The Interface between the Trade and Climate Change Regimes: Scoping the Issues

摘要

As national and international policies are developed to mitigate climate change, concern is growing about the compatibility of climate change regimes with international trade rules. This potential source of tension has two dimensions. First, carbon leakage may arise where countries implement asymmetric climate policies. When an industry in one country assumes additional costs to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and those same industries in other countries incur lesser (or zero) costs, this may affect geographical patterns of investment, production and trade. If climate-related changes in relative costs result in a shift of economic activity to less carbon-constrained jurisdictions, the cost-augmenting environmental efforts of the more constrained country will be invalidated or at least diminished. Emissions would not be reduced, but simply shifted to other national locations.