Sustainable Consumption, Climate and Competitiveness: A US Approach
ERRG has been funded by the School of Law to explore the relationship between US climate policies and international trade law in the light of the current debate on sustainable consumption. Research has been undertaken at New York University School of Law library in July 2008 and a paper presented at a conference organised by the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law in Ottawa, Canada, in September 2008.
The Researchers
Researcher | Position | Affiliation |
|---|---|---|
Francesco Sindico | Lecturer in Law and Deputy Director of the Environmental Regulatory Research Group (ERRG) | School of Law, University of Surrey |
The Project
Competitiveness concerns were one of the reasons why the Bush Administration decided not to become a party and the same questions seem to haunt current US climate policies. The US is not the only one concerned about possible negative competitiveness effects arising from the adoption of climate change measures. Within the European Union (EU), France has been the State that has raised most questions about this counter effect of the European climate leadership and border adjustment measures are being debated in the framework of the reform of the EU emissions trading scheme. The application of measures intended to off-set the negative competitiveness effects of a strong domestic or international climate policy may lead to a possible normative conflict between the domestic measure and the obligations that the very same State may have under the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
This research will focus on the normative aspect of the problem and it will analyse what measures are being suggested in the US to offset possible negative competitiveness effects. In particular, the research will focus on the measures that are planned against developing countries such as China or India. The importance of the US action in relation to the global fight against climate change, and the possibility that it may be coupled by competitiveness offsetting measures that may collide with WTO norms, will be further linked to a third question: the rising interest on climate change and sustainable consumption.
Papers and presentations
F. Sindico, "Climate and Trade in a Divided World: Can Measures Adopted in the North End Up Shaping Climate Legislative Frameworks in the South?", presentation given at IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Conference on Climate Law in Developing Countries post-2012: North and South Perspectives, held at the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, Canada - 26/28 September 2008 [slides]
F. Sindico, "Climate and Trade in a Divided World: Can Measures Adopted in the North End Up Shaping Climate Legislative Frameworks in the South?", working paper submitted at the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Conference on Climate Law in Developing Countries post-2012: North and South Perspectives, held at the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, Canada - 26/28 September 2008 [abstract] [paper]
F. Sindico, "Climate and Trade in a Divided World: Can Measures Adopted in the North End Up Shaping Climate Legislative Frameworks in the South?" in B. Richardson, S. Wood, H. McLeod-Kilmurray and Y. Le Bouthillier (Eds.), Climate Law and Developing Countries: Legal and Policy Challenges for the World Community: Edward Elgar Publishing (2009), forthcoming