The untapped potential of preferential trade agreements for climate governance

The regulatory contribution that preferential trade agreements (PTAs) make to global climate governance is assessed through an analysis of climate-related provisions found in 688 PTAs signed between 1947 and 2016. Provisions are analyzed along four dimensions: innovation, legalization, replication,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEnvironmental politics Vol. 27; no. 3; pp. 541 - 565
Main Authors Morin, Jean-Frédéric, Jinnah, Sikina
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 04.05.2018
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Agreements
Climate
Climate change
Decriminalization
Emitters
Environmental assessment
Environmental protection
Governance
Greenhouse effect
Greenhouse gases
Innovations
institutional interactions
international negotiations
International trade
Kyoto Protocol
Legalization
regime complex
Replication
Reproducibility
strategic linkage
Textile industry
trade
Trade agreements
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Summary:The regulatory contribution that preferential trade agreements (PTAs) make to global climate governance is assessed through an analysis of climate-related provisions found in 688 PTAs signed between 1947 and 2016. Provisions are analyzed along four dimensions: innovation, legalization, replication, and distribution. Innovative climate provisions are found in several PTAs that are in some cases more specific and enforceable than the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. Nonetheless, these climate provisions offer limited progress because they remain weakly 'legalized', fail to replicate broadly in the global trade system, and were not adopted by the largest greenhouse gas emitters. Despite the inclusion of innovative climate provisions in a number of PTAs, their poor design and weak replication position them as some of the weakest environmental provisions within PTAs.
ISSN:0964-4016
1743-8934
DOI:10.1080/09644016.2017.1421399