EU strikes deal on first carbon border tariff

CO2 emissions tariff to be imposed on imports of polluting goods

BRUSSELS:

After all-night negotiations, the European Union (EU) struck a political deal on Tuesday to impose a carbon dioxide emissions tariff on imports of polluting goods such as steel and cement, a world-first scheme aiming to support European industries as they decarbonise.

Negotiators from EU countries and the European Parliament reached a deal at around 5am in Brussels, on the law to impose CO2 emissions costs on imports of iron and steel, cement, fertilisers, aluminium and electricity.

Companies importing those goods into the EU will be required to buy certificates to cover their embedded CO2 emissions. The scheme is designed to apply the same CO2 cost to overseas firms and domestic EU industries – the latter of which are already required to buy permits from the EU carbon market when they pollute.

Mohammed Chahim, European Parliament’s lead negotiator on the law, said the border tariff would be crucial to EU efforts to fight climate change.

“It is one of the only mechanisms we have to incentivise our trading partners to decarbonise their manufacturing industry,” Chahim said.

The aim of the levy is to prevent European industry from being undercut by cheaper goods made in countries with weaker environmental rules.

It will also apply to imported hydrogen, which was not in the original EU proposal but which EU lawmakers pushed for in the negotiations.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2022.

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