Why the EU's proposed CBAM must not be used to launch a carbon club

The author contends that 'carbon clubs'—coordinated carbon border levies among a group of countries—are a counterproductive approach to climate action that could undermine the Paris Agreement and be perceived as protectionist. The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), scheduled for implementation in early 2023, is described not as a global template but as a specific domestic tool to prevent carbon leakage as free emissions allowances in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) are phased out. The text warns that such clubs may alienate key partners like China and India and suggests that the global community should instead prioritize shared methods for measuring and tracing the carbon content of goods to facilitate industrial decarbonization.

• The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is intended as a domestic measure to prevent carbon leakage—where production shifts to countries with lower carbon costs—resulting from the phase-out of free emissions allowances in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS).
• The concept of 'carbon clubs'—coordinated carbon border levies among a group of nations—is viewed as a simplistic and potentially harmful approach that could be seen as protectionist and undermine the multilateral spirit of the Paris Agreement.
• The EU's CBAM is not a universal template for all imports; tracking carbon content for complex consumer goods with long supply chains is considered practically impossible.
• There is a critical need for a shared international approach to measuring and tracing the carbon content of traded goods to support industrial transition and move past the divisive debate over carbon clubs.

APA

Baron, B. L. R. (2021). Why the EU's proposed CBAM must not be used to launch a carbon club. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/eu-carbon-border-clubs-climate-cbam/

Chicago

Baron, Bernice Lee, Richard. Why the EU's proposed CBAM must not be used to launch a carbon club. World Economic Forum, 2021. https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/eu-carbon-border-clubs-climate-cbam/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Baron |first1=Bernice Lee, Richard |title=Why the EU's proposed CBAM must not be used to launch a carbon club |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=2 June 2021 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/eu-carbon-border-clubs-climate-cbam/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{baron2021why, author = {Baron, Bernice Lee, Richard}, title = {{Why the EU's proposed CBAM must not be used to launch a carbon club}}, publisher = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2021}, month = jun, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/eu-carbon-border-clubs-climate-cbam/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }