Europe’s New Carbon Tariff Won’t Help the Climate
Faced with high compliance costs and unrealistic standards, companies from the global south will look to other markets rather than decarbonize.
Most new cement will be poured in poorer nations.
Photographer: Vinay Gupta/AFP/Getty Images
Many within the European Union probably view its new Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism as an enormous step forward in the fight against climate change and for the EU’s own global prestige. And it is true that the EU has achieved internal consensus — always a difficult process — surprisingly quickly. In the process, it has decisively shifted the debate on trade and the environment in the 21st century.
Yet countries in the global south have a clearer view of what the new tariffs will mean. They don’t look like much of a win for the climate — or for the EU’s reputation.