The CBAM certificate price is €82.32 per tonne of CO2e for goods imported in Q3 2026. It was €75.36 for Q1 and €75.28 for Q2. The European Commission sets it from the clearing prices of EU ETS allowance auctions, publishes it once a quarter through 2026, and switches to a weekly price in 2027.
One certificate covers one tonne of CO2 equivalent embedded in the imported goods. So an importer pays roughly the same carbon price per tonne as an EU producer does under the Emissions Trading System.
CBAM certificate prices published so far
3 quarterly prices are out, and the last one for 2026 has a fixed date. The Commission works out every quarterly price as the weighted average of the EU ETS auction clearing prices over that quarter, in the first calendar week after it ends.
| Period | Price per certificate | Published |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | €75.36 | 7 April 2026 |
| Q2 2026 | €75.28 | 6 July 2026 |
| Q3 2026 | €82.32 | 5 October 2026 |
| Q4 2026 | due | 4 January 2027 |
From 2027 the Commission publishes the price every week instead. The dates and figures above come from the Commission's CBAM price page.
Price by quarter of release
The price that applies is the one for the quarter the goods were released for free circulation. A tonne of steel released in February 2026 is priced at €75.36. One released in May 2026 is priced at €75.28, and one released in August 2026 at €82.32.
From 2027, goods are priced at the weekly figure for the week they are released.
Buying and surrendering certificates in 2027
You can't buy certificates during 2026. Sales open on the common central platform on 1 February 2027, and the certificates for 2026 imports are surrendered with the first annual declaration by 30 September 2027. So the price for 2026 goods is already fixed, but the cash leaves in 2027.
From 2027 a declarant also has to hold certificates for at least 50% of the year's embedded emissions at the end of each quarter. That makes the certificate price a treasury question: buying early locks a price, buying late follows the market.
How much CBAM costs per tonne of goods
The certificate price is per tonne of CO2e, not per tonne of goods. Before you count certificates, 97.5% of the CBAM benchmark for the goods comes off in 2026, and you pay for the emissions above it. So a tonne of Indian steel on defaults costs €277.67, more than 3 certificates, while a tonne of Egyptian urea costs €13.91. Here's what 1,000 tonnes cost at the Q3 price, the one the calculator uses, with the Commission's default values and the 2026 mark-up:
| CN code, origin | Default with 2026 mark-up | Certificates per 1,000 t in 2026 | Cost at €82.32 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7208 39 00 steel coil, India | 4.708 | 3,373 | €277,665 |
| 7208 39 00 steel coil, China | 3.506 | 2,170 | €178,634 |
| 7601 10 10 aluminium slabs, China | 3.3 | 1,913 | €157,478 |
| 3102 10 12 urea solution, Egypt | 0.465 | 169 | €13,912 |
A €10 move in the certificate price moves the Indian steel line by €33,730 in 2026. In 2030, when the CBAM factor has fallen to 51.5%, the same €10 moves it by €48,590. The price matters a lot this year, and more every year after.
How to model the CBAM price for 2027 and later
There's no official forecast of the CBAM certificate price. 3 approaches hold up:
- Hold the last published price. This is what the CBAM calculator does: every answer names the price and its period.
- Use the EU ETS futures curve as a market view of the carbon price in the year of import.
- Run a range. A ±€20 band around the current price shows how exposed a supply contract is.
The cost chart takes the price as an input, so you can redraw a CN code's cost from 2026 to 2034 at any price.
Getting told when the price changes
The Q4 2026 price lands on 4 January 2027, and from 2027 the figure moves every week. CBAM Data reads the Commission page, versions every price it publishes, and sends the change to watched CN codes by email or webhook. The API returns the price and its period with every answer, from /v1/certificate-price.
FAQ
How much does a CBAM certificate cost?
€82.32 for goods imported in Q3 2026. It was €75.28 for Q2 and €75.36 for Q1. One certificate covers one tonne of CO2e embedded in the goods.
How is the CBAM certificate price calculated?
The Commission takes the weighted average of the clearing prices of EU ETS allowance auctions. In 2026 that's averaged over each quarter; from 2027 it's done every week.
When is the Q4 2026 CBAM price published?
On 4 January 2027. The Q3 2026 price, €82.32, came out on 5 October 2026.
Can I buy CBAM certificates now?
No. Sales open on the common central platform on 1 February 2027, and certificates for 2026 imports are surrendered by 30 September 2027.
Sources: Commission CBAM certificate price page. Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Article 21, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2025/2083. CBAM benchmarks from Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2620, Annex. Certificate counts recomputed on 19 October 2026 from the CBAM Data dataset, priced at the Q3 2026 figure.