Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism: its rationale and challenges | Peter Vis

This is the first podcast of the series “Spot on Climate” of the Climate area of the Florence School of Regulation. In this podcast, Research Associate Albert FERRARI converses with Peter VIS, Senior Advisor at Rud Pedersen Public Affairs and Senior Research Associate at the School of Transnational Governance. This first episode focuses on the rationale and the challenges behind the possible Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) through a discussion on these two questions:

– What is the case for a CBAM?
– How might it work?

The European Commission will be presenting in June 2021 a proposal for a CBAM for certain imported products to reduce the risk of carbon leakage, which is the risk of companies transferring production to countries that are less strict about emissions. With a CBAM, the price of imports would reflect more accurately their carbon content. This would ensure that the EU’s climate objectives are not undermined by production relocating to countries with less ambitious policies. Listen to the interview, and stay tuned for the next episode with Peter VIS on the design and implementation of the CBAM in practice.