EU: Guidance documents to support carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) implementation

The European Commission on August 14, 2026, published a series of 10 guidance documents to help non-EU operators with the implementation of the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) during its definitive period. 

The CBAM's definitive period brings monitoring, reporting and financial obligations for importers of carbon-intensive goods into the EU, set out in the CBAM Regulation and its secondary legislation.

According to the EC release, the guidance documents are aimed at a range of stakeholders, with a particular focus on operators of installations outside the EU that produce CBAM goods, as well as authorized CBAM declarants and verifiers involved in the compliance cycle. 

The series is made up of four general guidance documents and six sector-specific guides: 

• Guidance No. 1: Introduction to CBAM concepts: An introduction to the CBAM and its compliance cycle, roles and responsibilities, milestones, deadlines and exemptions for operators of installations outside the EU during the definitive period. 
• Guidance No. 2: Quick guide for non-EU operators: A roadmap through the key concepts of CBAM emissions monitoring for operators of installations producing CBAM goods, pointing to where more detail can be found across the series. 
• Guidance No. 3: Calculation of embedded emissions: The monitoring and reporting obligations and recommendations that may apply to any affected producer of CBAM goods. 
• Guidance No. 4: Calculation of the free allocation adjustment: How the adjustment to the number of CBAM certificates to be surrendered for free allocation under the EU ETS is determined, and what information is needed. 
• Guidance documents No. 5a–5f: Sector-specific guidance: dedicated overviews of production processes, value chains and monitoring and reporting considerations for each CBAM sector (cement, hydrogen, fertilizers, iron and steel, aluminum, electricity), each supplemented with worked examples. 
  • Guidance No. 5a - Sector-specific guidance document on cement
  • Guidance No. 5b - Sector-specific guidance document on hydrogen
  • Guidance No. 5c - Sector-specific guidance document on fertilizers
  • Guidance No. 5d - Sector-specific guidance document on iron and steel
  • Guidance No. 5e - Sector-specific guidance document on aluminum
  • Guidance No. 5f - Sector-specific guidance document on electricity