EU carbon price on imports ‘violates’ WTO rules, says Patel as SA heads for clash with bloc

20 May 2024

The EU insists that its plan to put a price on the carbon emissions of some imports from 2026 is intended purely to counter global warming. But South Africa contends that, in reality, the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) is a unilateral and protectionist trade measure that will cost the South African economy more than R2bn a year.

Source: Pexels

EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis says the CBAM is designed to help the EU to reach its ambitious target of carbon neutrality by 2050. The mechanism will not distort trade as the EU intends to put the same price on the carbon emissions of imports as it does on those of its own producers, so the CBAM is compliant with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

But Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel retorts that the CBAM cannot be considered compliant because the WTO has not signed off on it, and South Africa is consulting other countries about a possible challenge to the mechanism at the WTO.

Read the full article by Peter Fabricius at Daily Maverick.

Source: Daily Maverick

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