CBAM Cost Estimator for Fabricated Steel
If your steel structures end up in the EU, the importer's CBAM bill is mostly the carbon in the plate and sections you bought, attributed to the right shipment. This estimates that bill from numbers you have, and shows how it ramps as free allocation is withdrawn. The figures are an approximation for planning, not a declaration.
Precursor steel consumed
Embedded emissions
Gross carbon cost
Payable after CBAM factor
Same shipment, every year
| Year | Payable share | Payable cost |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2.5 % | |
| 2027 | 5 % | |
| 2028 | 10 % | |
| 2029 | 22.5 % | |
| 2030 | 48.5 % | |
| 2031 | 61 % | |
| 2032 | 73.5 % | |
| 2033 | 86 % | |
| 2034 | 100 % |
What this leaves out and assumes
- The CBAM factor applies to the share of emissions that still receives free allocation in the EU; this estimator applies it to the whole embedded figure, which is the usual planning simplification.
- Only direct emissions count for iron and steel goods. For fabricated structures the Commission's downstream rule counts the steel precursors, not your cutting, welding and painting.
- The importer, not you, files and pays, and importers below 50 tonnes a year are exempt (Regulation (EU) 2025/2083). What you supply is the per-shipment mass by mill and the mill's verified figure.
- Mixed stock. If one bar feeds four assemblies across two shipments and the offcut goes back on the rack unmarked, the precursor split by mill is an estimate you cannot defend to a verifier. Heat-number traceability through cutting is the fix.
Sources
Need heat-level traceability through cutting and shipment?
See Fidar MES