CBAM - Decarbonising indirect electricity emissions for industrial manufacturers Ivana Đurović, Category Manager Renewable Energy, Knauf

Most CBAM conversations focus on energy exports. This one doesn't. Ivana Đurović, Category Manager Renewable Energy at Knauf, shifts the lens to corporate off-takers and the indirect emissions challenge that energy-intensive manufacturers across Central and Southeastern Europe are quietly unprepared for.

Drawing on procurement experience across 33 plants in the region, she walks through how CBAM handles indirect emissions differently from the EU ETS, why hourly-matched physical PPAs are currently the only compliant path to reducing CBAM certificate costs, and what that means practically for companies consuming grid electricity in non-EU countries.

Key topics covered include how indirect emissions are calculated and reported under CBAM, the rules around acceptable evidence of low carbon consumption, why virtual PPAs do not qualify and physical delivery is required, how hourly matching works in practice without requiring 24/7 coverage, the flexibility of technology choice under CBAM including older hydro and nuclear assets, and why physical PPAs remain essentially non-existent in Western Balkan markets despite growing compliance pressure.

She closes with a pointed question the industry is avoiding: if exports are stalling, merchant revenues are compressing, and CBAM penalties are approaching, could the regulation itself be the catalyst that finally gets utilities and corporate buyers to the same table?

A timely session for corporate energy buyers, procurement teams, PPA developers, and anyone tracking the commercial implications of CBAM beyond the grid.