CN 2808Covered by CBAMFertilisers

CN 2808 under CBAM — Nitric Acid

Nitric acid; sulphonitric acids

Nitric acid — the intermediate behind nitrate fertilisers and industrial nitration — produced by oxidising ammonia. Indian producers export merchant acid and, more importantly, nitric acid’s emissions travel as a precursor into downstream nitrate products. CBAM covers the heading directly.

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Covered

CBAM status of this heading

1 Jan 2026

Definitive phase — certificates due

€70–80

per tCO₂ — certificate price tracks EU ETS

up to ~40%

typical cost cut with verified actuals

Emission profile

Where the emissions in CN 2808 come from

Nitric acid’s CBAM profile is dominated by nitrous oxide (N₂O) — a potent greenhouse gas released in ammonia oxidation — plus the embedded emissions of the ammonia feedstock as a precursor. Abatement is decisive: as our fertiliser lander shows, defaults assume 3.0 tCO₂e/t while plants with abatement systems can drop to 0.8 tCO₂e/t with verified data. The factor between “abated” and “default” is the entire CBAM economics.

Why we don’t print a default value here

The EU publishes and updates specific default values per goods category separately — quoting a stale number would mislead you. What never changes: defaults are set deliberately high, and the markup escalates from 10% in 2026 to 30% by 2028 for steel and aluminium (free-allowance phase-out runs to 2034). Use the CBAM calculator for a current, product-specific estimate.

What to do

Exporting under CN 2808? Three moves, in order.

01
Identify your production route and precursors
Document your N₂O abatement status — catalytic abatement installed and monitored, or not — and your ammonia source (own plant or purchased, a precursor either way).
02
Collect the data you already have
N₂O monitoring and abatement-system records, ammonia consumption and sourcing data, plant energy records, production logs by concentration.
03
File verified actuals, not defaults
Have the numbers computed to the EU CBAM methodology and verified, then hand your EU buyer’s Authorised Declarant a filing they can use. Verified actuals typically cut the CBAM cost by up to ~40% versus default values — and the default markup only gets worse, escalating from 10% in 2026 to 30% by 2028 for steel and aluminium.

Free this quarter: We cover your first report (April–June 2026) so an inflated EU default never costs you an order. Continue only if you choose to. Free for the April–June 2026 quarter — start your report by 30 September 2026.

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Frequently asked

CN 2808 and CBAM, in plain English

Is CN 2808 covered by CBAM?

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Yes. CN 2808 — nitric acid and sulphonitric acids — is a covered good under the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. Any consignment under this heading imported into the EU has carried reporting obligations since the transitional phase (1 October 2023 – 31 December 2025), and since the definitive phase began on 1 January 2026 the EU importer must buy CBAM certificates against its embedded emissions. Coverage extends in effect to downstream nitrate fertilisers, where nitric acid is counted as a precursor.

How much CBAM cost does CN 2808 face in 2026?

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CBAM certificates track the EU ETS carbon price — roughly €70–80 per tonne of CO₂ in 2026 — so the bill is your embedded emissions multiplied by that price. For nitrogen products the bill is dominated by ammonia’s feedstock (gas vs naphtha) and, for nitric acid routes, by N₂O abatement — so plants with modern configurations have far more to gain from filing verified actuals, which typically cut the cost by up to ~40% versus defaults.

We installed N₂O abatement years ago. Does CBAM automatically credit it?

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No — nothing in CBAM is automatic. Defaults assume the unabated case (3.0 tCO₂e/t on our fertiliser lander’s comparison), and only a verified actuals filing built on your abatement system’s monitoring records brings the recognised figure down toward the 0.8 tCO₂e/t an abated plant can demonstrate. For nitric acid, verification is not an optimisation — it is the mechanism by which your abatement investment earns anything at the EU border at all.

Is the ammonia we consume counted inside our nitric acid’s emissions?

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Yes — ammonia is a precursor, so its embedded emissions (heavily dependent on gas versus naphtha feedstock) flow into your acid’s figure alongside your own process’s N₂O and energy. Producers integrated back into ammonia control both halves of the story; merchant-ammonia buyers need their supplier’s data. Either way the filing must knit the two together, which is exactly what our methodology work does.

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