The United Kingdom's Strategy for Carbon Border Adjustment in a Changing Global Landscape

This report analyzes the proposed United Kingdom Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), comparing its design and implementation to the European Union's CBAM and evaluating its potential impacts on industries, trading partners, and developing nations.

• The proposed UK CBAM is intended to prevent carbon leakage, which occurs when UK sectors subject to carbon pricing face competition from jurisdictions with less stringent policies.
• The UK CBAM differs from the EU CBAM in its sectoral scope—including glass and ceramics while excluding electricity—and its timeline, as the UK proposal does not include a transitional period.
• The UK government plans to apply the CBAM equally to all countries regardless of development status, which may pose challenges for least developed countries (LDCs) and developing countries due to limited capacities for measuring and reporting emissions.
• Stakeholder consultations highlighted three primary challenges: the lack of a transition period leading to implementation difficulties, potential negative impacts on trade and partners, and the necessity of accounting for the specific circumstances of LDCs and smaller developing countries.
• The report concludes that the UK should align its mechanism with the EU CBAM as much as possible to ensure smooth implementation and prevent the creation of redundant administrative and bureaucratic burdens for trading partners.

APA

Xie,, C. A. F. (2024). The United Kingdom's Strategy for Carbon Border Adjustment in a Changing Global Landscape. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/border-carbon-adjustments-united-kingdom

Chicago

Xie,, Chris Aylett,Antony Froggatt,Chengkai. The United Kingdom's Strategy for Carbon Border Adjustment in a Changing Global Landscape. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2024. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/border-carbon-adjustments-united-kingdom.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Xie, |first1=Chris Aylett,Antony Froggatt,Chengkai |title=The United Kingdom's Strategy for Carbon Border Adjustment in a Changing Global Landscape |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=30 July 2024 |url=https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/border-carbon-adjustments-united-kingdom |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{xie2024united, author = {Xie,, Chris Aylett,Antony Froggatt,Chengkai}, title = {{The United Kingdom's Strategy for Carbon Border Adjustment in a Changing Global Landscape}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2024}, month = jul, url = {https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/border-carbon-adjustments-united-kingdom}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }