Peter Balás内部能源和环境

十二点知识即将到来欧盟碳边界调整机制

Candido García Molyneux、Peter Balás和Paul Mertenskötter — 元2021年6月14日 21:40:04+00

The European Commission is currently discussing a draft of a proposal for a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism ("CBAM") Regulation that it is expected to present on July 14, 2021. A CBAM was already announced in the European Commission's Communication for a Green Deal and is intended to protect the EU's domestic industry that is at risk of carbon leakage—to create a level playing field—and to serve as a policy tool to encourage third countries to reduce their greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions.

The CBAM draft proposal is subject to intense negotiations among the different Directorates-General of the European Commission, and it is likely that it will be amended several times before the Commission finally presents it on July 14. Nevertheless, the draft already suggests that the CBAM proposal will require importers of covered goods into the EU to purchase and surrender a number of CBAM certificates that reflect the goods' embedded emissions.依据欧洲议会s/www.europara.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2021-0071_EN.html>决议 ,CBAM建议可能包含以下元素:

Produce: 此外,CBAM覆盖电量欧盟委员会将拥有增减覆盖区的权力,例如,它后可能包括纸张、玻璃和化学物,因为欧洲议会s/www.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2021-0071_EN.htmlCBAM管理局将保留所有授权声明者及其持有的CBAM证书部分公开注册表。 CBAM声明和证书:>/strong>每年5月31日前,授权声明者需向CBAM管理局提交CBAM声明,反映上个日历年所进口物品所嵌入的排放量和CBAM证书数与声明者交出进口物品所嵌总排放量相对应CBAM证书匹配一吨COsub>2 或等效温室气体排放嵌入经授权声明者进口的货物中。总则是CBAM证书数必须等于输入货物总嵌入式排放量。所申报的嵌入式排放必须由经CBAM管理局认证的独立验证者验证。 Product碳脚本法: CBAM声明必须包含日历年所输入总量,以兆瓦时表示电量,用公吨表示其他货物乘以嵌入式排放The embedded emissions include direct and indirect (electricity) emissions released during the production of a goods. They would also include the emissions of input products within the system boundaries that the Commission would define. Neither the methodology nor other elements of the CBAM seem to take into account the different levels of development of countries across the globe, particularly in the developing world. Depending on how this issue is ultimately addressed, the CBAM may raise questions of compliance with WTO law.

Emission Reduction Efforts in Third Countries: The draft CBAM proposal tries to take into account the emission reduction efforts of third countries where the imported goods are manufactured.Authorized declarants may claim a reduction in the number of CBAM certificates that they must surrender corresponding to the carbon price paid in the goods' country of origin. This carbon price would be the amount paid in the third county in the form of a tax or emissions allowances under a GHG emissions trading system, which would have to be proved and certified. The EU may conclude agreements with third countries in order to take into account their carbon pricing mechanisms. The draft proposal does not seem to allow for taking into account measures other than taxes or cap-and trade systems to reduce emissions in third counties.

Continuation of Free Allowances for EU Sectors at Risk of Carbon Leakage and Adjustments to the CBAM Declaration: The draft CBAM proposal foresees that during an initial period to be specified, EU installations at risk of carbon leakage would continue to receive free allowances under the EU ETS.在此期间,授权声明者必须上交的CBAM证书将减少以反映继续向欧盟国内产业分配免费津贴的程度有必要作此调整,以确保CBAM符合WTO法律。

pricesCBAM证书: CBAM证书价格将反映EUETS准值价格The CBAM Authority would be empowered to sell CBAM certificates to authorized declarants at a price reflecting the average weekly closing price of all auctions of the EU ETS allowances. Arguably, authorized declarants would be able to purchase the CBAM certificates any time before the surrendering date, but the CBAM authority would only be required to repurchase the declarant's excess certificates to a maximum of 10% of all the certificates purchased by the declarant during the prior year. All other certificates in excess of 10% would be canceled each year at the end of the reporting year. The wording of the draft proposal seems to suggest that authorized declarants would not be able to sell their CBAM certificates to other authorized declarants or third parties.

Penalties: Authorized declarants that fail to surrender by May 31 of each year a number of CBAM certificates corresponding to the embedded emissions in their imported goods or that submit false information would be liable to a penalty equivalent to three times the prior year's average price of CBAM certificates that the declarant failed to surrender.

Transitional Period: The draft CBAM proposal also foresees an initial transitional period of three years.During this period, customs authorities of the Member States would have to ensure that declarants of covered imported goods and electricity pay a CBAM price. This CBAM price would reflect the average weekly price of the EU ETS allowance, multiplied by the embedded emissions of the imported goods, which would be calculated on the basis of the default values that reflect the average (rather than the worst 10%) emissions of the EU-based production of similar goods, unless the third country can demonstrate that the average emission intensity of a product in the third country is lower.

Not a Tax: The European Commission seems determined to ensure that the CBAM is not a tax under EU law, in order to facilitate the European Parliament's and Council's adoption of the CBAM Regulation through the ordinary legislative procedure without the need for unanimity among the Member States. The CBAM Regulation would be based on Article 192(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (e., the clause to adopt EU environmental legislation), which also raises a question about the extent to which Member States could create their own CBAMs to cover additional industrial sectors.

Ordinary Legislative Procedure: As indicated above, once the Commission presents its proposed CBAM Regulation, the proposal would have to go through the ordinary legislative procedure in the Parliament and Council. This process is likely to take at least one year (and on overage it would take over 18 months) and will provide Member States and Members of the European Parliament with the opportunities to introduce significant changes. This procedure will also provide industry, trade associations, and third countries with opportunities to influence the wording of the CBAM Regulation that the EU finally adopts.

In addition to the details of the CBAM Regulation yet to be concluded by the EU, it also remains to be seen how the EU's pending efforts to adopt the CBAM will affect other international carbon pricing and climate mitigation efforts. However, the timing of the EU's movement on the CBAM is significant in the context of the G7 Communiqué from the Cornwall meeting, which "acknowledge[s] the risk of carbon leakage" and "recognise[s] the potential of high integrity carbon markets and carbon pricing to foster cost-efficient reductions in emissions levels, drive innovation and enable a transformation to net zero." These actions provide important fodder for the prospect of a more significant international agreement on carbon pricing as momentum continues to build toward the Glasgow COP 26 in November.

边界绿色协议:启动欧盟碳边界调整机制公共咨询

Péter Balás、Candido García Molyneux、Sinéad Oryszczuk和Paul Mertenskötter — Tue, 28JL202020:03:40+00

s/ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-规范/Have-our-say/itiatives/12228-Carbon边界调整-Mechanism/public-consultation万博体育app手机登录This consultation is yet another of the initiatives that the Commission is taking to roll out its ambitious European Green Deal (for a recent overview webinar see here). Manufacturers in virtually all industrial sectors and their trade associations would be wise to assess the potential impact of the CBAM on the products they market in Europe and to consider participating in the public consultation and comment process.

Europe's discussions on the introduction of a CBAM are at the crossroads of two priority regulatory areas for the EU. On the one hand, the CBAM initiative is part of the Green Deal, which has now become the main driver for the EU's recovery plan in response to the COVID-19 crisis. On the other hand, the CBAM fits with the EU's industrial strategic objective to "level the playing field" between companies in the EU and those competing from elsewhere. This agenda for a "level playing field" finds additional manifestations in the European Commission's recent announcement on the screening of foreign direct investment and foreign subsidies.

The European Commission's proposed goal that the EU achieves climate neutrality by 2050 has reinforced the position of those advocating for the need to adopt a CBAM. Supporters of the CBAM claim that it will ensure that all goods consumed in the EU/EEA, whether imported or produced domestically, are treated the same way and will push other countries across the world to also decarbonize. In line with this, in its Communication on a European Green Deal in December 2019, the European Commission announced that "should differences in levels of ambition worldwide persist, as the EU increases its climate ambition, the Commission will propose a carbon border adjustment mechanism, for selected sectors, to reduce the risk of carbon leakage. This would ensure that the price of imports reflect more accurately their carbon content." The Commission's Inception Impact Assessment on the Adjustment Mechanism also stated that the mechanism "would ensure that the price of imports reflect more accurately their carbon content. The measure would need to be designed to comply with World Trade Organization rules and other international obligations of the EU."

Half a year and a pandemic after the European Commission's announcement of its Green Deal, the EU and many of its Member States appear firmly committed to adopting some sort of CBAM. Indeed, the fact that the CBAM sits at the crossroads of the Green Deal and the EU's level playing field strategy strongly suggests that the Commission and later the European Parliament and Council will move swiftly on this legislative file. The European Parliament has already been working on its own initiative, and the European Commission is expected to present a formal legislative proposal to the Parliament and Council in 2021.

In principle, the CBAM could cover all sectors subject to the EU's Emissions Trading System ("ETS"). However, at this stage, the thinking within the European Commission seems to be converging initially on only subjecting the steel and cement industries to the CBAM. Steel and cement products are energy intensive in their production and their low-cost, heavy, and bulky nature means that their transport is, in terms of relative price, also often energy intensive.这可能是为什么委员会可能认为这些产品特别适合CBAM, 并测试后期对其他产品的潜在扩展委员会内部的这种思维当然取决于未来数月公共咨询和其他交换结果。

CBAM委员会咨询提出了重要的气候、国际贸易、开发和经济问题。列举几个例子:

应面向特定行业( g./em>、水泥和钢材)或横向应用所有工业生产?

严格适用边界税或加入现有的ETS机制,或为欧盟内部经济活动规定新义务?
欧盟如何能够开发客观方法计算产品碳足迹?

To which minimum standards should these non-EU emissions trading schemes be subject?

Should the introduction of a CBAM mean the complete end of free ETS allowances for industrial sectors suffering from "carbon leakage"?

What design would be necessary to ensure the CBAM's compliance with the EU's international economic law obligations, particularly those of the World Trade Organization, bilateral trade agreements between the EU and third countries, and multilateral environmental agreements that call for "common but differentiated responsibilities" in the fight against climate change?

The consultation's specifically listed questions touch upon the general issues outlined above and cover four principal areas:

Justification and objectives (g., is the Green Deal going to increase "carbon leakage"?).

Design and coverage (g., the relationship with the ETS).

Specific implementation issues (g., how to calculate and verify the carbon content of imported products).

Potential impacts on the economy, the environment, and other social objectives (g., changes to the costs of products covering basic needs).

Interested parties may submit comments to the specific questions in these areas as well as more general arguments on the CBAM until October 28, 2020.

气候变化:欧盟走向碳边界调整机制

Péter Balás、Candido García Molyneux和Paul Mertenskötter — Wed,11 Mar-202018:12:00+00
s/ec.europa.eu/info/sites/infos/files/european-green-deal通信en.pdfIt presented a proposal for a European Climate Law and two consultations on its announced Climate Pact and Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism ("CBAM").

The European Commission intends to present a proposal for a CBAM by the summer of 2021. The consultation (currently first as a so-called "feedback period") on the CBAM is intended to allow stakeholders to give their views on the different aspects of the possible mechanism discussed in the Commission's Inception Impact Assessment.

The idea of a CBAM has been considered in the EU and elsewhere for many years.As the argument goes, the need for such an adjustment is based on the reasoning that European trade-exposed energy-intensive industries that are subject to the EU's Emissions Trading System ("ETS") and other EU climate standards are at a disadvantage against foreign producers that are not subject to similar emission reduction requirements. This, in turn, results in foreign producers increasing their emissions despite European industries' efforts, i.e. so-called "carbon leakage."

The European Commission's proposed goal that the EU achieves climate neutrality by 2050 has reinforced the position of those advocating for the need to adopt a CBAM. Supporters of the CBAM claim that it will ensure that all goods consumed in the EU/EEA, whether imported or produced domestically, are treated the same way and encourage other countries across the world to also decarbonize. In line with this, in its Communication on an European Green Deal of December 2019, the Commission announced that "should differences in levels of ambition worldwide persist, as the EU increases its climate ambition, the Commission will propose a carbon border adjustment mechanism, for selected sectors, to reduce the risk of carbon leakage.This would ensure that the price of imports reflect more accurately their carbon content."

In its Inception Impact Assessment, the Commission reiterates this position and states that "[a]s long as many international partners do not share the same climate ambition as the EU, there is a risk of carbon leakage." The Inception Impact Assessment also states that the mechanism "would ensure that the price of imports reflect more accurately their carbon content. The measure would need to be designed to comply with World Trade Organization rules and other international obligations of the EU." Not surprisingly, it also states that the mechanism "would be an alternative to the measures that currently address the risk of carbon leakage under the EU ETS." Indeed, the introduction of a carbon adjustment mechanism would likely mean that industries covered by the mechanism would no longer benefit from free allowances under the EU ETS.

The Inception Impact Assessment also clarifies that the development of a CBAM would be based on three building blocks: (i) a legal instrument, which could for example include a carbon tax on selected products, a new carbon customs duty or tax on imports, or the extension of the EU ETS to imports!方法化方法评价进口产品的碳含量和碳定价机制可能仅限于某些工业部门( e.g/em>/em.水泥)。
CBAM委员会咨询产生重要的气候、国际贸易、开发和经济问题。列举几个例子:

调整机制面向特定行业(em>g.g./em>、水泥、铝、钢或化工)或横向应用所有工业生产审慎方法由委员会审议并先注重一两个部门,如水泥等实验项目,从头向所有工业部门介绍CBAM有可能增加法律挑战风险基于从选定实验项目中取得的经验,欧盟日后可决定是否并按什么条件将CBAM扩展至其他部门。

关键问题CBAM可行性在采行机制前,应说明欧盟将如何获取第三国产品碳足迹的可靠和可核查信息There is a major risk that third countries may either not cooperate and not provide any data, or even if they do cooperate, provide data that it is not reliable. In order to limit the risks of legal challenges, the EU should have a clear idea on how to deal with lack of reliable data from third countries before it takes any steps to introduce the CBAM.

Moreover, even if reliable data can be obtained from third countries, the EU should consider how to deal with situations where two identical or similar products have different levels of carbon footprint due to their different production methods and technologies. Should the EU in such cases apply a different border tax or levy?相同或相似产品这种不同处理方式如何与世贸法相容?

非欧盟排放交易计划应服从哪些最低标准相关问题中,会不会有某种碳足迹水平的微量 ,下方不适用边界税?世贸国家之间是否有差别? g. 接受一组定义(小型或脆弱)发展中国家更高不可诉最小度?