Commercial Director of Eural Gnutti, Giorgio Di Betta, has highlighted ‘numerous limitations’ in the EU’s forthcoming Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), including ‘data greenwashing’.
CBAM is set to come into force on 1 January 2026 as the EU looks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 (when compared to 1990). The mechanism will apply a carbon price to imports of carbon-intensive goods into the EU.
Di Betta said: “Despite the objective of rebalancing competition between European and non-EU producers and preventing carbon leakage, i.e. the relocation of carbon emissions, the CBAM has numerous limitations.
“One of the main weaknesses is the risk of so-called 'resource shuffling', i.e. the possibility for non-EU producers to allocate only the 'cleanest' volumes, obtained from low-emission sources, to Europe, diverting the most polluting production to other, less regulated markets. This practice distorts competition because non-EU exporters only need to self-certify their emission values, without being able to prove their actual reliability.
“The danger of 'data greenwashing' is just around the corner, as the declared values may not reflect actual embedded emissions.”
Di Betta also highlighted that, currently, CBAM is not applied fairly as it does not include a range of processed products that contain aluminium, such as wheels, cans and automotive components.
These omissions can cause imbalances along the supply chain, as importers to the EU of semi-finished and finished products can continue to export to the EU without incurring equivalent costs, increasing the risk of carbon leakage.
On what measures can be implemented, Di Motta added: “With regard to the problem of 'resource shuffling', it would be necessary to apply a standard carbon value predefined and set by individual countries on the basis of known values and on all aluminium products, based exclusively on the CO₂ values of primary aluminium in the country of reference.
“It would also be appropriate to consider introducing a specific Emissions Trading System benchmark for aluminium recycling, which would allow quotas to be allocated more fairly, in proportion to production efficiency.
“These measures could act as a disincentive to unfair competition, truly rewarding the decarbonisation efforts of the European aluminium supply chain.”
