從WTO法學檢視碳邊境調整制度

The Analysis of the Carbon Border Adjustment Regime: an WTO Jurisprudence Perspective

歐盟在2021年宣布即將針對銷往歐盟的高碳排放產品，採用「碳邊境調整機制」(CBAM)加以規範，以作為歐盟境內「碳排放交易體系(ETS)的制度延伸，其目的在因應部分國家無減碳具體作為，反而導致若干排碳高的生產行為移往這些管制寬鬆地區而有「碳洩漏」風險，且對歐盟企業也有不公平競爭的問題。
然而CBAM適用於進口產品的貿易，自然會涉及「世界貿易組織」(WTO)規則。鑑於CBAM為WTO會員為因應氣候暖化而單邊採行的首次嘗試，本文僅先就爭議性較大的WTO問題，拋磚引玉提出討論。

In 2021, Tthe European Union (EU) has publised its draft regulatory proposal of the “Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism” (CBAM) that will apply to imported products. The proposed regime focuses on high carbon emission manufactuturing activities from all third countries outside the EU’s “Carbon Emissions Trading System (ETS)” regime. The main objective of the CBAM is to control and reduce the risk of “carbon leakage”, i.e. the shift of production activities with high carbon emissions to territories that have yet to introduce carbon pricing or other specific measures to address the issues of carbon emission. Besides, the CBAM also alleviates the european industry from competitive disadvantages.
However, as the CBAM applies additional charges to imported goods, it unavoidably involves the issue of legal consistency with the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. Considering that CBAM is the first unilaterally attempt by WTO members in response to address the global warming crisis, this article provides initial legal analysis based on WTO jurisprunce on selected key issues of the CBAM.