Italy and France have announced their intention to submit a joint request advocating for the revision of the Cross-Border Carbon Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) at the upcoming EU Competitiveness Council meeting on March 6. The goal of this initiative is to ensure the topic is adequately represented within the Clean Industry Agreement and related sectoral documents that the European Commission plans to prepare in March.

The urgency of revising CBAM mechanisms was underscored during discussions between Italy's Minister of Enterprise and Production, Adolfo Urso, and France's Minister of Industry and Energy, Marc Ferracci, on the sidelines of the Artificial Intelligence Summit in Paris. They emphasized the necessity of this step to cultivate sustainability within European industry, especially in energy-intensive sectors like metallurgy and chemicals.

Adolfo Urso stated that the current geopolitical landscape demands that Europe reduce its dependency on external sources for essential materials and technologies, making it imperative to adjust CBAM into a truly effective instrument for safeguarding European manufacturing while fostering a sustainable transition. Additionally, EUROFER, the European Steel Association, has reiterated its call for urgent enhancements to the CBAM. Concerns over the timing and efficiency of the mechanism have been a point of contention, particularly as the European Commission considers potentially exempting up to 80% of companies currently subjected to the border carbon levy.