EU ETS benchmark values for 2026-2030 were set by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1412 of 26 June 2026, published in the Official Journal on 29 June 2026 and in force since 30 June 2026. The regulation revises all 54 benchmarks (52 product benchmarks plus 2 fallback benchmarks for heat and fuel) that determine how many free EU ETS allowances industrial installations receive each year. Three figures anchor the new table: hot metal falls to 1.248 tCO₂e per tonne, grey cement clinker to 0.656 tCO₂e per tonne, and primary aluminium to 1.423 tCO₂e per tonne. What changed, and why does a free-allocation regulation matter to a CBAM importer who never receives free allowances? The benchmark values feed directly into the SEFA calculation that reduces every CBAM certificate obligation, so a revision on the EU ETS side moves the CBAM cost equation from the other direction. This article sets out the new reference table, explains how the values were calculated, and connects the revision to the CBAM free-allocation phase-out already underway.
What Is Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1412?
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1412 is the legal act that sets the EU ETS product benchmark values applicable to free allocation for the 2026-2030 allocation period. The Commission adopted it under Article 10a(2) of Directive 2003/87/EC, the EU ETS Directive as amended by Directive (EU) 2023/959, after a four-week public consultation that opened on May 11, 2026, and after scrutiny by the Climate Change Committee, the member-state comitology body that reviews ETS implementing acts.
Three procedural facts define the regulation.
- Adopted: June 26, 2026, by the European Commission.
- Published: June 29, 2026, in the Official Journal of the European Union.
- In force: June 30, 2026, the day following publication, under the regulation's standard entry-into-force clause.
The benchmarks apply retroactively to the start of the 2026-2030 free allocation period, meaning national authorities recalculate 2026 allocations using the new values rather than carrying over 2021-2025 figures. The EU ETS explainer covers how these auction-linked allowances connect to the CBAM certificate price; this article focuses specifically on the benchmark revision itself.
EU ETS Benchmark Values 2026-2030: Reference Table
The table below lists 14 of the regulation's benchmark values most relevant to CBAM-covered sectors, sourced from Annex I of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1412. The full annex sets all 52 product benchmarks; the selection here concentrates on steel, cement, aluminium, fertilizers, and hydrogen, the sectors that also carry CBAM obligations on imports.
| Product | Related sector | 2026-2030 benchmark (tCO₂e/t) |
|---|---|---|
| Hot metal (pig iron) | Steel | 1.248 |
| Coke | Steel precursor | 0.143 |
| EAF carbon steel | Steel | 0.142 |
| EAF high-alloy steel | Steel | 0.176 |
| Grey cement clinker | Cement | 0.656 |
| White cement clinker | Cement | 0.890 |
| Lime | Cement-adjacent | 0.693 |
| Dolime | Cement-adjacent | 0.792 |
| Sintered dolime | Cement-adjacent | 1.162 |
| Aluminium | Aluminium | 1.423 |
| Ammonia | Fertilizers | 1.522 |
| Nitric acid | Fertilizers-adjacent | 0.151 |
| Hydrogen | Hydrogen | 7.980 |
| Refinery products (CWT) | Non-CBAM reference | 0.0232 |
Two things stand out in this table. First, the scale gap between sectors is large: hydrogen's benchmark is roughly 56 times the refinery products benchmark, reflecting how differently emissions are counted per unit of physical output across product categories. Second, ammonia and hydrogen sit among the 14 benchmarks for which the regulation now factors in indirect emissions from electricity consumption, a methodology change the Commission says carries a financial impact of approximately EUR 4 billion across the 2026-2030 period, intended to keep the incentive for industrial electrification intact rather than penalizing installations that switch from fossil fuel to grid power.
How Were the New EU ETS Benchmark Values Calculated?
The 2026-2030 benchmark values are based on the average greenhouse gas efficiency of the 10% most efficient installations in each product category during 2021 and 2022. This is the same methodology used for the 2021-2025 period, rolled forward to a newer two-year data window, consistent with the periodic-update requirement built into Article 10a(2) of the ETS Directive.
The calculation applies two additional constraints once the raw efficiency data is set.
- Annual reduction rates are derived from a 14-year baseline (2007-2008 through 2021-2022) and then extrapolated across the 20-year period the ETS Directive uses to bound benchmark tightening.
- A floor and a ceiling apply to that extrapolation: the cumulative reduction over the 20-year period cannot fall below 6% or exceed 50%, which prevents any single product benchmark from tightening or loosening implausibly fast between updates.
The result is not a uniform cut across all 52 products. Some benchmarks fell relative to the prior period because the best-performing installations became more efficient between the 2007-2008 and 2021-2022 reference points. Others, particularly the 14 benchmarks now incorporating electricity-related indirect emissions, moved in the opposite direction. The Commission states that industry sectors most affected by the revision are steel, cement, oil refining, chemicals, and paper, the same sectors that carry the highest carbon leakage risk classification and therefore receive the largest share of free allocation.
How Much Free Allocation Do the New Benchmarks Remove?
Free allocation falls by more than 16% on average in 2026 compared with 2021, even though the benchmark revision alone does not eliminate free allocation. Averaged across the full 2026-2030 period and all covered sectors, industry continues to receive free allocation covering approximately 75% of its emissions, according to the Commission's own figures for the revised benchmarks.
That 75% average sits on top of, not instead of, the separate linear phase-out schedule that reduces free allocation for CBAM sectors specifically. The EU ETS free allocation phase-out 2026-2034 sets the CBAM factor at 2.5% in 2026, rising to 48.5% by 2030 and 100% by 2034. The benchmark revision in IR 2026/1412 changes the per-tonne reference value multiplied into that formula; the phase-out schedule changes the percentage of the benchmark-based allocation an installation actually keeps. Both move in the same direction, toward less free allocation, but through different legal mechanisms.
How Do EU ETS Benchmarks Connect to CBAM?
EU ETS benchmarks and CBAM benchmarks are two separate instruments that use the word "benchmark" for different purposes, and confusing them is a common compliance error. IR 2026/1412 sets reference values used to calculate free allowances for EU domestic installations. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2621 sets the CBAM default values and calculation benchmarks applied to imported goods when an EU importer has no verified actual emissions data. The two regulations serve opposite sides of the same carbon border.
Are EU ETS Benchmarks the Same as CBAM Default Values?
No. Only steel currently has a published CBAM production-route benchmark table, set by IR 2025/2621 at 1.370 tCO₂e per tonne for BF-BOF steel, 0.481 for DRI-EAF, and 0.072 for scrap-EAF, as covered in the CBAM steel benchmarks guide. The EU ETS hot metal benchmark of 1.248 tCO₂e per tonne under IR 2026/1412 measures a different product boundary (the hot metal intermediate stage, not finished crude steel output) for a different purpose (free allocation, not import cost calculation). An importer who substitutes the EU ETS hot metal figure for the CBAM BF-BOF benchmark in a declaration would misstate embedded emissions.
How Does the Benchmark Revision Affect the CBAM Factor?
The CBAM factor deduction runs through the SEFA (Specific Embedded Free Allocation) methodology set out in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2620, which multiplies an imported product's embedded emissions by the sector benchmark's CBAM factor to calculate the net certificate obligation. Because SEFA references the same sector benchmarks that IR 2026/1412 now revises, the updated 2026-2030 values become the input the Commission uses when it recalculates the free allocation each CBAM-covered EU installation receives, which in turn is the reference point against which the CBAM factor's annual percentage is applied. A CBAM importer's certificate math does not use the ETS benchmark number directly, but the number it does use is calibrated against it.
What Should CBAM Importers Do With These New Benchmark Values?
Three practical steps follow from the revision.
- Do not insert EU ETS benchmark values into a CBAM declaration. Use the CBAM-specific default values published under IR 2025/2621, or verified actual supplier data, as described in the CBAM default values guide.
- Track the ETS price alongside the benchmark revision, since the CBAM certificate price is calculated from EU ETS auction prices under Article 22 of Regulation (EU) 2023/956; the CBAM certificate price tracker publishes the current quarterly figure.
- Expect the free-allocation phase-out percentages to apply against the newly revised benchmarks, not the 2021-2025 figures, in every SEFA-based calculation from the 2026 allocation year onward.
Frequently Asked Questions About EU ETS Benchmarks 2026-2030
What is Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1412?
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1412 is the Commission act, adopted June 26, 2026, that sets the 52 product benchmarks and 2 fallback benchmarks used to calculate EU ETS free allocation for the 2026-2030 period, based on Article 10a(2) of Directive 2003/87/EC.
How often are EU ETS benchmark values updated?
EU ETS benchmark values update on a five-year cycle tied to each ETS allocation period. The prior update covered 2021-2025; IR 2026/1412 covers 2026-2030. Each update uses the most recent two-year efficiency data available at the time, most recently 2021 and 2022, from the 10% most efficient installations in each product category.
Do the new EU ETS benchmarks change CBAM certificate costs directly?
Not directly. CBAM certificate obligations are calculated from CBAM-specific default values or verified actual emissions data, not from EU ETS benchmarks. The connection is indirect: the ETS benchmarks determine free allocation to EU domestic producers, which is the reference point in the SEFA methodology used to calculate the CBAM factor deduction applied to every certificate obligation.
Where can I find the complete list of 52 EU ETS product benchmarks?
The complete Annex I table for all 52 product benchmarks and 2 fallback benchmarks is published with Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1412 on EUR-Lex. This page lists the 14 values most relevant to CBAM-covered sectors; importers needing the full sector-by-sector list should consult the regulation directly.