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33 Publications found…

  • Academic Paper 7 January 2025

    The UK's border carbon leakage trilemma

    By Emily Lydgate and L. Alan Winters CB et al.

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    Summary CITP publication

    Concern about manufacturing emissions relocating to places with lax climate regulation has led some countries, including the United Kingdom (UK), to consider, or introduce, carbon pricing on imported products in some sectors. Such regulations, known generically as Border Carbon Adjustments (BCAs), comprise the first mandatory requirements addressing emissions embodied in traded products. Existing analyses have identified BCA design options that minimize its controversial characteristics. In contrast, this article argues that optimization can only serve a subset of identified objectives: BCA design presents a policy trilemma between climate ambition, technical feasibility and international equity. The UK's status as a medium-sized economy proximate to the EU means that following EU BCA design, established through its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), will calibrate the UK's level of climate ambition (objective 1) to that of the EU, but lessen technical complexity (objective 2). It will not resolve international equity concerns (objective 3), but help the UK to address them diplomatically.

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  • Blog post 13 December 2024

    The UK CBAM journey: Assessing the Government’s response to its consultation of March 2024

    By Dongzhe Zhang, L. Alan Winters CB and Emily Lydgate.

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    Summary CITP publication

    The challenges that will result if the UK CBAM diverges from the design of EU CBAM

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  • Working Paper 10 October 2024

    ‘We’re saying that we trust them but really we don’t’: The discursive framing of TRUST in international trade deals

    By Justyna A. Robinson, L. Alan Winters CB, Rhys Sandow, Sandra Young and Caitlin Hogan et al.

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    Summary CITP publication

    Using corpus-assisted discourse analysis, we focus on the concept of TRUST in trade policy. Our findings highlight a deficit of trust that could be remedied by greater honesty and transparency from the government.

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  • Academic Paper 20 August 2024

    How do we make trade policy in Britain? How should we?

    By L. Alan Winters CB et al.

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    Summary CITP publication

    Since Brexit, the UK has been responsible for its own trade policymaking rather than inputting into the collective policy of the European Union. This paper starts by sketching how that policy has been developed and implemented and how it is turning out. Overall, it is not very complimentary about the UK Government's efforts and so it then moves on to consider how we might do better. One dimension of this is how trade policy could be made more inclusive in formulation. I propose three (sets of) institutional reforms: increasing Parliamentary (and other) scrutiny of the government's trade policy plans; after examining how the UK public thinks about trade policy, it asks whether (how) one should take into account public attitudes to trade policy issues; finally, it argues for creating an independent source of advice and analysis on trade policy. It concludes by noting that while recent history has been disappointing, trade policy by any government would be improved by the reforms recommended.

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  • Blog post 27 June 2024

    Gritty problems in setting up the UK CBAM

    By Dongzhe Zhang, L. Alan Winters CB and Emily Lydgate.

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    Summary CITP publication

    Our response to the Government’s consultation on ‘Introduction of a UK carbon border adjustment mechanism from January 2027'.

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  • Briefing Paper 13 June 2024

    Default values in the UK’s CBAM could hinder its climate ambitions

    By Dongzhe Zhang and L. Alan Winters CB et al.

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    Summary CITP publication

    The generation of default values for each CBAM good is crucial. This paper identifies potential problems with applying national average emission intensities, analyses the negative impacts of using uniform default values across countries, assesses the usefulness of using production weights to calculate global averages and discusses percentage-based markup.

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  • Working Paper 11 June 2024

    How to price CBAM permits: Combining the markets for ETS and CBAM carbon permits

    By Nicolò Tamberi and L. Alan Winters CB et al.

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    Summary CITP publication

    CBAM emission permit price is determined only by the demand for ETS permits by domestic producers. If technical progress reduces domestic firms’ demand for emissions, the price of permits falls, imports increase and, potentially, total emissions from consumption rise. Combining the markets for ETS and CBAM permits would overcome this problem.

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  • Working Paper 22 May 2024

    Restructuring the Board of Trade for the Twenty-first Century

    By David Henig and L. Alan Winters CB et al.

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    Summary CITP publication

    This Working Paper provides details on why the UK needs an independent Board of Trade and how it would operate, be overseen, and be implemented.

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  • Academic Paper 13 May 2024

    Exempting Least Developed Countries from Border Carbon Adjustments: Simple Economically but Complex Legally

    By Sunayana Sasmal, Dongzhe Zhang, Emily Lydgate and L. Alan Winters CB et al.

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    Summary CITP publication

    This paper highlights the gap between normative aims of special and differential treatment (SDT) provisions to support development, and current WTO law and jurisprudence which expose WTO members providing preferential treatment to allegations of discrimination. With increasing unilateral climate action, an inability to integrate SDT more meaningfully into WTO non-discrimination frameworks risks further weakening of international cooperation on climate and trade.

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  • Briefing Paper 12 April 2024

    The revenue potential of phasing out the free allowances received by UK CBAM sectors

    By Dongzhe Zhang and L. Alan Winters CB et al.

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    Summary CITP publication

    This Briefing Paper provides an estimate the potential revenue that the UK government will raise through the phasing out of free allowances under the ETS that will accompany the introduction of the UK’s CBAM.

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