India is challenging the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism at the WTO, arguing that the carbon border tax lands hardest on developing countries that contributed least to historical emissions. The article walks through the trade law arguments under GATT, the CBAM's Article 9 allowance for carbon prices paid abroad, and the broader fairness gap in climate finance. For carbon market watchers, the key tension is practical: CBAM requires exporters to prove what they already paid or reduced, but many smaller producers lack the data infrastructure to do that. The piece argues India should combine legal advocacy with real domestic decarbonisation in steel, renewables, and industrial efficiency, rather than just opposing the mechanism outright. Worth a read if you want to see how carbon border policy, WTO rules, and development equity are colliding in real time.
