The Intelligent Bridge for CBAM.
Connecting importer and exporter with clarity and ease.
ClimaSure is an AI-powered CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) compliance platform designed to help importers, exporters, and sustainability teams streamline quarterly EU CBAM reporting. The product simplifies the end-to-end process of collecting supplier emission data, validating documents, calculating carbon footprints, and generating submission-ready CBAM reports, replacing manual workflows that previously took days.
UI Designer, UX Researcher, Project Manager
Vaspp Technologies - Own Product
6 Months
Ongoing
4 Members
Designer & Manager, Solution Architect, 2 Developers
Background Understanding
What is CBAM?
CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) is an EU rule that puts a carbon tax on goods imported into Europe—like steel, cement, aluminium, fertilizers, hydrogen, and electricity.
The tax amount depends on how much CO₂ was released while making the product.
More emissions → higher tax.
Who is an Importer?
An importer is a company or person inside the EU who buys goods from other countries like India, Russia, Turkey, China, etc.
They must:
Ask suppliers for emission data
Collect many Excel sheets
Calculate how much carbon tax to pay
Submit everything to the EU every quarter
If they import the same product next quarter, they must repeat all steps manually again.
Who is an Exporter?
An exporter is the supplier outside the EU (India, Russia, China, etc.) who sells goods to EU buyers.
They must:
Receive the CBAM Excel template
Fill all emission values manually
Collect factory production data
Send the Excel back to the importer
Different customers mean they repeat the manual work many times.
Current process for importer
Current process for Exporter
Problem Statement
Companies responsible for CBAM reporting still rely on scattered emails, exporter communication templates, manual Excel sheets, and inconsistent emission data collection workflows. Import managers spend hours following up with multiple exporters, validating incomplete data, calculating carbon price differences, and assembling one consolidated CBAM report for EU submission. This process is time consuming, error-prone, slow, and creates compliance risks making accurate tax and difference calculations extremely difficult to complete on time.
Solution Statement
ClimaSure provides a unified, automated platform that standardizes exporter communication, centralizes data collection, validates emissions inputs, and auto calculates CBAM tax and price differences. It replaces scattered templates and manual workflows with a structured importer exporter system, guided forms, real-time completeness checks, and automated EU-ready report generation reducing follow-up time, minimizing data errors, and accelerating CBAM compliance end-to-end.
Target Audience
Importers
Create and manage CBAM reports.
Exporters
Share emissions and goods data.
Sustainability Teams
Ensure accurate and compliant reporting.
Operations Staff
Support data flow and coordination.
Strategies & Metrics
Business Strategy
Introduce an end-to-end CBAM compliance platform for both importers and exporters.
Reduce manual reporting burden through automation and structured workflows.
Position ClimaSure as the fastest and most accurate CBAM reporting system.
Objective
Reduce reporting time
Improve data accuracy
Make exporter collaboration easy
Ensure compliant submissions
Simplify the entire end-to-end workflow
Solution
Automated communication templates
Exporter self-service portal
Auto-tax calculation for CBAM differences
Error-proof workflow from import creation to submission
Centralized data collection & validation
Users
Importers dealing with CBAM-regulated goods
Exporters who must submit emissions documentation
Sustainability / compliance team
Success Metrics
60–80% reduction in manual communication
40–55% faster quarterly CBAM report creation
95% accuracy in emission and tax calculation
3–5× improvement in exporter response speed
100% compliance readiness for EU quarterly reporting
70% fewer back-and-forth email loops
Customer Obstacles
Manual emailing of templates to exporters
Missing, inconsistent, or late emission data
Repetitive data entry and version confusion
High risk of submitting incorrect CBAM reports & No centralized source of truth
Difficulty calculating tax differences
Creative Strategy
Design a workflow that feels natural for both importers and exporters
Reduce cognitive load by simplifying complex CBAM terminology
Use automation to replace repetitive data-collection tasks
Use automation to replace repetitive data-collection tasks
Present dense data (emissions, tax, imports) in readable steps
Importer Application
Manage imports
Review submissions
Assign exporters
Review submissions
Generate final CBAM report
Exporter Application
Receive communication templates
Upload emission data
Upload emission data
Submit documents
Core Values
Trust – transparent data sharing
Accuracy – automated calculations reduce mistakes
Compliance – correct CBAM format every time
Clarity – complex CBAM made simple
Speed – faster reporting cycles
Key Features
Import creation & management
Exporter assignment system
Standardized communication templates
Exporter submission portal
Auto emission calculation
Validation & completeness checks, Final CBAM report generator
Tax & difference calculation
Design Thinking Process
Empathize
Stakeholder Research
User Research
Define
Problem Statement
Business Strategy
Creative Strategy
User Research
User Persona
Empathy Mapping
Ideate
Story Board
User Flow
Features List
Information Architecture
Prototype
Mid Fidelity Wireframes
High Fidelity Wireframes
Test
Usability Testing
Importer Survey Insights
Exporter Survey Insights
User Interviews
To understand the real challenges behind CBAM reporting, I conducted in-depth interviews with a diverse group of stakeholders involved in the import–export and sustainability ecosystem.
Participants Interviewed
(Total: 22)
8 Import Managers – responsible for CBAM submissions & supplier coordination
6 Exporters – required to provide emission data to importers
4 Sustainability / ESG Officers – oversee compliance frameworks
2 Consulting Agencies – help companies with CBAM and ESG reporting
2 Companies handling CBAM reporting for EU clients
Approach
Conducted 22 semi-structured interviews (30–45 minutes each)
Used both remote (Zoom/Meet) and on-site conversations
Focused on understanding workflows, pain points, mental models, and expectations
Categorized insights into themes: data collection, communication gaps, regulation clarity, calculation steps, tool frustrations
Sample Interview Questions
For Importers
“Walk me through your current CBAM reporting workflow from start to finish.”
“How do you collect emission data from your exporters?”
“What steps take the most time during each reporting cycle?”
“Where do errors usually occur?”
“How do you track which exporters responded or not?”
For Exporters
“How do you receive communication from importers regarding CBAM data?”
“Which documents or values are hardest for you to prepare?”
“Do you understand the exact emission values required?”
“How often do you need to seek clarification?”
“What makes the submission process slow or confusing?”
User Research Insights (Interviews)
Turning Raw Data Into Insights That Drive User-Centered Designs
Importer Persona – Affinity Clusters
Exporter Persona – Affinity Clusters
Several more insights were written during the research phase, but only a selected set is included here for clarity.
User Persona
Empathy Mapping
User Persona
Empathy Mapping
Journey Mapping
Journey Mapping
Information Architecture
Reporting Process
Initial Visual Exploration (Fun & Friendly UI)
Early direction focused on making the experience enjoyable
The first version of the product was intentionally designed to feel friendly, colorful, and playful.
The idea was simple: make a complex sustainability workflow feel light and enjoyable. Soft gradients, bright color blocks, rounded elements, and expressive icons created a welcoming tone that simplified heavy CBAM data.
Glimpse of Working prototype
Usability Testing
3
Compliance Managers
2
Operations Executives
2
Procurement Specialists
1
Sustainability Analyst
What we tested
We tested the initial wireframes, not visual designs.
The objective was to validate:
Navigation clarity
Task flow understanding
Information grouping
Cognitive load
Ease of completing key tasks
Method
Format: Remote, moderated sessions
Duration: 30–45 minutes per participant
Tasks: Completing forms, reviewing data, navigating steps, and identifying required actions
Tools Used: Prototype built in Figma
User Observations (Mostly Positive)
What Users Liked
The flow felt logical and predictable
Steps were easy to follow once they entered the process
Form structure was clear and well-grouped
Terminology was understandable
Screens felt straightforward and uncluttered in wireframe mode
Users appreciated the guided, step-by-step approach
The wireframes gave a feeling of simplicity, which built confidence
Minor Concerns (Small but Important)
These were not major issues but meaningful enough to guide improvements:
Some users expected clearer visual hierarchy
A few needed stronger entry points to know where to start
Users wanted slightly more guidance and cues in the flow
The flow worked well in wireframes, but users were unsure how it would feel visually once designed
Developer Observations
The team initially lacked senior developers
The early plan of using playful visuals required custom UI components and more complex coding
Developers found it harder to maintain consistency
A simpler, more standardized design system would speed up development
Technical feasibility strongly supported a shift toward a professional, scalable UI
Summary
Usability testing of wireframes showed that the structure and flows were strong and aligned well with user expectations.
Only small, practical concerns appeared mainly around clarity and visual hierarchy.
Combined with developer constraints, these insights led us to move toward a clean, professional, scalable design direction, better suited for our 40+ audience.
To meet user expectations and developer needs, the UI was redesigned to be cleaner and enterprise-ready, ensuring clarity, consistency, faster development, and smoother workflows.
A robust library for consistency, efficiency, and scalable enterprise design.
A comprehensive set of interfaces has been designed for both the importer and exporter modules. As the product is still under active development and governed by confidentiality constraints, only a curated selection of screens is presented in this case study.
How Things Change with Climasure
Old Reality
New Experience
Results Achieved
85%
Reduction in reporting time
from several days to just a few hours.
90%
Automated product classification
for CBAM categories.
70%
Faster supplier response rate
due to simplified communication workflows.
90%
Data accuracy
through AI-based validation and auto-extraction.
The user can now complete the entire CBAM reporting cycle from supplier communication to government submission in one-tenth of the original time, with confidence and accuracy.
A User’s Story: How ClimaSure Simplified CBAM Reporting
As someone living in the EU, I used to find CBAM reporting extremely stressful. Every reporting cycle meant sending multiple communication templates to suppliers in India, identifying which products fell under CBAM, and manually compiling all the data into one report. The entire process was long, confusing, and prone to errors.
With ClimaSure, everything changed. Now, I can easily create an import by specifying the start and end dates and uploading my goods list. The AI automatically suggests goods based on previous cycles, making it faster to add imports. I can also upload files directly. the system extracts the data, checks which products fall under CBAM, and even helps assign suppliers manually or automatically.
Once the requests are sent, I can track supplier responses, verify data accuracy, and send quick follow-up emails if needed. When all responses are in, I simply go to the report section, select the received CBAM communication templates, and generate the final CBAM report for submission. all within minutes.
Even repeating previous import lines is effortless now. What once took days and constant coordination now happens seamlessly. ClimaSure has made CBAM reporting simple, smart, and stress-free.
Project Learnings
Simplicity is Strength
Working on ClimaSure reinforced that simplicity truly empowers users. CBAM reporting is inherently complex, so my focus was to design clear, minimal, and purposeful workflows. The goal was not to impress with visual trends, but to solve real user pain points with ease and clarity.
Prioritize What Matters
Given the vast scope of CBAM compliance, defining a clear MVP was crucial. Prioritizing essential features like supplier communication, product classification, and report generation helped maintain focus and deliver a functional, high-quality product within time.
Feedback is the Real Fuel
Early and continuous feedback from sustainability experts, importers, and stakeholders shaped the product significantly. Testing each flow — from supplier assignment to final report creation — at every stage helped reduce rework, refine the experience, and ensure user confidence.
