Companies lament excessive bureaucracy as EU launches carbon border tariff

(Clean Energy Wire, 2 Oct 2023) German companies have complained about highly complicated reporting obligations and a lack of preparation time for the start of the EU’s first phase of CO2 emission tariffs on imports.

Since Sunday 1 October, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) has become the world's first scheme to force importers to report the emissions embedded in imports of iron, steel, aluminium, cement, electricity, fertilisers and hydrogen. "There is a lot of uncertainty as to who will be affected and to what extent," Matthias Blum, head of foreign trade at the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI) told energy and climate newsletter Tagesspiegel Background. "The companies now have to consult product lists and examine their entire value chain for the imported goods listed therein. This could also be screws or metal rods for production. Or packaging," Blum said. "The effort is simply immense."

Because the CBAM covers basic materials, the new reporting obligations affect thousands of companies processing them, many of which are unprepared. "Particularly among small and mediums-sized enterprises, many are only now coming to grips with the issue," trade expert Stephan Freismuth from consultancy KPMG told the newsletter. He said the biggest problem is to request the necessary data from suppliers, who are usually even less prepared for the new requirements than their European trading partners

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Clean Energy Wire, 2 Oct 2023: Companies lament excessive bureaucracy as EU launches carbon border tariff