Germany’s non-ferrous metals industry association Wirtschaftsvereinigung Metalle formally called for aluminium to be excluded from the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in a position submitted on 2 November 2026, according to an entry in the German Bundestag’s official lobbying register. The register provides limited detail about the economic arguments behind the request.
The filing is an industry demand, not a government proposal or an EU decision to remove aluminium from the mechanism. Aluminium remains covered by the definitive CBAM regime under current rules, and exporters must continue preparing applicable emissions data and compliance documentation.
Aluminium is one of the six initial sectors in the definitive regime, alongside steel, cement, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen. CBAM is intended to align carbon costs for covered imports more closely with those faced by European producers under the EU Emissions Trading System.
Downstream costs remain part of the debate
The business effects differ across the supply chain. Manufacturers buying primary aluminium, extrusions, castings and other metal inputs have different concerns from producers competing with imported primary metal. Carbon-related import costs can raise input prices for European downstream manufacturers, particularly when competing finished products do not face equivalent obligations.
This can create a difference between imported metals and more complex industrial goods made from those metals. The European Union is separately negotiating proposed downstream extensions intended to address some of these concerns, but those discussions do not change current law.
The debate is relevant to the future positioning of aluminium production, processing and electricity-intensive industrial investment in Montenegro. In Serbia, potential implications include aluminium fabrication, automotive components, electrical equipment and industrial supply chains.
A future reduction in CBAM coverage could lower certain compliance costs for exporters, but the commercial consequences would depend on which products were excluded, their emissions profiles and how European producers were treated. Until any rules change, aluminium exporters remain subject to current requirements.
