Reviewed by the editorial team of Symbol Consulting DMCC
The CBAM certificate price for the first three quarters of 2026 is known, although certificates will go on sale only on 1. 2. 2027: the Commission published 75,36 euros for the first quarter on 7. 4. 2026, 75,28 euros for the second on 6. 7. 2026 and 82,32 euros for the third on 5. 10. 2026 (primary source European Commission, “Price of CBAM certificates”, as of 9. 10. 2026). The third price is 7,04 euros higher than the second (own calculation) and the Commission will publish the price for the fourth quarter on 4. 1. 2027.
The CBAM certificate price in Regulations 2023/956 and 2025/2548
The CBAM certificate price is a value in euros per certificate, that is per tonne of CO2e of embedded emissions, calculated and published only by the European Commission under Article 21 of Regulation (EU) 2023/956 and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2548, applicable from 1. 1. 2026 (primary source EUR-Lex, Regulation 2025/2548, Articles 1, 4 and 9). For 2026 there are four quarterly prices, from 1. 1. 2027 weekly ones.
From 1. 2. 2027 a Member State sells certificates on the common central platform to authorised declarants established in it, that is Slovakia to declarants established in Slovakia, at the price calculated by the Commission (primary source EUR-Lex, Regulation 2023/956, consolidated version of 20. 10. 2025, Article 20(1) and (4)).
Calculation: auction clearing prices weighted by allowance volume
The quarterly price is the average of the auction clearing prices of EU ETS allowances in which each auction enters with its price multiplied by the number of allowances sold; the sum of the products is divided by the allowances sold and rounded to the nearest cent (Regulation 2025/2548, Article 1(4) and (5)). The auction clearing price is what successful bidders pay per allowance after the bidding round closes (recital 4).
Auctions on the common and on independent auction platforms count; cancelled auctions do not, and the calculation also excludes auctions of allowances for buildings, road transport and other sectors (Article 1(3), recital 2). Regulation 2023/956 speaks only of the “average of closing prices” (Article 21(1)); weighting by volume is added by the implementing act.
Recalculating the EEX auction report for the first three quarters of 2026
The weighted average of EEX report auctions gives 75,36, 75,28 and 82,32 euros for Q1, Q2 and Q3 2026, the Commission prices to the cent (own calculation from primary source EEX, EUA Primary Auction Report 2026, 9. 10. 2026). The unweighted average differs by +0,11, +0,03 and −0,14 euros per tonne, that is +110, +30 and −140 euros per 1 000 t of CO2e.
| Quarter 2026 | Auctions | Allowances sold | Weighted average, € (own calculation) | Commission price, € | Unweighted average, € |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 (1. 1. – 31. 3.) | 54 | 119 928 500 | 75,36 | 75,36 | 75,47 |
| Q2 (1. 4. – 30. 6.) | 53 | 123 871 000 | 75,28 | 75,28 | 75,31 |
| Q3 (1. 7. – 30. 9.) | 59 | 123 869 500 | 82,32 | 82,32 | 82,18 |
As of 9. 10. 2026 the report contains 172 auctions from 7. 1. to 8. 10. 2026 and every row has the status “successful”; the third quarter accounts for 59 auctions from 2. 7. to 30. 9. 2026.
When the price is published and whether it changes afterwards
The Commission calculates the quarterly price in the first calendar week after the quarter ends and publishes it on its website on the first working day of the following week; Regulation 2025/2548 makes no provision for correcting a published price (Article 1(2) and Article 4(1)). From the third quarter of 2026 the Commission also makes the price available to authorised declarants in the CBAM registry (Article 4(2)).
| Quarter | Publication date | Commission price, € |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | 7. 4. 2026 | 75,36 |
| Q2 2026 | 6. 7. 2026 | 75,28 |
| Q3 2026 | 5. 10. 2026 | 82,32 |
| Q4 2026 | 4. 1. 2027 | not yet published |
Auction platforms must inform the Commission without undue delay of all information that may affect the calculation (Article 3(3)), and the Commission page gives a single value for each quarter without a note on revision (primary source European Commission, “Price of CBAM certificates”, as of 9. 10. 2026).
Which quarter or week applies to a certificate
For emissions embedded in goods imported in 2026 the price of the import quarter applies, not the price on the day of purchase: goods imported in the third quarter are priced at 82,32 euros even though certificates can be bought only from 1. 2. 2027 (Article 1(6) of Regulation 2025/2548 and Article 21(1a) of Regulation 2023/956). From 2027 the price of the week of sale applies.
The weekly price applies from the first working day after its publication until the first working day of the following week (Article 21(2) of Regulation 2023/956). Monthly weighted averages of auctions move differently within a quarter from its price: 80,19 euros in July, 81,55 in August and 84,64 in September, 86,55 in January and 68,14 in March of the first quarter (own calculation from the same report). A model calculation on numbers from this text: 1 000 certificates, that is 1 000 t of CO2e, cost 82 320 euros for imports from any month of the third quarter and 75 360 euros for imports from any month of the first.
Four dates after the third CBAM certificate price
The CBAM certificate price fixes the price side of the obligation for 2026, not its size: it is the sum of the products of the number of certificates for each import quarter and the price of that quarter. Three prices are known and four dates decide the rest, from the start of weekly calculation to the deadline for the first surrender of certificates.
- 1. 1. 2027: the Commission starts to calculate the price every calendar week (Article 5 of Regulation 2025/2548).
- 4. 1. 2027: the Commission will publish the price for the fourth quarter of 2026.
- 1. 2. 2027: a Member State starts to sell certificates on the common central platform (Article 20(1) of Regulation 2023/956).
- 30. 9. 2027: first surrender of certificates for 2026 (Article 22(1) of Regulation 2023/956).
The price does not determine the number of certificates: it corresponds to embedded emissions after accounting for the carbon price paid in a third country and for freely allocated allowances (primary source EUR-Lex, Regulation 2023/956, Article 3(24) and Article 6(2)(c)). Whoever counts on a yearly average counts on a number that no quarter has.
Zdroje a dáta
Primary sources: EUR-Lex, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2548 and Regulation (EU) 2023/956 in the consolidated version of 20. 10. 2025, both in the Slovak version; European Commission, “Price of CBAM certificates”; EEX, EUA Primary Auction Report 2026. Own calculation: weighted and unweighted averages of quarters and months, the 7,04 euro difference between the second and third quarter and the model calculation for 1 000 t of CO2e.
This material was reviewed by the editorial team of Symbol Consulting DMCC, an advisory firm that provides company setup and licensing, tax and regulatory compliance, and market entry consulting across multiple countries.
The text is a general analysis of the regulations in force and is not legal, tax, immigration or financial advice.