In 2026, a new kind of commodity risk is moving from sustainability teams to procurement, finance, and legal. It is not just the price of oil, gas, or power, says an analysis as reported by Reuters.
It is the price of verified decarbonization. In other words, whether it is credits, reduction efforts, or supply chain adjustments, it can be measured and tracked. This opens new opportunities for strategic investments and accountability in sustainability efforts.
Europe’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, or CBAM, is designed to put a carbon cost on certain imported goods by requiring importers to report embedded emissions and, over time, pay for them through CBAM certificates. The European Commission states that CBAM runs in a transition phase from 2023 through 2025 and moves into its definitive regime in 2026. That timing matters because it pushes emissions accounting deeper into supply chains and turns climate data into a commercial variable.
A similar shift is underway in aviation and shipping. Sustainable aviation fuel, usually shortened to SAF, is a category of lower-carbon jet fuels. The EU’s ReFuelEU Aviation rules require aviation fuel suppliers to increase the share of SAF blended into jet fuel at EU airports over time. In shipping, the EU’s FuelEU Maritime rules set greenhouse gas intensity requirements for energy used onboard ships and include compliance flexibility tools that can support trading and pooling.
Read rest of the report here.
