Moscow Warns EU Against Turning Bloc's Carbon Laws Into 'Climate Protectionism' Tool

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged the European Union on Friday to prevent turning its recently-unveiled cross-border carbon regulation into a protectionist mechanism, warning that its practical implementation could curtail business activities.

The Russian top diplomat expressed concerns that the application of the new instrument in practice could lead to additional costs for business operators, constraining financial opportunities and ability to implement green technologies more actively.

"We believe that all calculations must be done correctly in order to prevent this instrument from turning into a form of the so-called climate protectionism," Lavrov said at a meeting with representatives of the Association of European Business.

In July, the European Commission published a draft cross-border carbon bill after working on it for over a year. The new regulation's goal is to curb carbon emissions. In particular, the commission suggests imposing a fee in the EU on the import of certain goods, including steel, concrete and fertilizers, the production of which is linked to high carbon dioxide emissions.