UK: Package of practical tools to help importers assess carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) liabilities
Including product-level default emissions values for all five UK CBAM sectors
HMRC on October 16, 2026, published a package of guidance providing businesses with the practical tools needed to assess potential UK carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) liabilities ahead of the regime's commencement on January 1, 2027.
The package includes:
- Product-level default emissions values for all five UK CBAM sectors
- Illustrative CBAM rates and a worked example showing how those rates are calculated
- A comprehensive 313-page technical guide covering monitoring, reporting, and verification requirements for installation operators, verifiers, and accreditation bodies
- Guidance for importers on obtaining and reporting emissions intensity data
- Supplementary guidance covering verifier eligibility, accreditation requirements, verification activities, and reporting obligations
Taken together, these materials provide importers, overseas manufacturers, and verifiers with the practical detail needed to build data collection processes, supplier engagement strategies, and supporting evidence frameworks. Importers now have sufficient information to begin quantifying potential CBAM exposure, assessing suppliers' readiness to provide emissions data, and evaluating whether reliance on default emissions values or verified actual emissions data is likely to be more advantageous. Importers can now map goods to the relevant commodity codes, determine net mass, apply the relevant emissions methodology, and identify the evidence required to support future CBAM returns and any claim for carbon price relief.
Read an October 2026 report prepared by the KPMG member firm in the UK