Türkçimento has warned that the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) could act as a de facto non-tariff trade barrier for Turkish cement exports under current implementation rules.
The industry body said default emission values applied to third countries significantly exceed actual emissions from Turkish producers, creating a substantial cost burden. While reported emissions for grey clinker from Turkish exporters are around 0.88tCO2/t, the EU’s default value for “other countries” is set at 1.551tCO2/t.
According to Türkçimento, this discrepancy could raise carbon costs from around EUR20 (US$23) per tonne to as much as EUR80/t of clinker at current EU ETS prices, in some cases exceeding the average export price and threatening the viability of exports to the EU.
Türkiye is a major supplier of clinker and cement to European markets, with Türkçimento members producing 75Mt of clinker in the first 11 months of 2025.
The association also highlighted concerns over verification capacity during the CBAM transition period, warning that delays could force exporters to rely on default values that do not reflect actual performance. It called for the use of national monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) data, aligned with EU standards since 2015, to ensure fair treatment.
Türkçimento added that unresolved technical issues around indirect emissions, electricity factors and renewable energy investments further risk distorting carbon calculations and undermining competitiveness.
