Trade and Environment

From the New Yorker: It is a logical and widely held assumption that the ecological impacts of transporting food—particularly on airplanes over great distances—are far more significant than if that food were grown locally. For example: according to one recent study, factories throughout the world are burning eighteen

My good friends over at the law firm Sidley Austin have done an analysis of whether certain cap-and-trade greenhouse gas legislation under consideration in the U.S. is consistent with WTO rules.  They argue that unilateral legislation can be written in a way that complies with WTO rules, and that

Putting the trade issues aside, there is an environmental argument against corn ethanol subsidies: The widespread use of ethanol from corn could result in nearly twice the greenhouse gas emissions as the gasoline it would replace because of expected land-use changes, researchers concluded Thursday. The study challenges the rush to

No, it's not a headline from The Onion.  It actually happened: Sen. Charles Schumer said Sunday that rising demand for the corn-based fuel additive ethanol is contributing to a spike in milk prices and called for lifting the 54-cent-per-gallon tariff on ethanol imports. Schumer, D-N.Y., said rising

The NY Times reports: In a sign of growing concern about the impact of supposedly “green” policies, European Union officials will propose a ban on imports of certain biofuels, according to a draft law to be unveiled next week. If approved by European governments, the law would prohibit the importation

Greg Mastel writes: In the United States, the Senate is considering legislation authored by Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I.-Conn., and John Warner, R.-Va., to impose an ambitious cap-and-trade system designed to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. Under the legislation, companies emitting carbon dioxide would be obliged to purchase credits for their

I was a bit surprised by the ban on incandescent light bulbs in the U.S. energy bill (probably because I hadn't been following the legislation very closely).  Usually regulation of this sort consists of higher standards, or maybe occasionally additional taxes, but here we have an outright

New U.S. fuel efficiency standards were signed into law today.  Will we see a repeat of the early 1990s U.S. - Autos case?  A National Foreign Trade Council report thinks it is possible, but probably unlikely: Unlike other bills, which continue the 1994 CAFE standards' distinction between