The European Union's CBAM as a de facto Climate Club The Governance Challenges

Szulecki K, Overland I, Smith I D

Abstract: The European Commission has announced far-reaching reforms to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Among the proposals constituting the European Green Deal is the adoption of a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to prevent carbon leakage. In practice, however, CBAM will not only act as a shield for the European Emissions Trading System (ETS) but also incentivize other countries to implement compatible carbon pricing schemes. We argue that the EU’s CBAM thus de facto has the features of a climate club, but the current proposals and debate do not address how the club would be governed. While the literature focuses on legal and economic aspects of CBAM design, there is little debate about the governance challenges it entails. We identify two major challenges. CBAM will put pressure on trade partners to introduce carbon pricing and/or bring it into line with the price of EU ETS allowances. However, the future availability and thus price of ETS allowances is determined within the EU. Secondly, the method for calculating embedded carbon is left to the discretion of the European Commission. EU policymakers need to acknowledge the challenges that follow from setting up a de facto climate club, and that addressing them involves a trade-off between maintaining control over the direction and ambition of climate policy and CBAM’s legitimacy.

欧盟CBAM作为事实上的气候俱乐部：治理挑战

Szulecki K, Overland I, Smith I D

摘要：欧盟委员会宣布了深远的改革，以加速减少温室气体排放。在构成《欧洲绿色协议》的提议中，有一项是采用碳边界调整机制(CBAM)来防止碳泄漏。然而，在实践中，碳定价机制不仅将作为欧洲排放交易体系(ETS)的盾牌，而且还将激励其他国家实施兼容的碳定价机制。我们认为，欧盟的CBAM实际上具有气候俱乐部的特征，但目前的提案和辩论没有解决如何管理俱乐部的问题。虽然文献集中在CBAM设计的法律和经济方面，但对其带来的治理挑战几乎没有争论。我们确定了两大挑战。CBAM将对贸易伙伴施加压力，要求其引入碳定价或使其与欧盟排放交易体系的配额价格保持一致。然而，排放交易体系配额的未来可用性及其价格是由欧盟内部决定的。其次，计算碳排放量的方法由欧盟委员会自行决定。欧盟的政策制定者需要认识到建立一个事实上的气候俱乐部所带来的挑战，而解决这些挑战需要在保持对气候政策方向和目标的控制与CBAM的合法性之间进行权衡。

文章来源：Szulecki, K., Overland, I., & Smith, I. D. (2022). The European Union's CBAM as a de facto Climate Club: The Governance Challenges. Frontiers in Climate, 4, 942583.