Frankfurt/Brussels, June 20, 2025 - VDMA Executive Director Thilo Brodtmann comments on the trilogue agreement to simplify the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM):  

• It is good that the European Parliament and EU Council have quickly agreed on the proposal to simplify the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). This will give companies enough time to understand and implement the changes before the full implementation comes into force on January 1, 2026."

• "The mass approach of 50 tons is an important change because it exempts many smaller companies from the reporting obligation."

• "However, this simplification is only a temporary solution. And it does not take into account the difficulties of CBAM reporting for those companies that remain in scope."

• "For CBAM to be an effective climate instrument, the mechanism must be extremely easy to implement. This is the mandatory prerequisite for even considering an expansion of CBAM - otherwise a complete abolition should be considered."

VDMA represents 3600 German and European mechanical and plant engineering companies. The industry stands for innovation, export orientation and medium-sized companies. The companies employ a total of around 3 million people in the EU-27, more than 1.2 million of them in Germany alone. This makes mechanical and plant engineering the largest employer among the capital goods industries, both in the EU-27 and in Germany. It accounts for an estimated turnover of around 870 billion euros in the European Union. Around 80 percent of the machines sold in the EU come from a production facility in the single market.