Download Buying Through Climate and Nature Risk: What do carbon costs, CBAM and biodiversity loss mean for procurement?

A competitive, well-prepared procurement strategy in 2026 involves not only considering factors like price, quality and reliability, but also taking into account direct and indirect carbon costs and nature-related supply risks.

Carbon pricing is becoming increasingly common. Nearly 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions are now covered by some form of direct carbon pricing, while emissions trading systems are in force in 41 jurisdictions. The relevant point for procurement teams is that these costs can feed into supplier prices. A buyer may not pay the carbon price directly, but it can still affect the cost of carbon-intensive goods and services, especially steel, cement, aluminium, chemicals, electricity and heating.

The EU’s carbon border levy, or CBAM, is the clearest example of how carbon costs are becoming part of cross-border sourcing decisions. The EU mechanism puts a price on the embedded CO₂ emissions of imports in six sectors: cement, aluminium, fertilisers, iron and steel, hydrogen and electricity. Supplier emissions data, country of origin, production route and the use of default pricing can all affect the final cost of imported goods.

The OPIS Steel CBAM Calculator case study shows how this can work in practice. For the same steel product, different verification outcomes can lead to very different carbon costs. This matters because a lower headline price may not mean a lower final cost once CBAM is included.

Nature risk is different from carbon risk. While carbon markets use a common unit, nature depends on habitat, species, water, soil and local conditions, which makes it harder to measure and price. But many supply chains depend on services nature provides for free, including clean water, fertile soil, pollination, flood protection and
stable weather. If these systems are damaged, supply can become less reliable or more expensive. Biodiversity loss is increasingly being discussed as an economic and security risk, not only an environmental issue. It can appear in procurement as crop failure, water shortages, flooding, land-use restrictions, higher insurance costs, export limits or reputational damage. Food supply chains, the EU Deforestation Regulation and water risk all show how nature-related issues can become practical questions for buyers.

Nature markets are also developing. England’s Biodiversity Net Gain rules show how biodiversity impacts are starting to be measured and priced in regulation, while voluntary biodiversity and nature credits allow companies to pay for measured improvements in nature. These markets are still young and harder to assess
than carbon markets, because biodiversity does not have one simple unit.

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