When is the 2023 Q4 CBAM Reporting Deadline?

The original deadline for submitting the 2023 Q4 CBAM report was on January 31, 2024. However, that’s no longer the case. Technical issues have complicated submissions for many companies. Therefore, the European Union (EU) has pushed back the deadline.

How can companies that import CBAM goods take advantage of the new deadline? On February 1, 2024, the EU is adding a new feature on their website. Companies will be able to request delayed submission on the Transitional Registry, which will give them an extra 30 days to submit their CBAM report. 

Companies who haven’t run into technical issues are still encouraged to submit their report by the end of the standard reporting period. If they do so, they’ll be able to modify and correct their first three CBAM reports until July 31, 2024.

CBAM stands for Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. It’s an EU tool designed to put a fair price on the carbon emitted during the production of carbon-intensive goods that enter the union. CBAM confirms that producers have paid for imported embedded carbon emissions at the same rate as domestic production.

The primary goal of CBAM is to stop carbon leakage. Carbon leakage results when EU-based companies shift their carbon-intensive production abroad or replace EU products with more carbon-intensive imports. This harms EU-based manufacturers, undermines the EU’s climate goals, and encourages environmentally harmful or inefficient manufacturing methods. 

CBAM is currently in a transitional phase where it only applies to six industries: cement, iron and steel, aluminum, fertilizers, electricity, and hydrogen. These “CBAM goods” were chosen because they are often carbon intensive to produce, and they are considered to have a high risk of carbon leakage. This phase will last until mid-2025.

During the early transitional phase, companies are allowed to use default reference data as part of their reporting. These default values represent a rough world average created by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. This is only until July 2024, when the EU will require a more stringent methodology.