South Africa is considering filing a formal complaint to the World Trade Organization against the EU’s tax levy on imports of goods produced with high carbon emissions.
“It’s not fair,” a climate activist from South Africa and CEO of Climrenew, a climate change consultancy, Naphtali Akudung, commented on the European Union’s carbon tax levy.
The “stringent” tax tariffs, which are intended to come into effect by 2026 to 2034, will affect Africa, which is responsible for “less than 3%” of carbon emissions, he told Sputnik Africa.
“For every export that African countries are looking towards sending to Europe, which happens to be the major buyer of most African products, […] each of these African countries is going to be charged maybe 87 euros per tonne,” he explained.
According to Akudung, the EU should finance the systems that will help the continent produce renewable energy or facilitate its manufacturing lines in a more acceptable way.
“Countries shouldn’t be silenced. They should be able to speak out for what they are capable of doing and what they cannot. […] Whether we like it or not, if this thing is to come into effect, then European territory might have these upper chances of dictating what happens within the African region and countries within the Global South,” he added.
