ERCST Reaction on CBAM Draft IA Article 9
In May 2026, the European Commission has finally answered a question open since CBAM went live: how do carbon prices paid abroad actually reduce your CBAM bill?
ERCST has submitted its feedback on the draft. Find the five main takeaways:
Key ERCST takeaways:
- The incentive for systemic carbon pricing is preserved. only genuine, sector-wide mechanisms count. Export-only schemes and ad-hoc arrangements are out.
- 5% coverage tolerance — a small but meaningful nod to real-world differences between systems.
- Article 6 demand is being overstated. Projections of €3bn+ and 17 Mt/year circulating in the market do not survive scrutiny. Few regimes accept Article 6 credits; the price logic works against them; and the 10% cap bites regardless. Also worth noting: this is the first time Article 6 appears in EU climate policy, and in the system that mirrors the EU ETS — so why is it still excluded from the EU ETS?
- Transparency and integrity gaps remain — related-party credit pricing, undefined default values, and the rebate carve-out all need stronger guardrails.
- The compliance burden may kill the facility. The certification and accreditation architecture is disproportionate to the deductions most producers will ever claim. Bilateral agreements under Article 2(12) of the CBAM Regulation may be the more practical path.
