UK Consults on CBAM for Refinery Products, Closes Jan 20

The UK launches a consultation on adding refinery products to CBAM

In October 2026 the UK government published the consultation document "Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism: Sectoral scope expansion to refinery products". It seeks views on the feasibility and impacts of bringing refinery products into the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and HM Treasury are running the consultation jointly.

The ministerial foreword states that the government will "intend to deliver that scope expansion, subject to consultation on both the feasibility and impacts". In other words, the government intends to expand the scope and will use the consultation to examine feasibility and impacts. The foreword gives petrol, diesel and jet fuel as examples of refinery products.

A Carbon Pulse CP Daily newsletter summary dated 28 October says the Chancellor announced that the UK will seek to extend CBAM to refinery products, and that the UK fuels industry welcomed extending it to refineries. The full article is paywalled, so this article relies only on the public newsletter summary.

UK CBAM applies to five sectors from 1 January 2027

According to GOV.UK, UK CBAM is scheduled to apply to specified imported goods from 1 January 2027. The initial scope covers five sectors: aluminium, cement, fertiliser, hydrogen, and iron and steel. Glass and ceramics are outside the 2027 initial scope, and the inclusion of indirect emissions is deferred to 2029 at the earliest.

Refinery products are not currently in these five sectors. The government said in Budget 2025 that it would assess the impacts and feasibility of including refinery products in CBAM, and this consultation is the next stage of that assessment.

The consultation proposes starting with petrol, diesel, jet fuel and kerosene

The consultation document proposes bringing in only part of the refinery product range first, covering types such as petrol, diesel, jet fuel and kerosene, listed by 8-digit commodity codes. This article does not list the codes one by one; the full list is in Chapter 4 of the consultation document.

The document also discusses low-carbon fuels, including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) and ethanol. Because emissions calculation for these fuels is more complex, one option the consultation puts forward is to exclude them from scope for now and ask for views. This is one of the options under consultation, not a decision.

The consultation closes on 20 January 2027

The consultation closes at 23:59 on 20 January 2027. Responses can be sent to [email protected].

The consultation asks about both feasibility and impacts. The UK has not yet published the final scope or the implementation timeline for extending CBAM to refinery products. What can be followed at this stage is the direction and the main discussion points; the specific obligations remain to be announced.

Further reading on this site: UK-EU linking, default values and verification

Another article on this site covers the UK-EU emissions trading system linking and mutual CBAM exemption: UK-EU ETS linking: CBAM exemption and the impact on Taiwan exporters.

For CBAM default values and verifiers, see: CBAM default values and a shortage of verifiers: what Taiwan exporters should prepare.

Directions Taiwan can draw on

What follows is the editors' suggestion, not a fact verified against sources. The UK is currently consulting publicly, and the final scope has not been published. Taiwan exporters could use the consultation period to check whether their products fall within the five existing UK CBAM sectors, and keep an eye on further developments on refinery products.

On emissions data, preparations to consider include:

• Compile carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions data at site and product level, to serve as actual emissions data for reporting.
• Learn how third-party verification works and which verifiers are available.
• Track the default values and scope changes the UK publishes later, and assess the effect on your own exports; for details on reporting, actual values and default values, rely on the official UK CBAM rules.

For Taiwan's carbon fee and emissions trading system (ETS), see Taiwan's carbon fee and ETS dual track: rate changes, pilot timeline and business impact. We suggest getting emissions data and verification capability ready first, so that firms can respond faster once the UK publishes the final scope.