Trade and Environment

At Vox, Rahel Aichele and Gabriel Felbermayr explain how production-based carbon reduction can lead to carbon leakage: Production-based CO2 emission targets can give rise to carbon leakage, as firms relocate to countries without carbon policies. This column shows that Kyoto countries’ embodied CO2 imports have been increasing by about 50%

Via Sallie James of Cato, I came across this story: Minnesota recently enacted a plan to tax electricity generated by carbon-intensive methods in North Dakota--specifically, a carbon fee of $4 to $34 per ton of CO2 emissions in addition to the normal cost of coal power. Naturally, North Dakota'

My post on the WTO-legality of an import ban on nuclear waste generated a fair amount of discussion (including a reference to the movie Back to the Future!), so I thought I'd follow-up with this quote from Florida Rep. Cliff Stearns, who explains his opposition to the import

From Daniel Gros over at vox: The Commission has estimated that a carbon price of around the €40-50 per tonne would be required to reach the EU’s 2020 commitments. This would imply, at current exchange rates, about $50-70 per tonne. This might be too high for the US, where

The other day, I did a short post on a possible U.S. ban on imports of nuclear waste (the importation would be for processing and disposal here in the U.S.).  I didn't say anything about the legal issues, because I thought the conclusion was clear --

From Daniel Gros at VOX: Why a cap-and-trade system can be bad for your healthThe purpose of a cap-and-trade system is to help in the fight against global climate change. This column warns that a unilateral approach could increase global emissions by shifting production to more carbon-intensive methods abroad. Acting

The Economist has a good article discussing the likely trade conflicts arising from cap and trade measures.  They talk about the problem of countries reducing emissions by varying amounts, and the possibility of companies relocating production to "carbon havens."  According to the article, studies suggest that the scope

When I read about proposals to reduce tariffs on environmental goods and services, my sense is that, assuming trade negotiators can agree on anything these days, this should be a goal that is achievable.  On the other hand, subsidies and discriminatory government procurement in the area of clean energy seem