The European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy has published a draft opinion on changes to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism that would extend the measure to more downstream goods and add anti-circumvention provisions. The text, dated 15 April 2026, is addressed to the Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety in the procedure on amending Regulation (EU) 2023/956.
In its short justification, the draft says the European Commission’s proposal identifies loopholes and argues that the CBAM scope should be widened to include downstream goods. It says steel and aluminium are used in several strategic value chains, making circumvention easier, and proposes adding CN codes to the annexes, shortening Commission processing times and using the exclusion of goods from scope only as a last resort and for a limited period.
For RefIndustry-related products, the amendments list a range of HVACR and thermal equipment for inclusion in Annex I. These include boilers under CN code 8403 10, gas and electric heat pumps under CN code 8418 61, air conditioning machines under CN code 8415, refrigerators, freezers and other refrigerating or freezing equipment under CN code 8418, cooling towers and similar plant for direct cooling under CN code 8419 89 10, heat exchanger units under CN code 8419 50 80, and heat pump water heaters under CN code ex 8418 61. The draft also lists carbon dioxide and perfluorocarbons as the greenhouse gases for these goods.
The opinion also proposes tighter anti-circumvention rules. It says the definition of abusive practices should be broadened, that default values could be applied where evidence is insufficient, and that the Commission should monitor trade flows regularly and amend Annex I within three months after findings in relevant cases. The text also says the opinion proposes mandatory default values during a transition period for high-risk goods and countries.
