The European Fertilizer Manufacturers Association, Fertilizers Europe (FE), has published a press release stating that the new CBAM package published by the Commission on December 17 is an important step towards leveling the playing field for imported and domestically manufactured fertilizers in terms of CO2 costs, thus preventing carbon leakage. However, FE points out that the proposal falls short in two key areas:

- Regarding exports, FE sees no real solution to prevent European manufacturers selling abroad from being disadvantaged by competitors from other countries. According to FE, the so-called Temporary Decarbonization Fund does not compensate for the additional environmental costs, and there is a risk that European fertilizers will lose market share abroad and investment in cleaner technologies will be slowed.

- For its part, FE argues that the measure may not be effective enough if the default values ??are used too frequently. The Commission wants to encourage the reporting of actual emissions and therefore proposes an annual surcharge on these default values, but for fertilizers, this would be a fixed surcharge of 1 percent. FE believes that if this low percentage is maintained over time, many producers outside the EU will have no incentive to report actual emissions (especially the biggest polluters), and the CBAM will lose its effectiveness in terms of transparency and fair competition.



Link to the Fertilizers Europe press release: https://www.fertilizerseurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Fertilizers-Europe_Press-Release_CBAM_Dec-2025_final-1-1.pdf