Musings From Abroad

South Africa might drag EU to WTO over carbon border charge

Published

4 months ago

May 24, 2024

South Africa’s Trade Minister, Ebrahim Patel, says his country is considering filing a formal protest at the World Trade Organization over the European Union’s “protectionist” carbon border charge on his country.

The steel industry in China and other developing countries have criticized the EU’s proposed carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) which would charge imports of carbon-intensive goods entering Europe, including steel and cement.

The world’s first carbon border charge was introduced by the EU in October, and starting in 2026, imports of steel, cement, aluminium, fertilizer, power, and hydrogen will be subject to fees.

“We believe that the first prize always is to reach an agreement through engagement and negotiation and our door remains open to finding a settlement with the European Union on this matter,” Patel told Reuters.

“Failing everything else, we would be obliged to take the next step which would be to lodge a formal complaint (at the WTO), but we are still continuing discussions to find an amicable solution,” he added.

According to a spokesman for the European Commission, the border fee would allow deductions for any carbon pricing already paid overseas and was created to conform with WTO regulations.

“EU domestic industry pays a carbon price. We need to make sure importers pay an equivalent price, based on the carbon content of their goods, to prevent carbon leakage and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” the spokesperson said.

“Carbon leakage” refers to the risk that rather than reducing emissions, European industries would simply move abroad to avoid paying the EU’s domestic carbon price.

Nevertheless, some governments, like South Africa, claim that CBAM will penalize developing countries that find it difficult to obtain the significant sums of money required to lower the CO2 emissions from their sectors. “Instead of recognising differential levels of development, it imposes a one-size fits on all firms across the world,” Patel said.

He stated that South Africa had brought up trade-related climate change measures before the WTO in February and that the country might suffer a great deal economically if CBAM were implemented.

The EU is South Africa’s biggest trade partner, and according to research released in April by the South African Reserve Bank, the present version of CBAM might result in a 4% decline in overall exports to the EU in 2030 (or a 0.02% decline in GDP) when compared to a baseline without CBAM.

Related Topics:carbon border charge EU Featured South Africa WTO

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Musings From Abroad

UN indicts warring parties in Sudan, calls for peacekeepers

Published

1 day ago

September 6, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A United Nations-mandated panel stated on Friday that both sides in Sudan’s civil war had engaged in acts that may qualify as war crimes, and proposed that to protect civilians, international powers must expand the arms embargo and send in peacekeepers.

The report claimed to be based on 182 interviews with survivors, families, and witnesses. It detailed the rape, attacks, use of torture, and arbitrary arrests committed by Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against civilians.

“The gravity of our findings and failure of the warring parties to protect civilians underscores the need for urgent and immediate intervention,” the U.N. fact-finding mission’s chair, Mohamed Chande Othman, told reporters.

Both parties have denied previous allegations by rights organisations and the United States and accused one another of abusing power. Neither stated in reaction to the allegations or answered enquiries for comment on Friday right away.

Othman and the other two mission members demanded the immediate deployment of an independent force.

“We cannot continue to have people dying before our eyes and do nothing about it,” mission member Mona Rishmawi said. A U.N.-mandated peacekeeping force was a possibility, she added.

The mission advocated for the extension of an arms embargo now in place by the United Nations, which only covers the western part of Darfur and the thousands of documented ethnic killings there. Fourteen of the eighteen states in the country have been affected by the conflict that began in Khartoum in April of last year.

According to the mission, there were also good reasons to suspect that the RSF and its affiliated militias had perpetrated other war crimes, including kidnapping women forcing them into prostitution and recruiting minors as fighters.

Unnamed support groups had received allegations of over 400 rapes in the first year of the war, but mission member Joy Ngozi Ezeilo said the actual number was likely considerably higher.

Musings From Abroad

Chinese investments in Africa mutually beneficial, South Africa’s Ramaphosa insists

Published

2 days ago

September 5, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, said Thursday that Chinese investments in Africa were mutually beneficial and not a “debt trap” for the continent.

Ramaphosa stated this on the sidelines of a China-Africa meeting in Beijing, with delegations from over 50 African states.

“I don’t necessarily buy the notion that when China (invests), it is with the intention of, in the end, ensuring that those countries end up in a debt trap or a debt crisis,” Ramaphosa said when asked by reporters about China’s pledge at the summit of $51 billion in new funding for Africa.

China pledged to launch three times more infrastructure projects in resource-rich Africa, a region of significant geopolitical conflict between China, Europe, and the US, and to provide financial support over three years.

Ramaphosa also said, without providing details, that South Africa and China have secured an energy security pact. He claimed South Africa could learn energy sector reform from China.

“They already have done exactly what we are seeking to do. So there are lessons for us to learn from China and how to do it,” he said.

Power outages have slowed economic progress in South Africa in recent years. The country plans to pursue China’s largest electric vehicle producers, Ramaphosa added.

“We had good exchanges with BYD, which has shown a great interest to come and invest in South Africa,” he said.

Africa and China have strengthened commercial and political ties in recent decades. China is a major trading partner and lender. Additionally, Chinese companies invested heavily in Africa, making it a major investor in the continent.