Making Trade Work for Climate: Options for Policymakers

The policy brief examines the tension between national climate measures and international trade rules, such as those of the WTO. Based on a literature review and 26 expert interviews, it categorizes 22 options for alignment by their short-term political feasibility. The authors recommend six immediate actions: leveraging regional trade agreements (RTAs), engaging in plurilateral efforts like the Environmental Goods Agreement, intensifying WTO and UNFCCC coordination, voluntarily including climate issues in the WTO Trade Policy Review Mechanism, advancing border carbon adjustments (BCAs) via like-minded coalitions, and promoting fossil fuel subsidy reform through a group of WTO Members.

• National climate policies, such as local content clauses in renewable energy programs, may conflict with international trade rules, potentially leaving critical climate decisions to be determined by WTO judges.
• Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) provide a scalable environment for policy experimentation and the alignment of standards to support the Paris Agreement, exemplified by the EU's free trade agreements with Japan, Singapore, and Vietnam, and the updated EU-Mexico agreement.
• Plurilateral efforts, specifically the revival of the Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) by policymakers in the EU and China, can expedite climate action by avoiding the delays associated with the full WTO membership.
• Border Carbon Adjustments (BCAs) can prevent emissions leakage and pressure lagging countries to increase ambition, provided like-minded countries cooperate on design to avoid 'disguised form of protectionism'.
• The WTO's existing subsidy disciplines have failed to address fossil fuel subsidies; the authors suggest expanding a group of Members—including the US, EU, China, and India—to increase transparency and develop phase-out rules.

APA

Das, K., van Asselt, H., Droege, S., & Mehling, M. (2018). Making Trade Work for Climate: Options for Policymakers. Climate Strategies. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/CS_WP4-Brief_FINAL.pdf

Chicago

Das, Kasturi, Harro van Asselt, Susanne Droege, and Michael Mehling. Making Trade Work for Climate: Options for Policymakers. Climate Strategies, 2018. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/CS_WP4-Brief_FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Das |first1=Kasturi |last2=van Asselt |first2=Harro |last3=Droege |first3=Susanne |last4=Mehling |first4=Michael |title=Making Trade Work for Climate: Options for Policymakers |publisher=Climate Strategies |date=August 2018 |url=https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/CS_WP4-Brief_FINAL.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{das2018making, author = {Das, Kasturi and van Asselt, Harro and Droege, Susanne and Mehling, Michael}, title = {{Making Trade Work for Climate: Options for Policymakers}}, institution = {Climate Strategies}, year = {2018}, month = aug, url = {https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/CS_WP4-Brief_FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }