US special climate envoy John Kerry called the EU’s proposed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) “a reasonable idea” in an interview with Euractiv.
Since the publication of the European Commission’s proposal in July (see EUROPE 12762/5), many of the EU’s partner countries, including the United States, have expressed concern about the economic impact of the CBAM.
“We are exploring this and other ideas. It may become a tool that we have no choice but to use if other countries are not serious enough about reducing carbon”, Kerry added.
On 9 December, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he wanted to “finalise” the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism during the French Presidency of the EU Council between January and July 2022. His finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, gave the same message on 10 December.
However, the vote on the text in the European Parliament, which triggers the inter-institutional negotiations, is unlikely to happen before June 2022. The vote in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) will not take place until March and there are still many disagreements in the European Parliament on certain aspects of the text. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)