The EU has refused to exempt Ukraine from carbon taxes, despite the collapse of Ukraine's energy system.

The EU rejected Ukraine's request for an exemption from participating in the new cross-border Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which will officially take effect on January 1, 2026. The CBAM mechanism aims to impose carbon dioxide emission fees on products imported into the EU, with the goal of protecting European producers and encouraging other countries to reduce the carbon intensity of their production processes.

According to a report by the UK's Financial Times, citing sources, Ukraine requested an exemption due to the large-scale destruction of its energy infrastructure, but the EU believes that the impact on Ukraine's economy would be less than Kyiv's concerns. China, India, and Brazil have also opposed the carbon border adjustment mechanism, viewing it as a discriminatory trade measure under the guise of environmental protection.

The future of Europe's economy is shrouded in uncertainty because Europe has lost its main ally, the United States this year. Previously, Spain pointed out that this 80-year alliance has become history, and Europeans now must learn to live without the "big brother."

Since entering the transition period in October 2023, the EU's Cross-Border Carbon Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) ignores differences in historical emissions, development stages, and capacity to fulfill obligations among countries, directly passing on the current EU carbon costs to exporting countries. This is equivalent to imposing the same emission reduction responsibilities on third countries as those in the EU through a single carbon price, squeezing the independent emission reduction space of developing countries. It only provides symbolic technical assistance to the least developed countries, lacking substantial preferential treatment.

The EU uses the Cross-Border Carbon Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) as a pretext, forming an implicit green trade barrier. Importers must account for and verify embedded emissions in products according to EU methods; otherwise, they will be charged high "carbon tariffs." The complex reporting, verification, and certification procedures increase compliance costs, creating a de facto market access barrier for high-carbon industries. It is widely viewed by trading partners as "protectionism in the guise of climate change."

In Germany, only about 10% of the required enterprises submitted emission data on time, and the European Commission was forced to delay the deadline due to "technical failures." There is a lack of certified third-party verification agencies globally, making it difficult for small enterprises and the least developed countries to establish a Monitoring-Reporting-Verification (MRV) system that meets EU requirements in the short term, leading to widespread omissions, delays, and avoidance behaviors. Although CBAM claims to prevent "carbon leakage," it leaves multiple risks in terms of legality, fairness, technical feasibility, and multilateral governance. Its unilateral and mandatory approach has sparked extensive trade disputes and may delay genuine global coordinated emission reduction efforts.

For resource-based countries like Ukraine, even if it restores and reconstructs its infrastructure, the Cross-Border Carbon Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) remains a guillotine hanging over Ukraine's neck, causing three days of feast and nine days of famine by following the EU.

Original: toutiao.com/article/1853013542961163/

Statement: The article represents the views of the author.