The Green Deal through Transnational Governance: The Case of Cbam

Through the application of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms – CBAM, adopted in 2023, the EU contributes to the Green Deal implementation, using a regional domestic regulatory measure with a transnational impact. This provides that producers importing goods into Europe will pay the same price for their carbon footprint as operators on the continent, with the elimination of the free allocation of permits within the emissions trading system. Besides its impact on decarbonization, as a tool towards climate neutrality, CBAM applies as a transnational trade regulatory measure, with a potential harmonizing effect, despite its unilateral origin inside the Global Arena. Trans-nationalization does not come out of cooperation or of the adoption of common rules (except for Member States inside the European area), but it should be the result of the potential capacity of the Union to condition global markets with a provision applying also to foreign operators. The article analyses CBAM, its rationale and functioning, and its transnational impact.