IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v37y2009i2p432-440.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Climate change policy and international trade: Policy considerations in the US

Author

Listed:
  • Weber, Christopher L.
  • Peters, Glen P.

Abstract

Significant recent attention, in both research and policy realms, has been given to the intersection of international trade and global climate change. Trade presents challenges to climate policy through carbon leakage and competitiveness concerns, but also potential solutions through the use of cooperative trade agreements, technology transfer, or carbon tariffs against recalcitrant nations. This study examines how trade may affect climate policy in the US and specifically examines the use of carbon tariffs as suggested by recent bills before the US Congress. We argue that even if such actions are legal at the World Trade Organization, they are probably not necessary to protect industrial competitiveness in the traditional sense, could cover only a small proportion of total embodied emissions in trade, and may in fact be counterproductive at a moment when global cooperation is desperately needed. While political agreement may necessitate at least the threat of carbon tariffs, cooperative agreements such as global sectoral agreements, technology sharing, etc. could be more productive in the short term.

Suggested Citation

  • Weber, Christopher L. & Peters, Glen P., 2009. "Climate change policy and international trade: Policy considerations in the US," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 432-440, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:37:y:2009:i:2:p:432-440
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301-4215(08)00522-3
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ismer, R. & Neuhoff, K., 2004. "Border Tax Adjustments: A feasible way to address nonparticipation in Emission Trading," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0409, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    2. Stern,Nicholas, 2007. "The Economics of Climate Change," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521700801, September.
    3. Suri, Vivek & Chapman, Duane, 1998. "Economic growth, trade and energy: implications for the environmental Kuznets curve," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 195-208, May.
    4. Weber, Christopher L. & Peters, Glen P. & Guan, Dabo & Hubacek, Klaus, 2008. "The contribution of Chinese exports to climate change," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 3572-3577, September.
    5. Babiker, Mustafa H., 2005. "Climate change policy, market structure, and carbon leakage," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 421-445, March.
    6. Trevor Houser & Rob Bradley & Britt Childs, 2008. "Leveling the Carbon Playing Field: International Competition and US Climate Policy Design," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 4204, April.
    7. Werner Antweiler & Brian R. Copeland & M. Scott Taylor, 2001. "Is Free Trade Good for the Environment?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 877-908, September.
    8. Peters, Glen P., 2008. "From production-based to consumption-based national emission inventories," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 13-23, March.
    9. Wiedmann, Thomas & Lenzen, Manfred & Turner, Karen & Barrett, John, 2007. "Examining the global environmental impact of regional consumption activities -- Part 2: Review of input-output models for the assessment of environmental impacts embodied in trade," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 15-26, February.
    10. Bhagwati, Jagdish & Mavroidis, Petros C., 2007. "Is action against US exports for failure to sign Kyoto Protocol WTO-legal?," World Trade Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(2), pages 299-310, July.
    11. Stiglitz Joseph, 2006. "A New Agenda for Global Warming," The Economists' Voice, De Gruyter, vol. 3(7), pages 1-4, July.
    12. Matthew A. Cole & Robert J. R. Elliott, 2005. "FDI and the Capital Intensity of “Dirty” Sectors: A Missing Piece of the Pollution Haven Puzzle," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(4), pages 530-548, November.
    13. Leontief, Wassily, 1970. "Environmental Repercussions and the Economic Structure: An Input-Output Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 52(3), pages 262-271, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Jansson, Torbjorn & Kuiper, Marijke & Banse, Martin & Heckelei, Thomas & Adenäuer, Marcel, 2008. "Getting the best of both worlds? Linking CAPRI and GTAP for an economywide assessment of agriculture," Conference papers 331757, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    2. Rahel Aichele, 2013. "Trade, Climate Policy and Carbon Leakage - Theory and Empirical Evidence," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 49.
    3. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2010. "Input-output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade: The effects of spatial aggregation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 10-18, November.
    4. Wei Yang & Junnian Song, 2019. "Depicting Flows of Embodied Water Pollutant Discharge within Production System: Case of an Undeveloped Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-15, July.
    5. Ren, Shenggang & Yuan, Baolong & Ma, Xie & Chen, Xiaohong, 2014. "The impact of international trade on China׳s industrial carbon emissions since its entry into WTO," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 624-634.
    6. Su, Bin & Huang, H.C. & Ang, B.W. & Zhou, P., 2010. "Input-output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade: The effects of sector aggregation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 166-175, January.
    7. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2013. "Input–output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade: Competitive versus non-competitive imports," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 83-87.
    8. Nelly Exbrayat & Stéphane Riou & Skerdilajda Zanaj, 2021. "A global carbon tax? Why firm mobility and heterogeneity matters," DEM Discussion Paper Series 21-17, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    9. Boya Zhang & Shukuan Bai & Yadong Ning & Tao Ding & Yan Zhang, 2020. "Emission Embodied in International Trade and Its Responsibility from the Perspective of Global Value Chain: Progress, Trends, and Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-26, April.
    10. Peng, Shuijun & Zhang, Wencheng & Sun, Chuanwang, 2016. "‘Environmental load displacement’ from the North to the South: A consumption-based perspective with a focus on China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 147-158.
    11. Gemechu, Eskinder D. & Butnar, Isabela & Llop Llop, Maria & Sangwong, S. & Castells i Piqué, Francesc, 2013. "CO2 emissions embodied in international trade: A multiregional Inputoutput model for Spain," Working Papers 2072/212195, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    12. Guo, Jie & Zou, Le-Le & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2010. "Impact of inter-sectoral trade on national and global CO2 emissions: An empirical analysis of China and US," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 1389-1397, March.
    13. Maria Csutora & Zs�fia Vetőn� m�zner, 2014. "Proposing a beneficiary-based shared responsibility approach for calculating national carbon accounts during the post-Kyoto era," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(5), pages 599-616, September.
    14. Ding, Tao & Ning, Yadong & Zhang, Yan, 2018. "The contribution of China’s bilateral trade to global carbon emissions in the context of globalization," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 78-88.
    15. Lin, Boqiang & Sun, Chuanwang, 2010. "Evaluating carbon dioxide emissions in international trade of China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 613-621, January.
    16. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W. & Low, Melissa, 2013. "Input–output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade and the driving forces: Processing and normal exports," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 119-125.
    17. 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.
    18. Fernández-Amador, Octavio & Francois, Joseph F. & Tomberger, Patrick, 2016. "Carbon dioxide emissions and international trade at the turn of the millennium," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 14-26.
    19. Yuhuan Zhao & Zhonghua Zhang & Song Wang & Shaojun Wang, 2014. "CO 2 Emissions Embodied in China's Foreign Trade: An Investigation from the Perspective of Global Vertical Specialization," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 22(4), pages 102-120, July.
    20. Fischer, Carolyn & Fox, Alan K., 2012. "Comparing policies to combat emissions leakage: Border carbon adjustments versus rebates," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 199-216.

    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:eee:enepol:v:37:y:2009:i:2:p:432-440. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    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.