Spanish Economy Minister Says Harsh EU Carbon Tax Plans Would Outsource Pollution
Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published December 09, 2019 | 11:32 PM
Spanish Economy and Enterprise Minister Nadia Calvino said on Monday that the European Union's strict carbon border tax plan, which aims to make carbon use more expensive and help the economies transition to zero carbon emissions, can lead to businesses relocating their production to cheaper sites and thus spread pollution
In October, then President-elect of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen unveiled the European Green Deal, the idea of which was to boost EU energy transition toward a zero-carbon economy in a manner that would not hurt any other neighboring country. As part of the deal, the Commission started working on a carbon border levy on polluting foreign firms.
"Carbon pricing, of course, is a key issue, I have seen a lot of focus in this. This is not easy at all and I don't think this in itself is going to be a magical solution," Calvino at the 25th UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid.
The minister added that the transition to a low-carbon economy has to be carried out on a global level.
"We need to ensure that we don't have carbon leakage, that we do not establish very high standards, for example in the EU, meaning that dirty production is going somewhere else in the world. And that's why we very strongly support working on WTO compliance, CO2 border adjustment mechanisms to ensure that this global challenge is tackled at the global level," Calvino stated.
According to the Spanish economy minister, the so-called Article 6 for carbon markets and other forms of international cooperation that outlines rules for the new carbon trade system, remains a stumbling block on the way for the Paris climate deal to become fully operational.
The Paris Agreement was signed in 2015 with the ambitious aim to bring all nations together under the common cause of combating climate change. Its most well-known premise is to try to keep the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels and to ideally pursue an even lower limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius. The treaty has no compliance mechanism.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
HEC reviews curricula for environmental sciences degree programme
ICC Asia looking forward to an action-packed Asia Cricket Week
Yuvraj Singh named ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Ambassador
Greece hands Olympic flame to 2024 Paris Games hosts
Two Kyiv hospitals evacuating over feared Russian strikes
World must act on neurotech revolution, say experts
Charles & Catherine's cancer diagnoses
Champions Alcaraz and Sabalenka through in Madrid Open
King Charles to resume some public duties during cancer treatment: palace
US defense chief announces $6 bn in security aid for Ukraine
Heavy rains cause damage to Spezand-Taftan railway track
Woman stabbed in Israel, attacker killed: police
More Stories From Business
-
Finance minister reviews progress on FBR digitalization
55 minutes ago -
US stocks rebound on tech earnings, London hits new record
55 minutes ago -
US approves gene therapy treatment for hemophilia
42 minutes ago -
KATI president for inclusion of agri sector in tax net
41 minutes ago -
Ahsan chairs 13th CPEC-JCC preparatory meeting, reviews arrangements for high-level delegation’s v ..
2 hours ago -
Police to take every step for security of business community: IGP
2 hours ago
-
WB director, Planning minister discuss reforms in development projects
2 hours ago -
IP rights crucial in achieving SDG : Jam Kamal
4 hours ago -
FBR’s data protection efforts commended by OECD assessment team
4 hours ago -
US stocks rebound on tech earnings, London hits new record
5 hours ago -
SECP-IFSB workshop highlights Pakistan's progress in Islamic Finance Development
5 hours ago -
SBP to announce monetary policy on April 29
5 hours ago