IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/reviec/v26y2018i4p826-851.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Border carbon adjustments and unilateral incentives to regulate the climate

Author

Listed:
  • Mark Sanctuary

Abstract

It is suggested that trade measures should be used to induce exporters to adopt more ambitious climate policy and reduce global emissions. However, a tariff and the exporter's emission tax are likely substitutes, which would undermine the rationale for these trade measures. This paper examines incentives to regulate the climate under border carbon adjustment (BCA), defined as an import duty of a magnitude determined by the difference in emission taxes between trade partners. Unlike a tariff, a BCA can induce the exporter to adopt a higher tax, suggesting that the BCA and tariff are not equally effective at targeting global emission levels and that the features of the border measure matter in assessing the effectiveness of trade policy in targeting global emissions.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Sanctuary, 2018. "Border carbon adjustments and unilateral incentives to regulate the climate," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 826-851, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:reviec:v:26:y:2018:i:4:p:826-851
    DOI: 10.1111/roie.12344
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/roie.12344
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/roie.12344?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tian, Huifang & Whalley, John, 2010. "Trade sanctions, financial transfers and BRIC participation in global climate change negotiations," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 47-63, January.
    2. Morihiro Yomogida & Nori Tarui, 2013. "Emission Taxes and Border Tax Adjustments for Oligopolistic Industries," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(5), pages 644-673, December.
    3. Keen, Michael & Kotsogiannis, Christos, 2014. "Coordinating climate and trade policies: Pareto efficiency and the role of border tax adjustments," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 119-128.
    4. Branger, Frédéric & Quirion, Philippe, 2014. "Would border carbon adjustments prevent carbon leakage and heavy industry competitiveness losses? Insights from a meta-analysis of recent economic studies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 29-39.
    5. James A. Brander & Barbara J. Spencer, 1981. "Tariffs and the Extraction of Foreign Monopoly Rents under Potential Entry," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 14(3), pages 371-389, August.
    6. Rocchi, Paola & Serrano, Mònica & Roca, Jordi & Arto, Iñaki, 2018. "Border Carbon Adjustments Based on Avoided Emissions: Addressing the Challenge of Its Design," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 126-136.
    7. Barrett, Scott, 1997. "The strategy of trade sanctions in international environmental agreements," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 345-361, November.
    8. Collie, David, 1991. "Export subsidies and countervailing tariffs," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3-4), pages 309-324, November.
    9. Dieter Helm & Cameron Hepburn & Giovanni Ruta, 2012. "Trade, climate change, and the political game theory of border carbon adjustments," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 28(2), pages 368-394, SUMMER.
    10. Rikard Forslid & Toshihiro Okubo & Mark Sanctuary, 2017. "Trade Liberalization, Transboundary Pollution, and Market Size," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(3), pages 927-957.
    11. Carolyn Fischer & Alan K. Fox, 2011. "The Role of Trade and Competitiveness Measures in US Climate Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 258-262, May.
    12. Rahel Aichele & Gabriel Felbermayr, 2015. "Kyoto and Carbon Leakage: An Empirical Analysis of the Carbon Content of Bilateral Trade," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(1), pages 104-115, March.
    13. Josh Ederington, 2001. "International Coordination of Trade and Domestic Policies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1580-1593, December.
    14. Murdoch, James C. & Sandler, Todd & Vijverberg, Wim P. M., 2003. "The participation decision versus the level of participation in an environmental treaty: a spatial probit analysis," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 337-362, February.
    15. James R. MARKUSEN, 2021. "International Externalities And Optimal Tax Structures," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: BROADENING TRADE THEORY Incorporating Market Realities into Traditional Models, chapter 16, pages 341-355, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    16. Copeland, Brian R & Taylor, M Scott, 1995. "Trade and Transboundary Pollution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(4), pages 716-737, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Overland, Indra & Sabyrbekov, Rahat, 2022. "Know your opponent: Which countries might fight the European carbon border adjustment mechanism?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    2. Noha Elboghdadly & Michael Finus, 2020. "Non-Cooperative Climate Policies among Asymmetric Countries: Production- versus Consumption-based Carbon Taxes," Graz Economics Papers 2020-16, University of Graz, Department of Economics.
    3. Cheng Haitao & Kato Hayato & Obashi Ayako, 2021. "Is Environmental Tax Harmonization Desirable in Global Value Chains?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(1), pages 379-416, January.
    4. Noha Elboghdadly & Michael Finus, 2020. "Enforcing Climate Agreements: The Role of Escalating Border Carbon Adjustments," Graz Economics Papers 2020-11, University of Graz, Department of Economics.
    5. Anna Komarova, 2022. "State Regulation of Energy Transition and Economic Development," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-13, June.
    6. Yadira Mori-Clement & Stefan Nabernegg & Birgit Bednar-Friedl, 2018. "Can preferential trade agreements enhance renewable electricity generation in emerging economies? A model-based policy analysis for Brazil and the European Union," Graz Economics Papers 2018-19, University of Graz, Department of Economics.
    7. Liming Hong & Wei Huang & Sajid Anwar & Xiaofeng Lv, 2023. "North–South asymmetry, unilateral environmental policy and carbon tariffs," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 241-266, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Al Khourdajie, Alaa & Finus, Michael, 2020. "Measures to enhance the effectiveness of international climate agreements: The case of border carbon adjustments," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    2. Lisa Anouliès, 2015. "The Strategic and Effective Dimensions of the Border Tax Adjustment," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 17(6), pages 824-847, December.
    3. Michael Jakob & Jan Christoph Steckel & Ottmar Edenhofer, 2014. "Consumption- Versus Production-Based Emission Policies," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 297-318, October.
    4. Sakai, Marco & Barrett, John, 2016. "Border carbon adjustments: Addressing emissions embodied in trade," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 102-110.
    5. Byeongho Lim & Kyoungseo Hong & Jooyoung Yoon & Jeong-In Chang & Inkyo Cheong, 2021. "Pitfalls of the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-18, November.
    6. Xiao Chen & Alan Woodland, 2013. "International trade and climate change," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 20(3), pages 381-413, June.
    7. Suvajit Banerjee, 2021. "Addressing the carbon emissions embodied in India’s bilateral trade with two eminent Annex-II parties: with input–output and spatial decomposition analysis," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 5430-5464, April.
    8. Thomas Eichner & Rüdiger Pethig, 2015. "Is trade liberalization conducive to the formation of climate coalitions?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(6), pages 932-955, December.
    9. Cheng Haitao & Kato Hayato & Obashi Ayako, 2021. "Is Environmental Tax Harmonization Desirable in Global Value Chains?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(1), pages 379-416, January.
    10. Rikard Forslid & Toshihiro Okubo & Mark Sanctuary, 2017. "Trade Liberalization, Transboundary Pollution, and Market Size," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(3), pages 927-957.
    11. Bellora, Cecilia, 2020. "Carbon Border Adjustment and Alternatives," Conference papers 333210, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    12. Gabriel Felbermayr & Sonja Peterson & Joschka Wanner, 2022. "The Impact of Trade and Trade Policy on the Environment and the Climate. A Review," WIFO Working Papers 649, WIFO.
    13. Thomas Eichner & Rüdiger Pethig, 2012. "Stable Climate Coalitions (Nash) and International Trade," CESifo Working Paper Series 3915, CESifo.
    14. Campolmi, Alessia & Fadinger, Harald & Forlati, Chiara & Stillger, Sabine & Wagner, Ulrich J., 2024. "Designing Effective Carbon Border Adjustment with Minimal Information Requirements. Theory and Empirics," Single Market Economics Papers WP2024/19, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (European Commission), Chief Economist Team.
    15. Noha Elboghdadly & Michael Finus, 2020. "Enforcing Climate Agreements: The Role of Escalating Border Carbon Adjustments," Graz Economics Papers 2020-11, University of Graz, Department of Economics.
    16. Bård Harstad, 2020. "Trade and Trees: How Trade Agreements Can Motivate Conservation Instead of Depletion," CESifo Working Paper Series 8569, CESifo.
    17. Jakob, Michael, 2021. "Climate policy and international trade – A critical appraisal of the literature," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    18. Jayadevappa, Ravishankar & Chhatre, Sumedha, 2000. "International trade and environmental quality: a survey," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 175-194, February.
    19. Haixiao Huang, Walter C. Labys, 2002. "Environment and trade: a review of issues and methods," International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 2(1/2), pages 100-160.
    20. Michael Jakob & Robert Marschinski & Michael Hübler, 2013. "Between a Rock and a Hard Place: A Trade-Theory Analysis of Leakage Under Production- and Consumption-Based Policies," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 56(1), pages 47-72, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:reviec:v:26:y:2018:i:4:p:826-851. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0965-7576 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.