The UK's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (Finance Act 2026, Part 5) is a direct tax filed with HMRC by the liable person or their tax agent — not a certificate scheme. If you're already tracking EU CBAM data on CarbonAtlas, your UK CBAM return draws on the same dataset. Zero duplicate data entry.
£59.00 (may be outdated)
UK ETS price (2026-08-01) — a rate input, not the tax itself
£50,000
registration threshold, any rolling 12 months
5 sectors
steel, cement, fertilisers, aluminium, hydrogen
31 May 2028
first return due (2027 period)
Unlike EU CBAM's certificate purchase-and-surrender system, UK CBAM (Finance Act 2026, Part 5) is a direct tax charged on the embedded carbon in imported goods and filed through HMRC Self Assessment. The rate is calculated as the average UK ETS price × [1 − baseline free allocation percentage × phase-out factor (97.5% in 2027)] — there is no certificate market for UK importers to participate in. On 16 October 2026 HMRC published illustrative sector rates per tCO₂e: iron and steel £9.69, aluminium £9.79, cement £8.78, fertiliser £1.45 and hydrogen £9.24. The binding rate for 1 January to 31 March 2027 is due before the end of 2026, then updates quarterly.
HMRC also published its default emissions values on 16 October 2026: one value per 8-digit CN code (570 goods across the five sectors), the same for every country of origin, with no mark-up. Importers who cannot obtain verified supplier data can use that default instead; actual data for a precursor cannot be combined with a default value for the final good.
Importers who have already paid a carbon price in the country of origin — on HMRC's own provisional qualifying-scheme list (published 27 August 2026) — can claim Carbon Price Relief (CPR), UK CBAM's equivalent of EU CBAM's Article 9 deduction. CPR evidence can be GACI-verified.
5 sectors in scope at launch — electricity excluded
Built on the same platform as your EU CBAM compliance — no separate system to learn.
Check registration threshold
£50,000 of in-scope goods value, any rolling 12-month window — tracked automatically as you add import records.
Reuse or collect emissions data
An existing EU CBAM CalculationAudit converts into a UK default or GACI-verified actual figure — no re-entry for shared operators.
Apply Carbon Price Relief
Match origin-country carbon price payments against HMRC's SI 2026/809 qualifying-scheme list.
GACI verification (where required)
Embedded-emissions and CPR evidence routed to a GACI-accredited verifier.
File your HMRC return
Itemised UK CBAM Return Summary. The 2027 return is due 31 May 2028; from 2028 returns are quarterly.
Already have EU CBAM production data on CarbonAtlas? Your existing CalculationAudit reuses directly into a UK default-value or GACI-verified-actual emissions figure — nothing re-entered. UK-only operators with no EU business use the same SEE Calculator directly for their own UK CalculationAudit.
0
duplicate data-entry fields for existing EU CBAM operators
2
regimes served from one CalculationAudit — EU and UK
45
qualifying jurisdictions on HMRC's Carbon Price Relief list
1
platform for HMRC filing, GACI verification, and CPR tracking
No customs indirect-representative role. A tax agent can submit returns for you, but cannot register on your behalf.
UK entities importing in-scope goods
Non-UK suppliers of in-scope goods
GACI-accredited verification bodies
CarbonAtlas is running an early access pilot for UK CBAM — whether or not you use CarbonAtlas for EU CBAM today. Pricing is being set from real pilot usage, not fixed in advance, so talk to us directly rather than expecting a self-serve price here yet.
UK CBAM — Early Access
Pilot pricing — talk to us
Already on CarbonAtlas for EU CBAM? UK CBAM adds on at a reduced rate compared to a standalone account — mention it when you get in touch.
No. EU CBAM is a certificate purchase-and-surrender scheme run by National Competent Authorities. UK CBAM is a direct tax filed with HMRC by the liable person or their tax agent. The sectors, thresholds, deduction lists, and verification schemes are all different — never assume figures carry across.
Start free. If you're already on CarbonAtlas for EU CBAM, UK CBAM planning is one click away — no new data to enter.
Start UK CBAM planning free