The carbon-dioxide-equivalent unit used to express greenhouse-gas quantities under CBAM.
Tonne of CO2e is the unit that connects embedded emissions to CBAM certificates and carbon-pricing calculations. It normalizes different greenhouse gases into a comparable compliance quantity, but it is not a voluntary carbon-credit unit or an offset claim.
In CBAM, tonne of CO2e belongs to the emissions-measurement and certificate-settlement chain. It should not be treated as a generic carbon-credit, offset, or product-marketing unit.
Regulation (EU) 2023/956 establishing a carbon border adjustment mechanism
one metric tonne of CO2, or an amount of any other greenhouse gas listed in Annex I with an equivalent global warming potential;
Reference: Article 3, point 23
Implementation records should capture the CO2e quantity, gas identity, global-warming-potential basis, certificate-surrender calculation, measurement period, conversion method, and link to embedded-emissions records or carbon-price calculations.
Tonne of CO2e is a CBAM measurement-unit control: the evidence consequence is that diverse gas data can be normalized into comparable compliance quantities without turning that quantity into an offset, credit, or marketing claim.