By Lisandra Paraguassu and Kate Abnett
BRASILIA/BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Brazil will propose the creation of a new forum for governments to discuss how climate policy affects trade – an issue that the World Trade Organization and U.N. climate talks have so far failed to tackle, three officials familiar with the plans said.
Emerging economies, including Brazil, South Africa and India, have accused the European Union of restricting trade through its environmental policies, such as a ban on imports linked to deforestation that is due to go into effect in December.
Developing countries have made several attempts to put the issue on the agenda at past U.N. climate summits, but the EU has said trade should be discussed at the World Trade Organization.
Brazil, which will host the U.N. climate summit, COP30, in November, is looking to break that stalemate.
Brazil’s COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago will make the proposal during the WTO’s annual public forum next week, said one of the officials.
The aim is to gather sufficient support so that the new forum can be launched with members in place during the COP30 summit in November, the source said.
The officials were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter and declined to be identified.
Brazil’s COP presidency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One of the officials cited concerns about the impact of two EU environment policies on international trade: the EU’s anti-deforestation law, and its carbon border tariff, which will impose pollution fees on imported steel and cement from January.
“We are concerned about this growing trend of limiting trade using climate change as an excuse, and today we do not have an adequate forum to discuss it,” said the official who is Brazilian.
“The Europeans do not want to discuss trade at the UNFCCC, and the WTO is not equipped to discuss climate.”
The new forum could also be a source of solutions such as new tools to track deforestation that are affordable for producers and acceptable for buyers in Europe, the source said.
A spokesperson for the European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The EU, which has some of the world’s most ambitious climate change policies, has previously said its carbon border levy is not a trade measure, but a tool to put foreign producers on a level footing with European manufacturers, who already pay for their CO2 emissions.
A draft of the EU’s negotiating mandate for the COP30 summit, seen by Reuters, said the bloc was open to discussing the international impact of its climate policies “bilaterally and in the context of the WTO, the Paris Agreement context and other appropriate fora.”
Brazil’s proposed forum would have at least two working groups – one on climate and trade, and one on the energy transition, according to the sources. They added that the idea was for governments’ representatives for both trade and climate to meet at least every few months.
(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu and Kate Abnett; Editing by Brad Haynes)
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