How to fill in the CBAM communication template

The communication template is the Excel workbook most EU importers send to their suppliers. It looks intimidating, but it follows a simple logic: describe your plant, measure what goes in, and divide by what comes out.

What the template is for

The CBAM communication template for installations is a standard Excel workbook from the European Commission. It lets a factory outside the EU pass emissions data to its EU customers in a format they can use for their CBAM declaration. Because it's standard, one well-completed template can answer requests from several buyers.

Always download the current version from the Commission's CBAM pages, together with the filled example for your sector. Older versions from the transitional period (2023 to 2025) may not match what your buyer needs now.

The logic of the template

Every section feeds one final number: the specific embedded emissions of each product, in tonnes of CO2 equivalent per tonne of product. To get there, the workbook asks you to work through five things.

1. Your installation. Company name, address, installation name, contact person and, if you have one, your CBAM Registry operator ID.
2. Your products and production processes. Which goods you make, their CN codes, and which production process (for example melting, casting and extrusion) each one goes through.
3. Your emission sources. The fuels you burn and the materials that release CO2 in your process, with quantities for the reporting period and the emission factors you applied.
4. Your purchased precursors. Metal you buy in and process further, such as unwrought aluminium or steel slab, with quantities, country of origin and their own embedded emissions (from your supplier, or default values).
5. The summary per product. Direct emissions attributed to each product plus the embedded emissions of its precursors, divided by the tonnes produced.

Data you need before you start

Filling it in, section by section

Installation and products

Use your legal company name exactly as it appears on export invoices. Your buyer will match it against customs records. List each product the buyer imports with the same CN code they declare it under.

Production processes

Define processes the way your plant actually runs. An extruder might have one process for melting and casting billet and one for extrusion. Keep the boundaries simple and consistent from year to year.

Emission sources

Enter each fuel with its quantity and unit. Use the emission factors the template or the EU methodology specifies, and note where every number came from. A verifier will ask.

Precursors

This is where most templates go wrong. If you buy ingot or billet and don't produce primary metal, the emissions of that metal are part of your product's embedded emissions. Ask your metal supplier for its own CBAM data. If they can't provide it, the default value for that precursor and country applies.

Summary

Check the result against common sense. If an extruder's figure is lower than the precursor figure alone, something has been left out. If it's many times higher than similar products, check units first: GJ versus MWh and kg versus tonnes are the usual culprits.

Before you send it

• The reporting period matches what the buyer asked for.
• Every CN code matches your export invoices.
• Electricity is only included in the total where the rules count it. For aluminium and most iron and steel goods, CBAM counts direct emissions only.
• Assumptions are written down in the template's comment fields.
• You've kept a copy of the source documents for verification.

Frequently asked questions