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5.7. The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is a climate measure aimed at decreasing global GHG emissions by preventing the risk of carbon leakage and by supporting increased ambition on climate mitigation, while ensuring WTO compatibility. The CBAM will equalise the price of carbon between domestic products and imports and ensure that the EU's climate objectives are not undermined by production relocating to countries with less ambitious climate policies.

5.8. The EU Emissions Trading System puts a price on carbon and lowers the cap on emissions from certain economic sectors every year. The European Commission has proposed to lower the overall emission cap even further and increase its annual rate of reduction, to phase out free emission allowances for aviation and align with the global Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) and to include shipping emissions in the EU ETS. To address the lack of emissions reductions in road transport and buildings, a separate new emissions trading system is set up for fuel distribution for road transport and buildings.

5.10. The 2030 legally binding priority objectives set out in the 8th Environment Action Programme ("8th EAP") include the significant reduction of key environmental and climate pressures related to the EU's production and consumption, including, among others, in the area of trade.

5.11. In May 2020 the EU adopted its Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The strategy is a comprehensive, ambitious and long-term plan to protect nature and reverse the degradation of ecosystems. A key element of the Strategy is the proposal for a Nature Restoration Law adopted by the European Commission on 22 June 2022.

5.12. On 6 December 2022, the European Parliament and the Council reached a provisional political agreement on an EU Regulation on deforestation [27], paving the way for the final adoption of the regulation in early 2023. It aims to curb EU-driven deforestation and forest degradation. By promoting the consumption of "deforestation-free" products and reducing the EU's impact on global deforestation and forest degradation, the new rules will bring down greenhouse gas emissions and global biodiversity loss and minimise consumption, and therefore decrease the trade of products coming from supply chains associated with deforestation or forest degradation, while increasing the trade of sustainable products. The proposal is part of a broader plan of actions to tackle deforestation and forest degradation first outlined in the 2019 Commission Communication on Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore the World's Forests. [28]
[27] European Commission, Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of The Council on the making available on the Union market as well as export from the Union of certain commodities and products associated with deforestation and forest degradation and repealing Regulation (EU) No 995/2010, COM(2021) 706 final.
[28] European Commission, Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore the World's Forests, COM(2019) 352.

5.13. Furthermore, in the area of fighting pollution, the European Commission adopted the Zero Pollution Action Plan in May 2021. The main objective is to provide a compass for including pollution prevention in all relevant EU policies, including trade policies and free trade agreements, and to reduce air, water and soil pollution to levels no longer considered harmful to health and natural ecosystems and that respect the boundaries our planet can cope with, thus creating a toxic free environment.

5.14. In the area of waste, in November 2021, the Commission adopted a proposal for a new regulation on Waste Shipment, which aims to ensure that the EU does not export its waste challenges to third countries and supports a clean and circular economy.

5.15. The new Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) was adopted in 2020 and aims to accelerate the transformational change required by the European Green Deal. Under the new CEAP, the European Commission adopted in March and November 2022, two packages of initiatives to make sustainable products the norm on the EU market. The cornerstone of the measures is the legislative proposal for a Regulation on Ecodesign for Sustainable Products (ESPR) that aims to better cover product circularity issues such as durability and reparability, and to address the carbon- and environmental footprints of products, amongst other aspects.

5.16. The Farm to Fork (F2F) Strategy adopted in May 2020 is the EU's contribution to the global transition towards sustainable food systems. It aims to ensure (...), access to sufficient, safe, nutritious, sustainable food for all, and this while having a neutral or positive environmental impact. To achieve the transition, the Strategy's action plan sets out both regulatory and non-regulatory initiatives, including the EU Code of Conduct on responsible food business and marketing practices that entered into force in July 2021.

5.17. The Commission is also carrying out preparatory work concerning the flagship initiative of the F2F [Farm to Fork] strategy: the framework legislation for a Union sustainable food system. It will aim at accelerating and facilitating the transition to sustainability by establishing new foundations for future food policies. The transition towards sustainable food systems has to be supported by sanitary and phytosanitary requirements responding to key challenges.