Aluminium: primary, secondary and the power behind the smelter

The EU imported 6.4 Mt of CBAM aluminium in 2025, with a default-value exposure of €740 m in 2026. Two facts shape that figure: only direct emissions count, and the production route — primary or secondary — decides the benchmark.

Only the smelter’s own emissions

Aluminium smelting is electricity-hungry, and the carbon intensity of that power is the biggest difference between smelters worldwide. But in the definitive period CBAM counts only direct emissions for aluminium (as for steel and hydrogen). The anodes, process emissions and on-site fuel count; the power plant down the road does not. That narrows the gap between hydro- and coal-powered smelters more than many expect.

Primary (K) and secondary (L)

Primary aluminium is smelted from alumina; secondary aluminium is remelted scrap. The benchmark for unwrought primary metal is 1.423 tCO₂e per tonne, for secondary 0.091. Each country’s default table names the route that applies:

Ukraine’s low value reflects secondary production; its benchmark is correspondingly low, so the cost per tonne is not as small as the default suggests. Semi-finished products — profiles, sheet, foil — carry higher defaults than unwrought metal because they include the processing on top.

Who supplies Europe

Mozambique and the Gulf states are large primary suppliers. For buyers, the cheapest CBAM aluminium is verified low-emission primary metal or scrap-based secondary metal with actual data.