After first meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, co-chairs of trade and tech council will meet again in early 2024 in India to take stock

India and the European Union will “intensify their engagement” to address the issues that are likely to emerge in implementing the trade bloc’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) measures. Addressing the media after the first India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that both the sides will work together to find the “right solutions” since there is “long time” ahead of the implementation of CBAM.

“I’m sure that the intention is not to create a barrier to pay, but to find a way forward. So that sustainability is as much a part of our collective efforts to leave behind a better planet for the next generation. And we remain engaged, we are discussing the issue,” Goyal said.

India has been concerned about the impact of CBAM, which will result in the imposition of a levy on imported carbon-intensive products. India believes that such measures will result in a problem of market access with the EU’s trading partners, since it is an instance of dragging environmental issues into trade matters.

European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis put forth the trade bloc’s stance, stating that the EU has been “careful” to ensure compatibility of the carbon border measure with World Trade Organization norms and is therefore “non-discriminatory”.

He further said that both sides decided to deepen their engagement on carbon border measures via TTC.