A Legal View on Border Tax Adjustments and Climate Change: A Latin American Perspective

Chapter by Valentina Duran and Rodrigo Polanco in Moraga Sariego, Pilar (ed.) Energía, cambio climático y sustentabilidad, una mirada desde el derecho (pp. 21-46).

ABSTRACT: This text discusses the consequences of modifying taxes and tariffs as tools to move towards an economy of low carbon, in the context of international efforts to minimize the effects of climate change. This article argues that under the current regime, domestic producers of the countries subject to costly measures to avoid the negative effects of climate change, face unequal conditions for foreign producers from countries where such measures have not been implemented. This creates the foundation for countries that have taken these international obligations to level this situation by applying carbon taxes. Thus, to import products from a country that does not meet the carbon tax applied in the country of importation, the importer of the goods would be required to buy carbon offsets in their home country to make up the difference.