The European Commission’s long-awaited fertilizer action plan will commit to strengthening the EU’s carbon border tax on imports, according to an undated draft of the document obtained by POLITICO ahead of its unveiling Tuesday.
The plan is Brussels’ response to a price crisis that has driven nitrogen fertilizer roughly 70 percent above 2024 levels, squeezing farmers placing orders for fall planting and raising the prospect of higher food prices in 2027.
The draft obtained by POLITICO does not include the implementing annex setting out timelines for the plan’s measures or which commission departments are responsible for delivering them.
The text rules out any softening of the EU’s carbon border tax, known as CBAM, for fertilizer imports, rejecting pleas from some EU governments and the farm lobby. This marks a reversal from an April draft, reported by POLITICO, that proposed slowing the ramp-up of the tax to keep imported fertilizer cheaper for European farmers.
