Default value, China, direct emissions (route C) | 8.09 tCO2e/t | Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1740, China table |
| Indirect emissions | not counted (iron and steel) | Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Annex II |
| Mark-up 2026 | 10 % → 8.899 tCO2e/t | Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2621, Annex I |
| CBAM benchmark, column B, route C | 1.779 tCO2e/t | Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2620, point 5 |
| Free allocation adjustment | 1.779 × 0.975 × 1 = 1.7345 tCO2e/t | Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2620, Equation 6 |
| CBAM certificates | (8.899 − 1.7345) × 100 = 716.45 | Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Articles 22 and 31 |
| Price Q1 2026 | 75.36 EUR | Commission certificate price page |
| Estimated cost | 53,991.48 EUR |
Of the 716.45 certificates, 80.9 come only from the 10 % mark-up on the default value. That is the part a supplier can remove by providing verified actual emissions. Had the same steel been imported from 2027, the quarterly holding requirement would be calculated on default values without mark-up and net of the adjustment: (8.09 − 1.7345) × 100 = 635.55 tCO2e as the basis.
CBAM deadlines for importers
| Date | What happens | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| 5 October 2026 | The Commission publishes the Q3 2026 certificate price (Q4 2026: 4 January 2027). From 2027 prices are weekly. | Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2548, Articles 1(2), 4(1), 5 and 8 |
| 1 February 2027 | Certificates go on sale on the common central platform, to authorised CBAM declarants only. | Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Article 20(1), as replaced by Regulation (EU) 2025/2083 |
| End of each quarter, from 2027 | Hold certificates for at least 50 % of the embedded emissions of the year so far. | Article 22(2), as replaced by Regulation (EU) 2025/2083 |
| 30 September 2027, then every year | Submit the CBAM declaration and surrender the certificates for the previous year. The first covers 2026. | Articles 6(1) and 22(1), as replaced by Regulation (EU) 2025/2083 |
| 31 October 2027, then every year | Last day to ask for the repurchase of excess certificates. | Article 23(1), as amended by Regulation (EU) 2025/2083 |
| 1 November 2027, then every year | Certificates left on the account are cancelled without compensation. All certificates bought for 2026 emissions are cancelled on 1 November 2027. | Article 24(1)-(2), as replaced by Regulation (EU) 2025/2083 |
If you import more than 50 t in 2026 and applied for authorisation by 31 March 2026, you may keep importing until the decision; if you did not apply, the calculator shows a red warning.
Would your downstream products be covered from 2028?
In December 2025 the Commission proposed to extend CBAM to some steel- and aluminium-intensive downstream products from 1 January 2028 (COM(2025) 989). This is a proposal. It has not been adopted, and its list, threshold and rules can change. The calculator reads the proposal's annex literally and tells you which of your CN codes would enter, which are covered only in part ("ex" lines), which are already CBAM goods today, and which are not listed. For example, power transformers under CN 8504 33 00 appear in the proposed list.
The check gives no certificates and no cost for these goods: default values and benchmarks for them have not been published.
What the calculator does not do
- It does not handle precursors, inward or outward processing, or imports of electricity. For electricity and for your own production data, the operator of the installation uses the CBAM Installation Emissions Calculator.
- It does not produce the upload format of the CBAM Registry and does not calculate penalties.
- It does not reduce certificates for a carbon price paid abroad when you use default values. With verified actual emissions it applies the reduction and marks the method as provisional, because the official method is not final.
- It does not estimate certificates or cost for the 2028 downstream proposal.
- It is not legal or tax advice. It is an estimate to prepare your declaration and your conversations with suppliers.
Your import data stay in your browser
The calculator runs entirely in your browser. Its Content Security Policy blocks every network connection (connect-src 'none'), so the values you enter cannot be sent anywhere, to Seetalabs® or to anyone else. It uses no cookies and no browser storage. To keep your work, you save a file to your own computer and open it again later.
Use the calculator in your language
The page is in English. The calculator works in 10 languages, with the terms of the official language versions of the CBAM regulations in the eight EU languages:
English · Italiano · Deutsch · Français · Español · Polski · Nederlands · Português · Türkçe · 中文
The Turkish and Chinese versions use Turkish customs terminology and the Commission's Chinese guidance, since the regulations have no official version in those languages.
Next step: replace default values with your supplier's data
Default values with their mark-up are the most expensive way to pay for CBAM. The way down is verified actual emissions from the installation that produced your goods. Send your supplier the link to the free CBAM Installation Emissions Calculator: the operator calculates the specific embedded emissions and the free allocation adjustment of each product, and downloads a supplier data file. You load that file here, and the calculator uses its figures instead of default values when the data are verified.
The file format (seetalabs-cbam-supplier-data, version 0.1) is provisional. The Commission has not yet published a communication template for the definitive regime; its latest template is version 2.1.1 of 13 December 2024, written for the transitional period. When the official template is published, both tools will be aligned to it.
Official sources and data versions
- Regulation (EU) 2023/956 (CBAM Regulation), as amended by Regulation (EU) 2025/2083.
- Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2621 on default values, corrected by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1740 (Commission data file version 2 of 6 August 2026).
- Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2620 on CBAM benchmarks and the free allocation adjustment (Commission data file version 1 of 6 February 2026).
- Directive 2003/87/EC, Article 10a(1a), as inserted by Directive (EU) 2023/959 (CBAM factor).
- Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1862 (cross-sectoral correction factor).
- Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2548 (certificate price).
- Combined Nomenclature 2026 (official SKOS dataset).
- Commission list of national competent authorities of 26 June 2026.
- COM(2025) 989 of 17 December 2025, proposal on downstream products (not adopted).
Certificate prices checked on the Commission page on 27 September 2026.
Tool version 1.3.1. Seetalabs®.
