by Ming Jinwei

    BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- EU environment ministers have recently rejected a French proposal of levying so-called carbon tariffs on imports from developing countries at a meeting in the northern Swedish town of Aare.

    The outcome shows that the proposal, as part of efforts to deal with climate change, is not winning much support even among Western countries.

    Some in the West claim that developed countries' efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emission will be effective only when major developing countries follow their suit, and that the introduction of carbon tariffs will force developing countries to make more concessions in this regard.

    They also claim that imposing punitive carbon tariffs on imports from developing countries will "level the playing field" for Western companies, which are required to pay for their emission, while their counterparts in developing countries have no such obligation.

    The carbon tariffs proposal, wrapped up in a "green veil," seemingly upholds a moral high ground, but it is fundamentally flawed in essence.

    The proposal does not take into account economic and social challenges that developing countries face when trying to reduce emission, and neither does it address the historical duty and responsibility of developed countries on fighting global warming.

    At the meeting in Aare, German State Secretary for Environment Matthias Machnig said carbon tariffs are "a new form of eco-imperialism."

    Climate change is one of the most critical issues the world faces now, but it serves no one's interest to deny, in the name of fighting global warming, developing countries' efforts to achieve economic growth and social progress.

    Developing nations have the every right to develop their economies and bring better life to their citizens. Developed countries once faced the same challenges that are now haunting developing countries. But now they demand developing countries meet emission reduction obligations socially and economically unaffordable for them. Is this fair?

    In a recent editorial, The Japan Times said carbon tariffs are a bad idea "not just because the whole human race will end up poorer as a result; destroying trade and investment flows destroys dialogue and sows the seeds of bitter and violent conflict."

    The carbon tariffs proposal also fails to address the historical duty and responsibility of developed countries on reducing emission.

    Developed countries all have undergone their own process of industrialization. Historically, developed countries should accept much of the blame for the accumulation of greenhouse gases and for climate change in general.

    In practice, developed countries, with their economic clout and technological know-how, are in a better position to play a bigger role in reducing emission. They are supposed to take up a leading role in fighting global warming.

    When meeting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing on Friday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it is of key importance to stick to the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" when responding to climate change, and to take into consideration the interests and voices of developing countries.

    UN climate change talks have entered a complicated stage, and the carbon tariffs proposal will harm the efforts by negotiating parties to cut a broad deal on tackling climate change at a key UN meeting, scheduled for December in the Danish capital of Copenhagen.

    "This (the proposal) is completely unacceptable. It will completely derail the Copenhagen process, which is already at a complicated stage and gridlocked right now," Sunita Narian, head of New Delhi-based Center for Science and Environment, told Business Spectator, an Australian news website.

    Carbon tariffs increasingly look like a new form of trade protectionism. Machnig, the German official, said the carbon tariffs proposal would send a protectionist signal to developing countries, which have long feared that developed countries are closing markets to their exports.

    Or as The New York Times said in a recent editorial, carbon tariffs, as a kind of unilateral sanctions, is unlikely to work and more than likely to provoke a dangerous protectionist tit-for-tat trade war.