Trade war looms large on UN Climate Change Conference (COP 25)

The largest forum for action on Climate Change – UN Climate Change Conference 2019 – is witnessing a new trade conflict between the European Union (EU) and China.

As climate change activists from across the world are urging the nations for immediate action, a new trade war seems to be looming large on the UN Climate Change Conference 2019 (COP25). After withdrawal of the United States from Paris Agreement due to ensuing US-China trade war, the dragon has locked horns with the European Union to protect its trade interests on the issue of ‘carbon border taxation’.

The proposed tax is aimed to prohibit the entry of commodities in the European Union which are not manufactured in climate neutral way or green technologies. “We shouldn’t want to bring in products that are cheaper because they have not taken the environment into account,” said Mr. Frans Timmermans in the EU Parliament  on November 20. He incharge of the climate change related issues of the EU. The new taxation will serve the business interests of the EU companies as it will guarantee them profits even if their product cost goes up for implementing green technologies to cut greenhouse emissions. Though Timmermans has assured that if the economies like China and India comply to the green technologies, they will be exempted but the proposed tax is being seen as a ‘protection’ to home firms and also a move of EU towards ‘closed market economy’. 

China has registered protest as it believes that the proposed tax will make the Chinese commodities costlier in the EU markets. “We need to prevent unilateralism and protectionism from hurting global growth expectations and the will of countries to combat climate change together,” said Zhao Yingmin, China's vice environment minister to media on Wednesday. According to a report of United Nations, China's annual emissions in 2018 were double in comparison to the US. However, in terms of per capita income China is at par with Japan and the EU. 

As the Conference of Parties (COP 25) is going to meet in Madrid city of Spain on 2nd to 13th December, the issue is being seen as a major hurdle between both the economies in reaching any agreement for reducing greenhouse emissions. 

The Annual Emissions Gap Report 2019 of the UN highlighted that about 78 percent greenhouse emissions are caused by the G20 countries. “The ten years’ data shows that the gap between actual emission and estimated emissions to prevent global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030 is not closing. As the things stand, the temperature of the earth could rise by 3.2 degrees Celsius causing large scale devastation,” said the report. 

Meanwhile, the United States (USA) which had announced its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in 2017 due to ensuing trade war with China, formally submitted notice to the UN on November 4 to initiative proceedings for its dissociation from Conference of Parties (COP) of the UN Conference on Climate Change (UNCCC) which is organized annually in pursuance to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted in 1992.