Following the positive vote by MEPs last week, the EU Member States approved, on Tuesday 25 April, a number of key texts to give concrete effect to the entry into force of the carbon market reform, the real pillar of the EU's « Green Deal »European climate plan. Remember that Brussels wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 and aims at carbon neutrality in 2050 (cf.European climate plan: carbon and kerosene taxes on the programme).
One « Carbon adjustment mechanism at borders » (in English, Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism or CBAM),carbon tax at EU borders, will gradually take place between 2026 and 2034 in order to tax certain industrial imports (steel, aluminium, cement, fertilizer, electricity, hydrogen) on emissions related to their production. The goal? Avoid the relocation of industrialists outside the EU and encourage third countries to adopt European standards. A test period should start in October 2023, during which importers will initially have to comply with a simple reporting obligation. In parallel, the EU will have to abolish the free emission allowances currently granted to European industrialists to enable them to compete outside Europe before 2034, when the carbon tax at borders will be fully effective.
Another new measure: the carbon market will extend to the maritime and air sectors. Ship operators will therefore have to pay for their carbon emissions. On the air side, only intra-European flights will be involved. Long-haul flights generate half of the emissions of CO2 and oxides of nitrogen, even if they account for only 6% of flights in the European economic area.
On Wednesday, 19 April, the European Parliament also adopted a new law under the Green Deal to ban imports from the European Union of products derived from deforestation such as cocoa, coffee, soya, palm oil or rubber (cf.CSR: proposal for a European regulation against deforestation). Clauses are provided to extend the text to other products (e.g. corn) and forest ecosystems other than forests.
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