Climate Change and Trade Policy : From Mutual Destruction to Mutual Support

Messerlin, Patrick A.

Climate Change and Trade Policy : From Mutual Destruction to Mutual Support

Autores

Descripción

Contrary to what is still often believed, the climate and trade communities have a lot in common: a common problem (a global "public good"), common foes (vested interests using protection for slowing down climate change policies), and common friends (firms delivering goods, services, and equipment that are both cleaner and cheaper). They have thus many reasons to buttress each other. The climate community would enormously benefit from adopting the principle of "national treatment," which would legitimize and discipline the use of carbon border tax adjustment and the principle of "most-favored nation," which would ban carbon tariffs. The main effect of this would be to fuel a dual world economy of clean countries trading between themselves and dirty countries trading between themselves at a great cost for climate change. And the trade community would enormously benefit from a climate community capable of designing instruments that would support the adjustment efforts to be made by carbon-intensive firms much better than instruments such as antidumping or safeguards, which have proved to be ineffective and perverse. That said, implementing these principles will be difficult. The paper focuses on two key problems. First, the way carbon border taxes are defined has a huge impact on the joint outcome from climate change, trade, and development perspectives. Second, the multilateral climate change regime could easily become too complex to be manageable. Focusing on carbon-intensive sectors and building "clusters" of production processes considered as having "like carbon-intensity" are the two main ways for keeping the regime manageable. Developing them in a multilateral framework would make them more transparent and unbiased.

Palabras clave

ALLOCATION, ALUMINUM, ANNUAL EMISSIONS, AUCTIONS, BANKING SECTOR, BENEFICIARIES, BOILERS, BUSINESS PRACTICES, CAPS, CARBON, CARBON ALLOWANCES, CARBON CONTENT, CARBON EMISSIONS, CARBON FOOTPRINT, CARBON LEAKAGE, CARBON MARKET, CARBON POLICIES, CARBON PRICES, CARBON TAX, CARBON TAXES, CARBON TRADING, CHEMICALS, CLEANER TECHNOLOGIES, CLIMATE, CLIMATE CHANGE, CLIMATE CHANGE EFFORTS, CLIMATE CHANGE POLICIES, CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY, CLIMATE POLICY, CLOSED ECONOMY, CO2, COAL, COAL MINING, COATINGS, COKE OVEN, COMMON MARKET, CONVERGENCE, COPPER, CUTTING EMISSIONS, DAMAGES, DETERGENTS, DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, DEVELOPING COUNTRY, DEVELOPING ECONOMIES, DOMESTIC CARBON, DURABLE, ECONOMIC ACTIVITY, ECONOMIC ANALYSIS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ECONOMIC INTEGRATION, ECONOMIC WELFARE, ELECTRICITY, EMERGING ECONOMIES, EMISSION, EMISSION CUTS, EMISSIONS CUTS, EMISSIONS TRADING, ENERGY POLICY, ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES, ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES, ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, EQUIPMENT, EQUIPMENTS, EXPORT PROCESSING ZONES, EXPORTER, EXPORTERS, FATS, FERROUS METALS, FISCAL POLICIES, FISCAL POLICY, FOREIGN FIRMS, FORESTRY, FRAUD, FRAUDS, FREE ALLOWANCES, FREE TRADE, FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS, GAS EXTRACTION, GLOBAL CLIMATE, GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE, GLOBAL ECONOMIC PROSPECTS, GLOBAL MARKETS, GLOBAL TRADE, GLOBAL WARMING, GREENHOUSE, GREENHOUSE GAS, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, GREENHOUSE GASES, HARMONIZATION, IMPORTS, INCOME, INCOME LEVEL, INCOME TAX, INDIVIDUAL FIRMS, INSTRUMENT, INSURANCE, INTERNATIONAL BANK, INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS, INTERNATIONAL TRADE, INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW, INVESTING, IRON, LEGAL FRAMEWORK, LEVEL PLAYING FIELD, LEVIES, LEVY, LIBERALIZATION, LIBERALIZATION OF TRADE, MANGANESE, MARKET ACCESS, MARKET SHARE, NATURAL GAS, NEGATIVE IMPACT, NICKEL, OIL PRICE, OILS, OUTPUT, OUTPUTS, OUTSOURCING, PAINTS, PESTICIDES, PETROLEUM PRODUCTS, PHARMACEUTICALS, POLITICAL ECONOMY, POLLUTERS, POTASSIUM, PP, PRECAUTIONARY APPROACH, PRICE BAND, PRICE INCREASE, PRICE SIGNAL, REBATES, REGIONAL TRADE, RENEWABLE ENERGY, RISKS OF CLIMATE CHANGE, SMALL COUNTRIES, SO2, SULFUR, SULFUR DIOXIDE, TAX POLICIES, TAX RATE, TAX RATES, TAX REGIME, TAX REGIMES, TAX SYSTEM, TEMPERATURE, TRADE LIBERALIZATION, TRADE PROTECTION, TRADE REGIME, TRADE REGIMES, TRADING PARTNERS, TRADING SYSTEM, TRANSACTION, TRANSACTION COSTS, TREATIES, TREATY, UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES, URANIUM, VALUATION, WORLD ECONOMIES, WORLD ECONOMY, WORLD TRADE, ZINC