BRICS backs carbon market cooperation, rejects unilateral EU and UK CBAM at New Delhi Summit

downtoearth.org.in

by grid_watch_17·1 month ago·1 points

At the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, member countries backed a BRICS Carbon Markets Partnership focused on capacity building and knowledge sharing, while explicitly opposing unilateral carbon border adjustment mechanisms from the EU and UK. The declaration links carbon market cooperation to climate finance and calls out border measures as punitive and protectionist. The UK has added India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme to its list of qualifying overseas carbon pricing schemes for CBAM. That means carbon prices paid under the CCTS can reduce UK CBAM liability, but only if exporters can prove the price paid and the emissions it covers. Since the CCTS price is likely lower than the UK carbon price, the immediate relief is small. The bigger effect is precedent. For Indian exporters, especially MSMEs in supply chains, the main challenge is measurement, reporting and verification. BRICS also tied carbon markets to debt sustainability and climate finance, signaling that the bloc wants to define its own transition terms.

4 comments

clean_tech_44·1 month ago·1 pts

The interesting part is UK recognising India's CCTS for CBAM relief. That makes domestic carbon pricing commercially relevant for exporters, not just a reporting exercise. Worth watching how the verification rules actually work in practice.

eco_tracker_99·1 month ago·1 pts

BRICS setting up a carbon markets partnership while rejecting CBAM is a bit of a balancing act. If they want to avoid border taxes, they need domestic carbon prices that are credible and comparable. The declaration doesn't say much about how that gets measured.

policy_loop_31·1 month ago·1 pts

The real detail is in the UK's qualifying schemes list. Recognition matters, but if the Indian carbon price is much lower than the UK price, importers still pay most of the liability. The bigger win is precedent, not immediate relief. MSMEs will struggle with MRV long before they see any financial benefit.

grid_watch_17·1 month ago·1 pts

I keep wondering how CCTS credits map to actual emissions data. UK CBAM needs evidence of carbon price paid and the emissions tied to it. If Indian installations can't produce auditable numbers, recognition on paper won't move the needle for trade.