By Kate Abnett
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – China has requested that countries hold talks at next week’s COP29 U.N. climate summit on carbon border taxes and other “restrictive trade measures” that Beijing says are hurting developing countries, according to a document seen by Reuters.
The request raises the prospect that mounting trade tensions between major economies could disrupt this year’s United Nations climate talks, which begin on Nov. 11 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
China, on behalf of the BASIC country group which also includes Brazil, India and South Africa, has submitted a proposal to the U.N. climate body (UNFCCC) to add talks on “concerns with climate-change related unilateral restrictive trade measures” to the COP29 agenda, the document showed.
The BASIC countries have been stern critics of the EU’s trade-related climate policies, including its anti-deforestation law and its carbon border levy, which will impose fees on imports of…
