This study analyses the economic and political consequences of introducing a tax on the carbon content of imported goods at EU borders and whether such a tax would be compatible with WTO rules. The major findings are: 1. A CO2 border tax or import tariff would increase global welfare; 2. Such a...

As part of its Green Deal, the European Commission is considering the introduction of border carbon adjustments and alternative measures. The measures, which would primarily apply to basic materials like steel and cement, pursue a double objective: they are aimed at enhancing the effectiveness...

This paper explores whether governments can ban carbon-intensive materials through product carbon requirements. By setting near-zero emission limits for the production of materials to be sold within a jurisdiction, governments would accelerate the phase out of carbon-intensive production...

The issue of carbon border tax adjustment (CBTA) has been coming up for the last few years as a viable policy alternative from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The economic rationale is that when a domestic producer is subject to a domestic carbon emission taxation and faces competition with an...

The article addresses border tax adjustment from the perspective of world trade law. This classical instrument of foreign trade provides a level playing field for certain goods by adjusting the indirect taxes and charges to the level of the destination country. Particular problems have arisen...

Among the issues that have fuelled the debates on the climate-trade interface in the run-up to Copenhagen, perhaps the most contested one is the proposed use by developed countries of border measures on imports from countries (read ‘major-emitting’ developing countries) not implementing...