Automotive Exports September 2023

EU’s carbon tax to impact countries, including Türkiye
The European Union’s major trading
partners, including Türkiye, will be
impacted by the bloc’s carbon tax, experts
have said.
The competition will intensify for the
nations which are slow in preparations to
comply with the carbon tax regulations,
such as Türkiye, China, India, the U.S., the
U.K. and Canada, they warned.
Brussels’s carbon border adjustment
mechanism (CBAM) is set to enter into
force as of Oct. 1. The mechanism aims at
encouraging cleaner industrial production
in non-EU countries in a number of key
industries.
Türkiye is one of the major trading partners
of the EU. The country’s exports to the bloc
are nearly 96 billion euros, and the carbon
tax policy is particularly important for
Türkiye’s cement and steel sectors.
“The CBAM is forcing countries that export
steel, aluminum, cement, fertilizers,
hydrogen and electricity to the EU to
reduce emissions. Türkiye is one of those
nations,” said Ahmet Atıl Aşıcı from Istanbul
Technical University’s Department of
Management Engineering.
Aşıcı recalled that Türkiye ratified the Paris
Agreement in 2021 and pledged to have
net-zero carbon emissions by 2053.
Türkiye can shut down all thermal power
plants by 2035 without putting energy
supply security at risk, according to Aşıcı.
Türkiye has been making preparations
for years against the possibility of the
introduction of the carbon tax and this
should alleviate the financial impact of the
tax on the country, said Fabio Passaro at
Climate Bonds Initiative. The carbon tax will
have a direct impact on several industries,
such as steel and cement, as well as
countries such as Türkiye, the Middle
Eastern and Northern African Nations,
Russia and Morocco, according to Jingwei
Jei at Sustainable Fitch ESG.
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