The Commission has updated the default embedded-emissions values used under the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism for importers unable to provide verified installation-specific data. Because the defaults are deliberately conservative, the revision raises the implied carbon charge on steel, aluminium, and cement entries that rely on them, widening the gap between documented and undocumented supply.
The policy logic is to reward primary data. Importers able to furnish verified, installation-level emissions intensities face a charge tied to actual performance; those defaulting to the published values absorb a premium. The interaction with the phase-down of free allocation under the EU emissions trading system sharpens the eventual cost differential and the reshuffling of trade flows toward lower-carbon, better-documented origins.
For procurement teams the takeaway is that documentation capability is now a price variable, not a back-office task. Firms are accelerating supplier engagement to secure verifiable data ahead of the definitive regime, since the cost of relying on defaults is rising on a published schedule rather than as a one-off.