Today marks the most consequential date in EU carbon border policy since CBAM entered its transitional phase. March 31, 2026 is the final deadline for importers of carbon-intensive goods to register as authorized declarants. Companies that missed this deadline now face the risk of import blockages when the mechanism moves to full enforcement.
Simultaneously, Japan is activating mandatory climate reporting for its largest emitters starting April 2026, while new partnerships are bringing verified enhanced rock weathering credits to market. Together, these developments signal that compliance-grade carbon accounting is becoming a global standard.
The European Commission has confirmed it will publish the first official CBAM certificate price in early April 2026, benchmarked against EU ETS allowance prices. This transforms CBAM from a data-gathering exercise into a trade-affecting compliance obligation covering steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, electricity, and hydrogen imports.
For importers, the compliance requirement is now binary: registered declarants can continue importing; non-compliant companies cannot. The mechanism creates direct financial consequences for inadequate carbon measurement in global supply chains.
Starting April 2026, Japan will mandate detailed climate reporting for approximately 300–400 major companies with annual Scope 1 emissions of at least 100,000 metric tons. These firms collectively account for roughly 60% of Japan's total emissions. By September 2027, covered entities must submit detailed carbon footprint calculations, reduction targets, and progress reports.
This represents the operational backbone of Japan's planned national emissions trading system and signals Asia's most significant move towards compliance-grade carbon accounting. The mandate creates a new, large-scale market for granular emissions monitoring and third-party verification services.
Climeworks and Lithos Carbon have announced a partnership to bring verified enhanced rock weathering (ERW) credits to the carbon removal market. ERW uses crushed basalt spread on agricultural land to permanently sequester CO2, offering a nature-based pathway to durable carbon removal.
This milestone arrives alongside a first-of-its-kind BECCS project beginning operations in Norway and Fluxys expanding CO2 pipeline infrastructure in Antwerp. Permanent carbon removal is advancing from pilot stage to commercial operations across multiple pathways, each requiring robust digital measurement and verification.
Today's CBAM deadline, Japan's reporting mandate, and the scaling of digitally verified carbon removal credits point to one structural trend: carbon markets worldwide are converging on compliance-grade digital verification as the baseline standard.
For organizations operating across these markets, the infrastructure requirement is clear. Manual reporting approaches cannot meet the speed, granularity, and auditability that compliance regimes now demand. Digital MRV is no longer an optional upgrade — it is the minimum viable infrastructure for participation in the emerging global carbon market architecture.
TrustVal helps corporate buyers and project developers navigate carbon markets with confidence. Talk to our team about your carbon strategy.
Get in Touch