BRICS condemns Europe's carbon-based import duties

In the strongest statement on the subject yet, the BRICS nations have "condemned and rejected" Europe's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms (CBAMs), and other similar restrictive trade measures taken under the pretext of climate concerns, saying these undermined their development and transition to a cleaner economy.

- AMITABH SINHA

CBAM is an import duty imposed by the European Union (EU) on goods produced by processes that lead to more carbon emissions than domestic European manufacturers are allowed to emit. The ostensible reason is to check 'carbon leakage', but this has the effect of making items like steel or cement, from a country like India for example, more expensive, and thus less competitive, in the European markets.

Developing countries including India and China have been strongly critical of CBAM, calling it a unilateral and unfair trade barrier. They maintain this violates international agreements on both trade and climate, and have raised this issue at multiple international forums, including the annual climate conferences. But the EU has been unrelenting. The statement by the BRICS nations, whose annual two-day summit concluded in Brazil on Monday, is another reiteration of the stand of the developing countries, though in a much stronger language.