Carbon pricing now covers 28 per cent of global emissions, according to the World Bank\u2019s 2025 carbon pricing report. Eighty countries have introduced a carbon market or emissions trading scheme, up from 10 in 2005. <\/p>\n
However, most of these schemes have prices far below the EU market\u2019s current level of about \u20ac76 a tonne of carbon dioxide. The bloc\u2019s price has slid below previous highs of almost \u20ac100 this year as a result of a surge in clean power supplies and lower fossil fuel energy demand.<\/p>\n
The EU\u2019s trading scheme was launched in 2005, operating on a cap-and-trade principle, and requires companies in high-polluting sectors such as power, steel and cement production to buy the permits. <\/p>\n
From January, the EU will begin charging the carbon levy on imported goods, to reduce the competitive disadvantage for European producers.<\/p>\n
EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told the Financial Times that the combination of an \u201cacknowledgment that an ETS works\u201d and the \u201cimplementation effect\u201d of the carbon tax system<\/a> had encouraged countries to set up their own carbon pricing schemes.<\/p>\n \u201c[Carbon pricing] is something that has momentum. It is a very efficient diplomatic tool,\u201d he said. The EU will publish a policy paper on its climate diplomacy efforts on Thursday alongside a report on the work of the carbon pricing task force.<\/p>\n Hoekstra said: \u201c[China is] keen to see how our system works and to compare notes. Even though I think we have been too naive in how we have sometimes co-operated in the domain of climate<\/a> in the past, I have no regrets to help them advance on carbon markets.\u201d<\/p>\n Any carbon price paid in the country of production can be deducted from the import levy, under the EU scheme. <\/p>\n This has encouraged exporting nations to introduce or strengthen their own domestic carbon pricing scheme \u2014 even as countries including Brazil, India and China have criticised the EU carbon levy as a unilateral trade measure that will have punitive effects on developing economies. <\/p>\n Donald Trump\u2019s US administration has also flagged its concerns about the border tax, as its own industries lobby against it.<\/p>\n Brazil, the host of next month\u2019s UN climate summit, is seeking to use the COP30 gathering to push for a more collaborative approach to global carbon pricing. The finance ministry is looking for the EU and China to join it in an international \u201ccoalition\u201d with shared standards on emission trading schemes and carbon border tariffs.<\/p>\n The Brazilian proposals would involve changes to the EU\u2019s approach. <\/p>\n Carbon border fees would be reduced for lower-income countries, and waived for the poorest nations. Brazil is also suggesting some revenue from these import levies should be used to provide climate finance in developing countries \u2014 an idea the EU considered and rejected.<\/p>\n EU officials have noted it would be difficult to create convergence between carbon pricing systems that barely exist.<\/p>\n But Rafael Dubeux, a finance ministry official leading work on the Brazilian proposal, argued the EU would benefit from participating in the scheme, rather than retaining a de facto role as a sole global standard-setter for carbon markets. <\/p>\n \u201cEurope right now is leading the world in carbon pricing\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009it\u2019s good for them to share this burden with other countries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n EU officials involved in its task force have said some countries have shown particular interest in carbon pricing as a revenue-generating measure and want to learn from the experience of the EU\u2019s Innovation Fund, which channels money back into decarbonisation projects. <\/p>\n Brazil, for example, recycles the revenues earned through emissions permits sold to heavy industry to support its rainforests.<\/p>\n Other questions revolve around the EU\u2019s market stability reserve, which balances out the number of emissions allowances available on the market, and how the bloc has integrated the monitoring and reporting systems with the carbon market itself. The task force\u2019s focus is mostly on industrialising countries.<\/p>\n One aspect that the EU is attempting to encourage is a more regionalised approach, given the lack of capacity in many countries\u2019 civil services. \u201cIf you look at south-east Asia or Latin America, for the smaller countries there, it could also make sense for them to try to find some synergies,\u201d one EU official said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe experience of the ETS of the EU is huge. You\u2019ve got 20 years of experience,\u201d said Maria Jose Garcia, project manager for Chile\u2019s partnership for market implementation run by the World Bank, who visited Brussels in July. \u201cThere are diverse aspects that we are hoping to replicate, and learn from the mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n Climate Capital Where climate change meets business, markets and politics.\u00a0Explore the FT\u2019s coverage here<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Wopke](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/https:\/\/d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net\/production\/d4b086f4-a150-432e-9b87-fd32dc003198.jpg\")
EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said other countries were keen to learn from the bloc in setting up their own carbon pricing schemes. \u00a9 Christophe Petit Tesson\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/https:\/\/d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net\/production\/384cfd92-a50b-4bce-9d00-ffdbff93b8ec.jpg\")
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