The EU and its Member States are committed to achieving climate neutrality by 2050, delivering on their commitments under the Paris Agreement. The European Green Deal is the EU’s collection of strategies for achieving this agreed goal. It was launched by the EU Commission in December 2019, and has been elaborated on ever since.

The purpose of this Trade Brief is to briefly describe the European Union’s (EU’s) Green Deal, one of the most all-encompassing policy initiatives it has ever embarked upon, and then to consider how a specific sub-component, namely the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) may affect a country such as South Africa.