Does hydro power make Quebec aluminium cheaper under CBAM?
Not directly. For aluminium only direct emissions are charged: anode carbon and PFCs. Quebec smelters' hydro power lowers their product footprint, not the CBAM figure. A Quebec carbon market price can be deducted only to the extent it is effectively paid.
What the CBAM figure counts
- CO2 from anode consumption in the pots.
- PFCs from anode effects.
- Fuel used in the cast house and anode baking on site.
Where hydro helps
Buyers' cradle to gate footprints include electricity, and hydro power makes Quebec metal one of the lowest-carbon sources on that basis. That helps with buyer targets even though the CBAM figure stays the same.
Carbon price
Quebec runs a cap-and-trade system in which smelters receive free allowances. Only the price effectively paid beyond that allocation can be deducted.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads fuel, electricity and production documents into dated, fingerprinted installation records, the starting point for the actual emissions an EU importer asks for.
Sources: CBAM Regulation (EU) 2023/956, consolidated, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1773, monitoring rules, IPCC 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
Last reviewed 2026-10-22.