A proposal to impose "carbon tariffs" on imported products will violate the rules of the World Trade Organisation as well as the spirit of the Kyoto Protocol, China's Ministry of Commerce said. In a statement posted on its website, the ministry said collecting carbon duties from foreign products would enable developed countries to "protect trade in the name of protecting the environment".
"This will not help strengthen confidence that the international community can cooperate to handle the crisis, it also will not help any country's endeavours during the climate change negotiations, and China is strongly opposed to it," the statement said. The United States, Canada and the European Commission have all put forward proposals to "level the playing field" by raising duties on imports from countries that are not making the same effort to reduce greenhouse gases.
But the ministry said the proposals would run against the spirit of the Kyoto Protocol principle that developed countries should bear the bulk of the burden when it comes to reducing carbon emissions. Carbon tariffs would also "seriously hurt the interests of developing countries" and "disrupt the order of international trade," it said.
The first phase of Kyoto is set to expire in 2012, and final negotiations on a new global climate change pact are set to be completed in the Danish capital of Copenhagen at the end of the year. China has called on developed countries to commit to deeper cuts in their CO2 emissions but has baulked at the idea that developing nations should pledge similar reduction targets.
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