On 9th December (Saturday), a senior official of the European Parliament expressed dissatisfaction with concerted attempts against New Delhi over pollution and wrongly clubbing India with major emitters like China, the US, and Gulf nations. Speaking with PTI at the UN climate talks in Dubai, Peter Liese, a German politician and a member of the European Parliament asserted that clubbing India with emitters like China and the US is completely unacceptable as India’s per capita emissions are “very low”.

He emphasised, “Indian people should be able to own a car when people in Germany own two cars.” 

Liese added, “It is very important to acknowledge for everybody that per capita emissions of the UAE, China, and the US… they are very different from India. Many people in Europe put China and India in the same basket and sometimes even with the Gulf states which is completely unacceptable. India has very low per capita emissions compared to these countries.” 

Notably, India has been facing concerted efforts that attempt to club it with major emitters like the US at climate negotiations despite its low per capita emissions.

Earlier this week, a global team of scientists released a report highlighting that India’s per capita carbon dioxide emissions were less than half of the global average even though it rose by around five per cent last year to reach 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide. 

The team of scientists pointed out that the United States topped the per capita emissions chart. The report revealed that on average every individual in the US emits 14.9 tonnes of CO₂. This is followed by Russia (11.4), Japan (8.5), China (8), and the European Union (6.2), whereas, the average global per capita emission stood at 4.7 tonnes.

Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism: EU’s border taxation

The European Union has been planning to impose a border tax on energy-intensive goods from developing countries like India. This enraged a debate at the international climate conference in Dubai as poorer countries firmly argued that this tax would harm livelihoods and economic growth. The aim of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is to set a fair price on the carbon emitted during the production of energy-intensive products like iron, steel, cement, fertilizers, and aluminium in countries outside the EU. 

It is claimed that this will serve two purposes. First, it will create a level playing field for domestically manufactured green goods. Second, it plans to reduce emissions from imports which account for around 20 percent of the bloc’s total emissions. 

The implementation of the carbon tax is scheduled for 1st January 2026. Throughout the trial period, initiated on 1st October 2023, companies in seven carbon-intensive sectors, including steel, cement, fertilizer, aluminum, and hydrocarbon products, are required to disclose emissions data to the EU.

Regarding this controversial CBAM, Liese said meeting the bloc’s climate promises is “just not possible” without it. 

The EU has committed to achieving a reduction of at least 55 percent in emissions by the year 2030, in comparison to the levels observed in 1990.

Liese added, “Despite low per capita emissions, India’s cement, iron, and steel are as carbon-intensive as produced elsewhere in the world. So we need to find a good balance here.” 

The EU implements stringent regulations on carbon emissions through its ‘Emissions Trading System,’ which places caps on emissions for industries and allows them to purchase ‘allowances’ if they surpass their limits. However, the bloc is concerned that this strict approach could lead some businesses to relocate to countries with more lenient rules, a phenomenon known as carbon leakage. 

According to a recent study by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (2021), the introduction of CBAM and a USD 44 per tonne carbon tax would reduce leakage by over half, from 13.3 percent to 5.2 percent.

Further, a New Delhi-based public policy think tank Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) conducted a study regarding the impact of this border taxation (CBAM) on India’s exporters. According to their study, Indian exporters of steel and aluminium could lose up to USD 2 billion due to border taxation in European countries. It is important to note that India was the eighth-largest exporter of iron and steel to the EU in 2019. 

It is believed although carbon taxes could encourage producers to lower emissions, it may divert the focus of resource-deficient nations from adapting to climate impacts to prioritizing emission reduction.