Beware of carbon tariffs to protect environmental protection from protectionism

In the middle of this year, some developed countries have suggested that in response to climate change, they will set limits on their domestic enterprises ' carbon dioxide emissions, exceeding the limit of some companies to pay "emissions costs."　　These countries stated that, as many developing countries did not take similar measures against their enterprises, "carbon tariffs" would be levied on developing countries ' exports in order to eliminate the resulting unfair competition. This seems "reasonable", but in practice it is untenable. Historically, greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere are largely discharged by developed countries in their long process of industrialization, and the developed countries have an unshirkable historical responsibility for climate change.　　Developed countries set emissions limits for their businesses, a responsibility that must be shouldered to "pay off environmental history". Moreover, in accordance with the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities", developing countries should not undertake emission reduction obligations beyond their economic and social affordability.　　If the developed countries levy "carbon tariffs", they deliberately violate this principle and force the developing countries to bear the obligations that they should not have undertaken. While the current "carbon tariffs" are still under discussion and have not yet been put into practice, some signs of development deserve vigilance. The United States House of Representatives voted on June 26 this year, the U.S. Clean Energy Security Act, for the first time proposed "carbon tariffs" related provisions.　　Under this clause, if the United States does not join the relevant international multilateral agreements, since 2020, the U.S. president will be entitled to the failure to reduce greenhouse gases in the country's steel, cement, glass and paper imports of "border adjustment" measures, that is, these products can be levied "carbon tariffs." After that, France, on November 24, at an informal meeting of EU member States, despite opposition from other EU Member States, unilaterally proposed that "carbon tariffs" be levied on products imported from countries that are less stringent than the EU in environmental legislation from 2010 onwards.　　According to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's proposal, the "carbon tariff" rate levied on foreign imports will be 17 euros per tonne of carbon dioxide, and will be progressively increased thereafter. Shong, deputy director of the research Room of China National People's Congress on Environment and Resource protection, said in an interview with Xinhua news agency that the imposition of "carbon tariffs" blurs the "common but differentiated responsibility" principle, which is to assume responsibility for climate change victims to replace climate change.　　China's Ministry of Commerce spokesman Yao Jian had previously said that "carbon tariffs" is "in the name of environmental protection, trade protection of the real". (Xinhua News agency, Beijing, December 9)