Carbon Border Tax call in fight to cut emissions

THE Government should introduce a Carbon Border Tax to stop the UK hiding its true emissions, the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) has said.

The CPS said imposing a Carbon Border Tax on the steel, coal and electricity sectors would reduce global emissions and allow the Government to better support domestic industries.

While the Government is taking its commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050 “seriously”, the importing of electricity, carbon-intensive goods and raw materials from overseas allows some carbon emissions to be hidden, a paper produced by the think tank said.

The CPS added that agreeing a Carbon Border Tax as part of the upcoming COP26 agenda offered a chance for Britain “to show global leadership”.

The Government’s policy of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050 did not address the increasing offshoring of emissions, the paper said.

It added that emissions from imported goods and raw materials, including coal, steel and electricity, were not included in UK statistics, which allowed the UK to continue to use energy generated from fossil fuels and other energyintensive products while appearing to meet emissions targets.

“Carbon offshoring” not only hid the real picture in terms of emissions, but also discriminated against companies which were subject to climate levies such as the Carbon Price Floor, the study entitled The Great Carbon Swindle said.

It added that, while the use of coal power in the UK had been slashed, the country was importing millions of tonnes from overseas for industrial use, particularly in the steel industry.