In 2025, the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will be fully implemented, imposing a carbon tax of 45 euros per ton on crude oil imports. This “green tariff” is becoming a new barrier in global trade, which not only changes the trade pattern of traditional energy products, but also forces countries to accelerate the process of climate governance and promote the restructuring of the global energy governance paradigm.
The direct impact of the carbon tariff is reflected in the international competitiveness of energy products. Due to its high carbon emissions, Middle East crude oil has seen its competitiveness in the European market decline by 20%. Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have to accelerate their transition to low-carbon fields such as hydrogen energy and ammonia fuel. In the first half of 2025, global green hydrogen project investment reached 120 billion US dollars, of which Gulf countries accounted for 40%. The carbon tariff is becoming a “forced mechanism” to promote energy transition.
For export-oriented economies, the carbon tariff brings both challenges and opportunities. As a major global manufacturing country, China is actively reducing the carbon emission intensity of export products through technological innovation, while promoting the development of clean energy industries such as photovoltaics and wind power, and building a green supply chain system. In key industries such as iron and steel and chemical engineering, enterprises have reduced carbon emission intensity by more than 40% through technologies such as hydrogen-based direct reduced iron and carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), which not only enhances their ability to cope with carbon tariffs, but also cultivates new competitive advantages.
At the global governance level, the disputes caused by carbon tariffs are pushing the international community to accelerate the construction of unified green trade rules. At the 2025 COP30 Climate Conference, the “Global Energy Transition Partnership Program” proposed by China was co-signed and supported by 120 countries. Through three core measures of technology sharing, financial support and standard setting, this program promotes the unification of international standards in fields such as photovoltaics, energy storage and hydrogen energy, and breaks green trade barriers. This program marks the transformation of global energy governance from “zero-sum game” to “multilateral co-governance”, providing a transformation “springboard” for developing countries.
The implementation of the carbon tariff is not the end, but a new starting point for the global green transition. In this transformation, enterprises need to accelerate technological upgrading, countries need to improve the green policy system, and the international community needs to strengthen cooperative governance. Only in this way can green barriers be transformed into a driving force for green development and promote the global economy to transform in a low-carbon and sustainable direction.
