Can we use our fuel supplier's weighbridge and calorific values for UK CBAM?

Yes. The technical guide from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) says the UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) allows measurement systems you do not control, such as a fuel supplier's meter, weighbridge or calorific values. You need not buy your own, though keeping calibration details is good practice and your own equipment is the best method.

What HMRC allows

• If a fuel supplier already determines values such as the net calorific value (NCV) and the emission factor for the fuels you use, that data can be used for CBAM.
• If the supplier owns the meter or weighbridge used to measure the quantity, that data can be used too.
• You will not be required to buy your own measuring equipment in those cases.

What HMRC prefers

• The guide says it is good practice to obtain and retain details of the calibration of the equipment in use.
• The guide also says the best method would always be measuring equipment under the operator's control.
• Instruments under legal metrological control, officially verified under some legislation, for example gas meters and fuel delivery meters owned by the fuel supplier, are preferred over other meters because of their defined characteristics.
• Automated data collection is generally less prone to transcription errors than manual recording. Where you record by hand, put control procedures around it.

What to ask each supplier

1. Who owns the weighbridge or meter, and when it was last calibrated.
2. Whether the fuel's calorific value and emission factor come from a laboratory analysis, and for which batches.
3. For a copy of the weighbridge slip and analysis certificate for each delivery, so they sit beside your invoice.
4. Whether you can compare their reading with your own gate weighbridge on a sample of trucks.

Example: supplier slips against your gate weighbridge

• 10 trucks of coal. Supplier slips total 250.0 tonnes. Your gate weighbridge: 248.5 tonnes
• Difference: 250.0 minus 248.5 = 1.5 tonnes. 1.5 / 250.0 = 0.6%
• Record both figures. Name one as the primary source in the monitoring plan and keep the other as a cross-check

The tonnages are examples. HMRC gives no tolerance for the gap in this section.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records. That gives the tonnes billed each month to set beside the supplier's weighbridge slips. It reads invoices, bills and fuel slips; it does not check a supplier's meter calibration or lab analysis. A verifier accredited for UK CBAM must still verify the figure.

• How often to analyse coal
• What a UK CBAM monitoring plan holds
• UK CBAM for Indian exporters

Sources: HMRC, Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM): technical guide for monitoring, reporting and verification

Last reviewed 2026-11-06. Read from technical guide section D4.5.4 on 6 November 2026. HMRC may change the guide before 1 January 2027.