On 13 November, the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation, together with the Delegation of the EU to Japan and the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ), held a seminar on “EU CBAM and its implication for Japanese companies” in a hybrid format. The event took place in the context of the 28th United Nations Climate Change conference (COP28) to stimulate discussion on policies to mitigate climate change. 

The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) was introduced by the European Commission as a carbon leakage countermeasure, to ensure effectiveness of EU climate policy and to contribute to the objective of decarbonization globally and reaching the climate neutrality by 2050 in the EU. As part of its efforts to dialogue with partner countries and exchange with third-country operators that will be subject to CBAM, a dedicated seminar was organized at the EU Delegation on the occasion of the visit to Tokyo by European Commission DG TAXUD Director General Gerassimo Thomas and his team. The seminar was very well attended by Japanese companies: 740 participants attended the event onsite or online (1060 registered).

The seminar featured interventions by Ambassador of the EU to Japan, Mr. Paquet, Mr. Thomas, Director General, DG TAXUD and Mr. Hatakeyama, Director General, ISTEP Bureau, METI. Mr. Boublil (TAXUD), Mr. Ono (JISF) and Ms. Yanagi (IEEJ) took part in a panel discussion led by Mr. Tanabe, Japan-side Managing Director of the Centre.
Many questions were addressed to the European Commission about the consistency of CBAM with the WTO, handling of the ETS free quota, possibility of expanding the range of items for CBAM, confidentiality issues of EU importing companies, establishment of a CBAM certification body, etc. The materials and recording of the event can be found on the Centre’s website address here.
 
For further information and updates about CBAM, visit this page.