DEAR EDITOR

The EU is, since 1 January, imposing a tax on industrial goods imported into the EU called the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

The tax is designed to tax countries who are exporting to the EU who have little or no carbon costs because they have little or no regulation regarding carbon compared to the EU.

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But if the EU was genuinely interested in implementing green policies, then why is CBAM imposed on agriculture inputs such as fertiliser and cement, while turning a blind eye to the carbon-intensive South American beef – which is far less carbon-efficient than European beef, largely due to the different production systems and the millions of hectares of deforestation taking place in the Amazon and Cerrado regions of Brazil annually.

Green policies throughout the EU have increased costs and will achieve nothing but destroy agriculture in the union.