The aim of this paper is to examine some important aspects of the linkage between climate change and trade-related issues. In particular, the paper looks at developments in policies taken by governments and the inter-governmental processes to deal with the crisis in climate change, including within the international climate change regime (the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) and their inter-linkages with the multilateral trade regime (in particular the World Trade Organisation). The paper thus analyzes the climate-trade links in the context of both the climate and the trade regimes.
The issues examined include the past and emerging issues in the debate on trade and the environment (including climate change) in the WTO, including the concept of process and production methods (PPM), perspectives on unilateral trade measures on environmental grounds, liberalization of environmental goods, and intellectual property rights. The paper also examines the evolving policies in developed countries on the treatment of imported products (including border adjustment measures) in the context of economic competitiveness concerns, and the perspective of developing countries on such policy measures.
It also analyses the link between IPRs, technology transfer and climate change, and describes the proposals put forward on these issues by developing countries in both the WTO and the UNFCCC.