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The EU climate commissioner has dismissed the latest push against the bloc’s incoming carbon border tax led by China, India and Saudi Arabia as “not very credible”, and argued it would level the playing field for European companies.
The carbon border tax, which comes into force from January, was behind an attempt by the big exporters to scupper wider negotiations on climate action at the latest UN summit in Brazil.
Speaking in the aftermath at COP30, Wopke Hoekstra told the Financial Times that the petrostates had also been “more assertive” across the board in a bid to thwart climate agreements as the shift to cleaner energy systems accelerates.
“Some of those making money out of [fossil fuels] are seeking to prolong that process. We have seen this quite explicitly,” he said. “Some of the petrostates are seeking to at least slow down rather than speed up [the energy transition].”
He added: “I have sensed a certain sense of assertiveness that might not have been there five or 10 years ago.”
During public and closed-door meetings at the two-week talks, some of the developing countries argued the tax, or carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), was a unilateral measure that would drive up costs, restrict trade and hinder their ability to grow their economies.
The tax will initially apply to products such as steel, cement and fertilisers, and aims to ensure imported goods meet similar green standards to those produced inside the EU or face an additional charge.
EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra: ‘Some of the petrostates are seeking to at least slow down rather than speed up [the energy transition]’ © Anderson Coelho/Reuters
Hoekstra said the criticism was “clearly not very credible”, adding that in one-on-one conversations many countries “acknowledge it is clearly a climate tool” rather than a trade measure.
“If you want to create a level playing field, if you are asking this [green standards] from companies in Europe, then it also makes sense to ask it from companies from outside of Europe [which are selling into the EU],” he said.
The tax has also been heavily criticised by the US. In its trade deal with the US, the EU agreed to “provide additional flexibilities” as the levy was implemented.
Hoekstra’s department is preparing to propose a review of CBAM next week. But he argued that the measure was likely to become less contentious at UN climate negotiations in coming years. “As people get used to it and it gets implemented, it will be less of a conversation.”
The final COP30 agreement set out plans to hold discussions on trade during a round of UN climate talks in Bonn next summer.
More than 80 countries had rallied around a proposal at COP30 for a so-called road map to help countries wean their economies off fossil fuels.
But the plan failed to appear in the final agreement after objection from more than 30 other countries, the COP presidency told the FT. Brazil will now oversee a road map outside of the official UN process.
Hoekstra said one of the “weaknesses” of the UN system was that individual nations or small country groups, “even if they hold a clear minority position, can seek to block the whole endeavour”.
The COP30 agreement was an “important step forward but more would have been better”, he added.
Hoekstra warned of economic losses if countries failed to transition to clean energy fast enough. “The cost the world will incur will go up even more dramatically the more we overshot 1.5C,” he said, referring to a temperature target of the Paris climate agreement.
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