Roger Harrabin has the story over at BBC News:
The president of the European Commmission has threatened to impose carbon tariffs on imports unless the US agrees to a global climate change deal … He said foreign firms should be forced to purchase the same EU carbon allowances European firms would have to buy, thereby levelling the industrial playing field.
The threat of trade measures is the nuclear bomb of climate negotiations – and the commission president said he very much hoped it would not be used. He said his preferred option was for a comprehensive global treaty on emissions. His fall-back was a global sectoral agreement imposing uniform standards on energy-intensive export industries.
If these failed, he would either protect Europe’s industries by giving them all their carbon allowances in the European Trading System (ETS) free of charge, or charge importers at the same rate for the allowances: “I think we should be ready to continue to give the energy-intensive industries their ETS allowances free of charge – or to require importers to obtain allowances alongside European competitors, as long as this system is compatible with WTO requirements.”
Update: the Press Association is running that the UK government has already come out against Barroso’s call. Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks has said “We are against any measures which might look like trade barriers. There is always the danger that the protectionists in Europe – and they do exist – could use this as a kind of secret weapon to bring about protectionism.”
