A Turquoise Mess: Green Subsidies, Blue Industrial Policy and Renewable Energy: The Case for Redrafting the Subsidies Agreement of the WTO

Canada-Renewable Energy presented the WTO Panel and Appellate Body (AB) with a novel issue: at the heart of the dispute was a measure adopted by the province of Ontario whereby producers of renewable energy would be paid a premium relative to conventional power producers. Some WTO Members complained that the measure was a prohibited subsidy because payments were conditional upon using Canadian equipment for the production of renewable energy. The AB gave them right only in part: it found that a local content requirement had indeed been imposed, but also found that it lacked evidence to determine whether a subsidy had been bestowed. The report is, for the reasons explained below, incoherent and could hardly serve as precedent for resolution of similar conflicts in the future. The facts of the case though, do raise legitimate questions both with respect to the specifics of the case, as well as of more general nature regarding the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM Agreement), and the role of the judge when facing legislative failure. In this paper, we provide some responses to these questions in light of the theory and evidence regarding industrial policy in the name of environmental protection

Developing Guidance for Implementing Border Carbon Adjustments:Lessons, Cautions, and Research Needs from the Literature

Policymakers are often reluctant to implement strong carbon pricing for fear of disadvantaging domestic industries and offshoring emissions-intensive activities. Border carbon adjustment (BCA) would address such carbon leakage concerns by using trade measures to ensure that products from foreign producers facing lower (or no) carbon prices are on equal footing with domestically produced goods. Despite intuitive economic appeal, BCA requires numerous challenging regulatory choices, including its scope of applicability (i.e., which policies, goods, sectors, countries), the methodology for assessing the carbon content of products, the type and price of the adjustment, scenarios requiring modification, and how the resulting revenues will be used. Each of these choices has economic and environmental implications that influence the effectiveness of the BCA, as well as nuanced technical, legal, and political consequences that must be considered. In particular, the design of any BCA must comport with international agreements governing trade and climate policy responsibilities. This article reviews the economic and legal literature on BCA, provides guidance for the design and implementation of BCAs, and identifies research priorities

Mining a Mirage: Reassessing the Shared-Value Paradigm in Light of the Technological Advances in the Mining Sector

While there has been a strong tendency in resource rich countries to push for more stringent local content regulations, the mining sector is looking to move towards increased automation. In this study titled Mining a Mirage: Reassessing the Shared-Value Paradigm in Light of the Technological Advances in the Mining Sector, CCSI, IISD and Engineers Without Borders researched the technological innovations that are being developed, assessing when these technologies could be rolled out, and quantifying the potential impacts automation may have on local employment and procurement and on the shared value paradigm. The objective was to better understand how governments could adapt local content, industrial and fiscal policies in order to better prepare for and embrace technological advances in the mining sector

Industrial decarbonisation in a fragmented world: an effective carbon price with a ‘climate contribution’

This report argues that Europe’s climate policymakers must prepare options to ensure the resilience of its industrial strategy in a global context of increasing fragmentation, and proposes a ‘climate contribution’ approach. In particular, the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) may not be sufficient to provide a level playing field if other countries do not pursue comparable carbon pricing strategies. The report is authored by a group of academics from institutions across Europe,[i] led by Karsten Neuhoff and Misato Sato, and published by the Grantham Research Institute with DIW Berlin and the Centre for Economic Transition Expertise (CETEx)

Environment and trade: a handbook

Este manual ha sido preparado con el propósito de subrayar la relación entre el comercio y el medio ambiente. El objetivo de base es promover una mayor comprensión de estas interrelaciones a fin ayudar a los gobiernos a construir métodos prácticos para la integración de estas políticas