Episode 68: CBAM Business impact

In this second episode of our CBAM mini-series, Pieter is joined again by Helena Caluwé and Aurélien Denis to go one level deeper: what does CBAM actually mean for businesses? Beyond the compliance filings, CBAM is fundamentally a governance and financial management challenge.

Our experts take listeners under the hood of the CBAM cost calculation — embedded emissions, CBAM certificate price linked to the EU ETS, the CBAM factor escalating from 2.5% in 2026 to 100% by 2034, the carbon price rebate, and the role of import volumes — to show why the true financial exposure is far higher than many companies anticipate. They explain why CBAM should land on the CFO and tax director's agenda: compliance risks, cost control and forecasting, and the very real cash impact on margins, working capital and operating cash flow.

We also discuss CBAM as a cross-functional business programme — touching procurement, customs and trade, finance, tax, sustainability, legal, IT and commercial — and share concrete priorities for businesses right now: mapping imports against CN codes, engaging suppliers to collect actual emissions data, modelling financial exposure, applying for authorised CBAM declarant status, and exploring optimisation opportunities such as bonded warehouses or inward processing. Tune in!