The Starting Situation

Following the introduction of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) regulation, Barmag faced a substantial task: the entire CBAM process was handled manually. Both the Import/Export department and Procurement were operationally involved, and every quarter the data had to be entered manually into the European Union's CBAM portal. This process was time-consuming, error-prone, and tied up significant resources across several departments.

Supplier engagement was another key area: attempts to collect actual emissions data from suppliers met with limited acceptance on the supplier side which is a topic that Barmag and kolum intend to address together going forward, particularly with regard to verified emissions data.

The Decision-Making

Barmag was looking for a specialized, digital solution to fully digitize the CBAM process and eliminate manual data entry across multiple departments. The choice fell on kolum because of its well-thought-out end-to-end approach, which not only covers the immediate reporting obligations but also includes long-term cost forecasting and certificate management.

The Software Solution

The kolum software has digitized the entire CBAM workflow at Barmag. Instead of entering data manually into the EU portal, the team can now simply drag-and-drop the quarterly reports that the kolum software generates fully automatically. This has eliminated manual steps and drastically reduced the reporting effort across both departments.

What we have achieved

Fully digitized CBAM process

The entire CBAM workflow has moved from manual data entry to automated report generation and drag-and-drop submission.

Significant time savings

Eliminating the manual quarterly data entry in the EU portal frees up substantial capacity in both Import/Export and Procurement.

Cross-departmental relief

Both Import/Export and Procurement benefit from streamlined, digital workflows and can refocus their resources on the core business.

Thinking ahead

Barmag and kolum will continue to collaborate long-term, with a focus on two central topics. With the kolum software, Barmag can already precisely forecast how many CBAM certificates will be needed per quarter and what the associated costs will be. 2026 is being used as a dedicated year to prepare financially for the upcoming certificate obligations.

In parallel, the collection of verified emissions data from suppliers will be improved going forward to further raise data quality and to safeguard both full CBAM compliance and CBAM cost optimization.