Trade and Climate: Towards Reconciliation

To limit greenhouse-gas emissions, is it necessary to restrict international trade? By dissociating where products are produced from where they are consumed, international trade contributes significantly to greenhousegas emissions worldwide, especially when goods are transported. It also displaces t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNotes du Conseil d'analyse économique no. 37
Main Authors Bureau, Dominique, Fontagné, Lionel, Schubert, Katheline
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Conseil d’analyse économique 30.01.2017
Subjects
Economics and Finance
Humanities and Social Sciences
greenhouse gas emissions
international transport
international trade
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Summary:To limit greenhouse-gas emissions, is it necessary to restrict international trade? By dissociating where products are produced from where they are consumed, international trade contributes significantly to greenhousegas emissions worldwide, especially when goods are transported. It also displaces the location of emissions: the consumption-induced carbon footprint of OECD countries is higher than their level of emissions. Large emerging countries find themselves in the opposite case. However, halting international trade would be particularly ineffective to reduce GHG emissions. According to oursimulations, raising average import tariffs to 17% (as opposed to current 5%, except for agricultural products) and accepting a fall in aggregate production of 1.8% would only lead to 3.5% GHG emission reduction by 2030. We confirm that a uniform and moderate import tariff imposed by a “club” of countries adopting ambitious and binding policies to fight climate change, against all imports from countries outside of the club, would be effective.
ISSN:2270-2385