# What makes a carbon price qualify for UK CBAM relief?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/uk-cbam-what-makes-carbon-price-qualify

It must meet all of HMRC's criteria: run by or for a government or supra-national body that controls the revenue, mandatory by law for installations making CBAM goods, with public rules, scope and headline price, and a cost on emissions, priced directly or through IPCC, IEA or UNFCCC factors. Fuel duties do not qualify.

## All of these must be true

1. Run by, or on behalf of, a government (including a state or region) or a supra-national body such as the European Union.
2. That government or body controls how the revenue is used.
3. The law requires installations making or processing CBAM goods to take part, including where it applies only above an emissions threshold.
4. The rules, scope and headline carbon price are public.
5. Participants face a cost for their emissions, priced per tonne of CO2e or indirectly on fossil fuel use, with factors from or based on IPCC, IEA or UNFCCC methods.

## What does not qualify

- Carbon prices that are not a carbon tax, an emissions trading scheme or a price on imported goods' embodied emissions.
- Prices that do not charge for emissions during production of the goods.
- Schemes run by multilateral institutions rather than a government.
- Voluntary schemes, even if run by a government.
- Fuel duties charged per litre, kilogram or unit of fuel rather than per tonne of emissions.

## Voluntary joiners

HMRC says an installation below a mandatory threshold may still qualify for relief if it has voluntarily joined a qualifying scheme.

## Then the paperwork

A qualifying scheme alone gives no relief. The importer also needs a carbon pricing verification form from your plant.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible does not decide whether a levy qualifies or calculate relief. It builds the emissions figure from your invoices that relief is applied to. We build the figure from your records and check every figure in-house; for the UK it must then be verified by a verifier accredited for UK CBAM. Have your own verifier? Send it to them.

- [India's CCTS and UK CBAM relief](https://senseible.earth/answers/uk-cbam-india-ccts-qualifying-carbon-price)
- [Voluntary credits give no relief](https://senseible.earth/answers/uk-cbam-voluntary-credits-no-relief)
- [CBAM for Indian exporters](https://senseible.earth/cbam)

Sources: [HMRC, Check if your goods have been subject to a qualifying carbon pricing scheme (updated 28 August 2026)](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-your-goods-have-been-subject-to-a-qualifying-carbon-pricing-scheme), [HMRC, Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM): Policy summary (updated 2 November 2026)](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/carbon-border-adjustment-mechanism-cbam-policy-summary/carbon-border-adjustment-mechanism-cbam-policy-summary)

Last reviewed 2026-11-03.