The European Commission revised CBAM indicators for ammonia
The European Commission has published preliminary documents specifying the quota allocation mechanism and default emission values for ammonia imports under the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Official approval of these data is expected in 2026.
According to the published documentation, the regulator continues its course of strengthening environmental requirements:
- The current level has been reduced from 1.57 t to 1.522 t CO2 equivalent (CO2e).
- An additional reduction of 2.5% is planned for 2026, to 1.484 t CO2e.
However, the most significant changes have been made to the regional default emission values, which are applied in cases where the importer does not provide verified data:
USA: The value has increased significantly to 3.44 t CO2e (forecast for 2026). The reason for the sharp increase was the change in the raw material accounting methodology: switching from natural gas to petroleum coke in the calculations.
- Trinidad: 2.44 t CO2e.
- Algeria: 2.10 t CO2e.
- Egypt: 2.07 t CO2e.
The Commission also set a 1% premium to the default values for all supplying countries in 2026. In monetary terms, based on the exchange price of ETS allowances (around $100.35/t), this creates a significant price gap.
- USA: ~$196 per tonne;
- Trinidad: ~$96 per tonne;
- Algeria: ~$62 per tonne;
- Egypt: ~$59 per tonne.
These data indicate that the North American product may become less competitive on the European market if the default CBAM values are used.
