Imported iron and cement will be among goods to face a carbon levy from 2027 as the UK government bids to equal charges on producers domestically and overseas.
Iron and cement will face a carbon price comparable to that paid by British producers under the carbon border adjustment mechanism, with this also stretching to the likes of steel, aluminium and ceramics.
Net zero efforts “will not succeed if decarbonisation in the UK simply leads to higher emissions abroad”, the government said in a statement on Monday.
Those importing carbon-intensive goods to the UK will therefore be taxed at the border, meaning producers aren’t tempted to relocate to areas with more lenient emissions rules.
“This should give UK industry the confidence to invest in decarbonisation as the world transitions to net zero,” chancellor Jeremy Hunt commented.
How much is charged through the mechanism will be based on emissions and the difference in UK and carbon prices elsewhere, according to the government.
Such rules will aim to prevent so-called carbon leakage, it added, where different carbon costs between countries simply sees emissions displaced rather than billed or cut.
Some 85% of respondants to a public consultation said such leakage posed a risk to their decarbonisation efforts, the government added, as countries look to clamp down on emissions at different paces.