China has requested that countries hold talks at next week’s COP29 U.N. climate summit on carbon border taxes and other “restrictive trade measures” that Beijing says are hurting developing countries, according to reports by Reuters.
The talk is expected to highlight the mounting trade tensions between major economies that could disrupt this year’s United Nations climate talks on Nov. 11 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
China, on behalf of the BASIC country group inclusive of Brazil, South Africa, India, and China, has put forward the proposal to the U.N. climate body (UNFCCC) to talk on COP29 agenda.
As per the reports provided by Climate Homes, it says, “Such measures increase the cost of worldwide climate action, hinder the efforts of developing countries to advance their climate commitments and ambition, undermine the basis of multilateral cooperation and contradict” UN climate agreements, said.
The BASIC proposal is likely to be fiercely resisted by the European Union (EU) and the United States, Climate Home commented.
China and India have criticized the carbon border levy, labeling it as protectionist and arguing that it unfairly targets developing countries.
The EU, however, defends the levy, stating it is essential to prevent European industries—which are subject to CO2 emission fees—from being undercut by cheaper imports from countries with less stringent climate policies.
Aaron Cosbey, a trade expert with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), said in a recent webinar that the EU and others are “never going to agree” to the agenda item on trade because its language is “prejudicial” and the issues it raises are already included under a track of the UN climate talks known as “response measures”
Failure to approve the agenda could delay the start of negotiations, affecting the task of approving potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in new funding to address climate change.
“We will speak about it, relentlessly,” South Africa’s Environment Minister Dion George told Reuters. “We are displeased about it and we don’t think it’s good for our economy.” He added.
The EU claims that its carbon border levy is a climate policy, not a trade measure, aimed at preventing European industries from being undercut by cheaper imports from countries with weaker environmental regulations.