The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has opened an inquiry into carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAMs) – border import taxes on products based on their carbon footprints, aimed at ensuring that importers of energy-intensive goods bear the same costs for their embedded emissions as domestic producers.
The new inquiry will look at the role CBAMs could play in meeting the UK’s environmental objectives, while considering the wider impacts, risks and opportunities of the UK introducing its own unilateral CBAM.
Environmental Audit Committee Chair, Rt Hon Philip Dunne MP, said:
“As the UK continues to bear down on carbon emissions, we should not inadvertently increase carbon leakage – the risk of companies moving operations abroad to avoid their environmental responsibilities. This could present a glaring loophole for Net Zero Britain, through which many highly skilled jobs might be lost, damaging local economies.
“We are at a pivotal time: the government appears to be in listening mode on the merits of CBAMs, and we hope our new inquiry will shed light on the pros and cons of such a complex policy move.”
The Committee is inviting written submissions by 25 October, which may cover:
• What are the risks to the UK posed by carbon leakage and how effective are government current measures to tackle it?

• What role could an adjustment mechanism play? Should the UK have a unilateral measure?
• Which products or sectors should be included and why?

• What impacts might the measure have on industry, employment and consumers?

• What are the risks that would need to be managed?

• Are there wider opportunities and benefits might arise from introducing a CBAM?

• What practical and administrative challenges might arise when designing and implementing a CBAM? How might these be addressed?
More details here