Passing the buck for pollution
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By imposing carbon taxes on inflowing commodities, developed countries have their own ulterior motives. Because of their light industry-dominant industrial structure, developed countries have a lower carbon emission intensity than their developing counterparts.
The carbon tax, which is in essence a new-type of trade barrier, will protect their own homegrown enterprises and raise the export costs for developing countries, compromising their competitiveness.
A carbon tax, if adopted globally, would have a huge effect on China, a fast-growing economy that is fuelled by coal and oil consumption. Currently, China's energy consumption for every unit of its gross domestic product (GPD) is more than twice the world average. Therefore, a carbon tax would directly raise the costs for China's manufacturing sectors, reduce their profit margins and weaken their competitiveness in the international market.
A survey conducted by the World Resources Institute (WRI) shows that China's exported commodities have the highest level of carbon emissions among world countries. That means that China's exports will bear the brunt of any carbon tax. A World Bank report indicates that the implementation of a carbon tax in the international market would mean an additional 26-percent on "made-in-China" goods and that exports would decline by 21 percent.
To uphold their right to development China must work with other developing nations to ensure the accumulated carbon emission volumes, per capita GDP and per capita disposable incomes are the standards for the distribution of global carbon emission volumes. At the same time, developed countries should set up a compensation mechanism for carbon emission reductions in developing countries to protect the latter's fledging industries and their trade interests.
China should also accelerate its long-overdue economic and industrial restructuring and develop low-carbon industries.
The author is an economics researcher with the State Information Center.
