WTO Considering Carbon Tariffs On Emission-Heavy Countries
Germany announced that a French notion to charge "carbon tariffs" on items from countries that will not reduce greenhouse gases is a form of "eco-imperialism," and an obvious breach of WTO rules.
The subject of greenhouse tariffs has been faced with vehement opposition from countries like China and India, who depend on affluent countries to purchase their products as they develop their economies.
Matthias Machnig, Germany’s State Secretary for the Environment, said on Friday that the French urge for Europe to charge carbon tariffs on imports from countries that disregard carbon emission regulations would be a burden to the international community.
"There are two problems — the WTO (World Trade Organization), and the signal would be that this is a new form of eco-imperialism," Machnig said.
"We are closing our markets for their products, and I don’t think this is a very helpful signal for the international negotiations."
European environment and energy ministers are gathering in Sweden to try figure out a new vision of how the WTO will combat global warming, prior to a huge environment summit in Copenhagen.
The first part of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse emissions will expire in 2012. Negotiations on a new climate change petition will start in the Danish capital at the end of 2009.
The U.S. House of Representatives has already approved a bill that has carbon tariffs. It lets the US enforce duties on things like steel, cement, paper and glass from countries that have not tried to cut back their own emissions.
Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said member states at present had no "plan B" past agreeing on a new deal in Copenhagen. He noted that there was no authorized proposal from the French about carbon tariffs.
"We are absolutely against each try to make use of green protectionism," Carlgren said to Reuters News. "There should be no threat of borders, of walls or barriers for imports from developing countries."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office said that these taxes could help develop a "level playing field" for European companies contending with international companies from countries that have not priced their carbon emissions.
EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs added that member states should think about the French proposal, but also is uncertain how other countries would see these kinds of tariffs.
These tariffs would symbolize a huge change for the WTO, whose objective is breaking down trade barriers. On the other hand, the WTO insists that it is doable to require import tariffs if the taxes are also forced on a country’s own industry to guarantee an even playing field.
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