A new WTO Scholars Forum Event:
Professor Geert Van Calster
(University of Leuven, Institute for Environmental and Energy Law)
‘TLC – Trade and the Low Carbon Economy’
Chair: Mr Angus Johnston (Senior University Lecturer, University of Cambridge)
Thursday 20 November 2008, 5-6.30pm, UCL Laws, London, Room SR1
(http://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/faculty/index.shtml?laws_map)
All welcome, free of charge
For further information, please contact Forum administrator, Ann Tucker, [email protected]
Bio:
Geert van Calster is a professor of regulatory law at KU Leuven, a former visiting lecturer at Oxford Univeristy (2006-08) and former visiting professor of WTO law at Erasmus University (Rotterdam) and of EU law at Monash University (Melbourne). He is the director of studies of KU Leuven's Master of Energy and Environmental Law, and practises law with the Brussels and London offices of DLA Piper. His current research interests include climate change law, and the regulation of new technologies, nanotechnologies in particular.
Summary:
Government and private measures intended to move towards a low carbon economy have created some interesting contrasts. Many, including regulators, see a trading instrument (emissions trading) as something of a panacea for climate change mitigation. At the same time, alternative measures suggest a decrease in trade so as to keep carbon footprints of goods and services down. While usually well-intended, such measures inherently erode some of the comparative advantages of developing countries. Buying locally, for instance, sometimes descends into protectionism. This presentation will present the impact of the WTO on low carbon economy measures, highlighting the limitations of WTO law in the international debate on climate change, but perhaps even more so the agility of the agreements to support genuine climate change governance. It will also look at the ‘special place’ for energy in the WTO.
The Directors of the WTO Scholars' Forum
