CBAM Certificate Trading from 2027: The Trading Platform Is Coming

A Milestone in CBAM Infrastructure

On 2 March 2026, the European Commission published the call for tenders for the Common Central Platform (CCP), through which CBAM certificates are to be bought and resold from February 2027. What at first glance looks like a technical procurement measure marks a decisive step in the operational implementation of the mechanism. With the CCP, the central payment and trading system is being created on which certificate management will take place. The deadline for submissions runs until 20 March 2026. A testable preliminary version must be in place by the end of August 2026, and the platform is expected to be fully operational from 1 February 2027.

Why This Is More Than an IT Project

The CCP is not simply a database. It will be the operational backbone for the entire certificate management within the CBAM system. All 27 Member States signed a joint procurement agreement in December 2025, which shows how seriously the Commission is taking uniform implementation. Unlike the previous transitional registry, which primarily served reporting purposes, this is now about real financial transactions. For companies, this concretely means that, hopefully, a binding payment channel will exist from February 2027. Anyone importing CBAM-liable goods will have to acquire certificates through this platform, the price of which will be based on the weekly average price of EU ETS auctions. This makes CBAM costs directly cash-flow relevant for the first time. Access is to be provided through the CBAM registry, where companies have also already submitted their application as an authorised CBAM declarant. The timeline is ambitious, as less than twelve months lie between the call for tenders in March and the operational launch in February 2027. There is a risk that many errors will be present in the system at the start of operations, as companies experienced at the beginning of the transitional phase with the transitional registry. In addition, a payment infrastructure must also be set up through which companies will then be able to settle the invoices for the CBAM certificates.

Legal Details Are Still Missing

In addition to the operational platform for buying and selling certificates, the legal act clarifying the legal framework is also still missing. This also applies to the rules on crediting carbon prices already paid in third countries. Accordingly, there remains significant uncertainty regarding one of the major pillars of the mechanism.

Preparation for Companies

Anyone who has not yet prepared their internal processes for certificate purchasing should now check three things. First, integration into existing treasury and procurement processes, as CBAM certificates will become a recurring cost factor. Second, data availability, because the certificate requirement depends directly on the reported emissions, and inaccuracies in supplier data will directly affect the procurement of certificates, either in missing quantities or in surpluses. Third, alignment between customs, procurement and sustainability, as certificate purchasing will become the operational interface where these functions converge.

The Bigger Picture

The call for tenders comes at a time when CBAM is under political scrutiny. In parallel, industry associations are discussing protection gaps, individual Member States are calling for adjustments to free allocation, and the question of expanding CBAM to additional sectors remains on the agenda. The fact that the Commission is consistently pushing ahead with the operational build-up despite these debates sends a clear signal. CBAM is coming, and on schedule. This is also underscored by the recent statement from EU Commissioner Hoekstra, who once again emphasised, in reference to the fertiliser debate, that CBAM will not be called into question. For companies, this is an important point of orientation.

Outlook

With the CCP, CBAM is definitively shifting from a compliance topic to a financial topic. The platform will not only sell certificates but also enable repurchases and handle the annual reconciliation between reported emissions and acquired certificates. Companies that have their emissions data under control will have an advantage here, because they can plan their certificate requirements precisely. Those working with estimates or default values will have to factor in buffers and accept higher capital commitments as a result. The coming months will show how quickly the platform is actually up and running and which functionalities will be available at launch.

Support

If you would like to explore how to prepare your CBAM processes for certificate trading or how your emissions data should feed into demand planning, feel free to reach out to me at helge@kolum.earth. We help you structure the transition from the reporting phase to the operational phase.