Political Context
Alongside the EU ETS (ETS1), the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is the most important piece of EU climate and trade policy of the last decade, and it is now under serious political pressure. I saw the need for a Coalition of businesses that could provide a positive counter-voice to those that wanted to water down the ETS1 and CBAM.
Testing the Demand
I wanted to make sure that Coalition was built on demand rather than assumption, so I started by testing the idea with companies and with policymakers in my network. Both sides said the same thing: there was space for a dedicated, business-led voice on CBAM, and there was appetite in the institutions to engage with one.
Rebuilding Visibility
To rebuild visibility around these files and around my own work on them, I ran two educational public webinars in the months before launch. The first, in June 2025, covered the ETS1 in partnership with an influential think tank. The second, in August 2025, focused on the potential future revisions of CBAM. Both drew audiences from well beyond Brussels and helped re-establish me as a go-to voice on these questions, which made it far easier to bring partners on board when the Coalition launched.
Building the Launch
The launch event itself required months of careful groundwork, both on content and on political choreography. Getting MEP Peter Liese (former ETS1 Rapporteur), MEP Mohammed Chahim (former CBAM Rapporteur) and a representative of Climate Commissioner Hoekstra’s cabinet into the same room around an early-mover business agenda took persistent, early-stage engagement with each of their teams.
Launch & Positioning
On the day of the launch event, my team and I also made sure that the brand-new website of the Coalition was filled with short, practical positions on the hot-potato items of both climate files. The event was a full house, featured several media-worthy sound bites from the key EU policymakers present, and set the Coalition up with the profile and institutional relationships it needed from day one. Some of the Coalition’s highlights include:
- Almost 60 meetings so far with national ministries, Members of European Parliament (MEPs) or their teams, and European Commission staff.
- Participation in the October 2025 high-level CBAM Dialogue with Executive VP Séjourné and Commissioner Hoekstra, as well as the May 2026 high-level roundtable on ETS1 with DG CLIMA Director General Kurt Vandenberghe.
- Coordination together with partners Cleantech for Europe, the We Mean Business Coalition, and the Corporate Leaders Group Europe of a pro-ETS1 letter addressed to Heads of State signed by 150 companies and investors.
The Business for CBAM Coalition is now the first major project I am bringing into BACC.
