In the fight against climate change, the European Union is preparing a new tax for countries like Serbia, where carbon dioxide is emitted more than it should. The first to be hit would be thermal power plants that produce electricity on coal, but also other large factories, which, according to CINS interlocutors, could increase electricity bills for citizens, lead to job losses, reduce foreign investment and economic growth.
Citizens will pay higher electricity bills in the future, and there may be a drop in living standards. These are the forecasts of experts with whom the Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia (CINS) discussed the new border customs tax.
Namely, if the companies in the so-called third countries by producing some goods pollute with carbon dioxide (CO2) more than allowed in the European Union, these goods will be additionally cleared upon import by the EU. The plan for this fee will be presented by the European Commission in the middle of the year.
The EU is doing this to prevent “carbon leakage” caused by climate change, or to discourage business owners from avoiding paying pollution taxes by relocating the factory to countries where there are no such taxes – such as Serbia.
They announced that the introduction of measures is expected by 2023, for the sectors that carry the greatest risk.
For decades, the production of electricity and heat has contributed the most to CO2 emissions in Serbia, followed by industry, according to data from the International Energy Agency.
The Secretariat of the Energy Community (EC), the organization in charge of the energy market in Europe, expects that the taxes will, among other things, refer to electricity produced in coal-fired power plants.
A problem for Serbia
CINS research shows that this will be a problem for Serbia as well, which, according to the approximate estimate of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (SCC), will report about 8% of the electricity produced in the EU in 2021. It is not known how much of this electricity will come from thermal power plants, but Serbia produces almost 70% of its energy by burning coal.
Viktor Berishaj of the Climate Action Network Europe, which monitors climate change and energy policy in Southeast Europe, explains how future levies could be calculated:
– If the EU introduces a tax on the import of electricity produced from fossil fuels from Serbia, it could pay customs duties per unit, megawatt-hour, or the amount of emitted carbon dioxide (CO2) for imported electricity, whereby in both cases the price had to reflect the level of the CO2 emission fee in the EU.
In 2019, domestic thermal power plants emitted over 27.3 million tons of CO2 – of which only TPP Nikola Tesla in Obrenovac over 20.3 million tons.
New measures for third countries could be similar to this system, but other options are being considered, Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni told the European Parliament in March.
Bojan Stanic from the Sector for Strategic Analysis, Services and Internationalization in PKS says that the company’s large energy consumers are registered in the chemical and rubber industry and companies from the metal and automotive industries, which make up about 52% of Serbia’s total exports to the EU.
The ten largest exporters from these industries, many from non-European countries, account for about 21 percent of total EU exports, he added. According to him, the first seven companies on this list are: Tiger Tires, HBIS Group, Zidjin, Jura, Filip Morris, Fiat and Naftna industrija Srbije, BiF reports.
