How a European law might get companies around the world to cut climate pollution

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/17/ [login to see] /how-a-european-law-might-get-companies-around-the-world-to-cut-climate-pollution
The European Union is ushering in a new era of international trade that could help rein in climate change. Lawmakers for the group of 27 countries adopted rules for taxing imports based on the amount of carbon dioxide that companies emit making those goods. Experts say it's the first time a major economy has married climate and trade policy, and that it could lead other countries to do the same.

By putting a price on emissions from some of the stuff it imports — like steel and aluminum — the EU is giving companies around the world an incentive to clean up their operations.

Authorities won't start collecting the tax for another few years, but the idea already seems to be catching on. In the United States, where climate change is often polarizing, Democrats and Republicans in Congress have begun talking seriously about what a similar policy in the U.S. might look like.