17 June 2025 – The EU Carbon Border Tax CBAM is a complex bureaucratic monster that is still incomplete in many respects. In addition, various so-called specialist media outlets are adding to the confusion by deliberately omitting important aspects of CBAM in their reporting or phrasing them in a misleading way. It is time to warn against these CBAM myths.
Warning: Beware of EU CBAM myths and half-truths
The EU Carbon Border Tax CBAM is a complex bureaucratic monster that is still incomplete in many respects. The EU Commission’s proposal from February 2025 to ‘simplify’ the EU CBAM has contributed to producing more unanswered questions than providing real relief for the companies affected.
In addition, various so-called specialist media are adding to the confusion by deliberately omitting important aspects of CBAM in their reporting or formulating them in a misleading way.
CBAM costs will already arise in 2026
One of the most serious issues here is that the specialist media suggest that CBAM certificates will only have to be purchased from 2027 onwards. While this is fundamentally correct, it completely ignores the fact that these must be purchased retroactively for CBAM products imported in 2026. European companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, therefore need to know exactly how high the costs for CBAM certificates will be in 2026 – or at least have a basic basis for calculating them.
EU CBAM CO2 benchmark values still missing
Although the formula for calculating the costs of EU CBAM certificates is known, an important factor in the calculation, the so-called CO2 benchmark values, has still not been announced by the responsible commission, so everything remains speculative when it comes to calculating the costs from 1 January 2026.
Commission must be put under more pressure
This is an issue that Thorsten Gerber, CEO of the Gerber Group, is once again addressing in the EU Parliament this week, urging MEPs to exert more pressure on the Commission on this point. He said today in Parliament in Strasbourg: “The Commission must present the CBAM benchmark values by 1 July 2025 at the latest in order to finally provide certainty for businesses and planners. Otherwise, it will seriously damage the competitiveness of European SMEs.”
Thorsten Gerber went on to say: ‘Parliament and member states must now put pressure on the Commission to finally make significant progress here. Start working with professionals from the field instead of waiting for the big lobby NGOs, which do not have steel SMEs on their agenda!’
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