European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen committed to introducing a carbon border adjustment measure (CBAM) to protect the most exposed industries from carbon leakage.
Extending carbon pricing beyond Europe by obliging product carbon content declaration could have beneficial effects on the climate and industrial competitiveness.
However, after carefully assessing all design options, we concluded that a CBAM cannot provide carbon leakage protection for aluminium. Consequentially, it will not contribute to emission reductions in Europe or globally. The energy transition will need more, not less, low carbon aluminium produced in Europe.
Therefore, aluminium must remain under the current carbon leakage framework, at least in the initial phase. At the same time, we must work with the Commission and broader stakeholders towards an effective CBAM post-2030.