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22 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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  • Briefing Paper 3 December 2024

    An EU-UK SPS Agreement: The perils and possibilities of (re)alignment

    By Emily Lydgate and Alex Carson-Taylor et al.

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    Summary CITP publication

    This Briefing Paper sets out the rationale for an EU-UK SPS Agreement from the perspective of agri-food trade and identifies areas of UK divergence post-Brexit which will require re-alignment.

    Topics

    None.

  • Blog post 17 October 2024

    Linking EU and UK Emissions Trading Systems: Why, how, and is it easy or tough for the UK Labour Government?

    By Emily Lydgate.

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    Summary CITP publication

    Linking the UK Emissions Trading System (ETS) to the EU ETS is a logical first step UK-EU cooperation on climate change, it would also solve sensitive trade issues affecting the border on the Island on Ireland and have economic benefits.

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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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  • 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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  • Blog post 7 March 2024

    Unfinished Business: Four Perspectives on Incomplete Inclusivity in Trade

    By Ingo Borchert, Emily Lydgate and Maria Savona.

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    Summary CITP publication

    This blog shines a spotlight on four areas in which inclusivity in trade could improve. This entails the protection of worker rights, participation rates of women in trade, environmental sustainability in agri-food trade, and listening to and understanding the general public’s views on trade policy.

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  • Briefing Paper 20 November 2023

    Addressing the climate gap in digital technologies

    By Ingo Borchert, Maria Frabboni, Beatriz Kira, Emily Lydgate, Jeremiah Nyambinya and Sunayana Sasmal et al.

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    Summary CITP publication

    How does the digital economy affect the environment and what difficulties are there in regulating digital energy use? This Briefing Paper provides three policy recommendations to ensure that the environmental impact of digital technology is not overlooked in discussions about climate change.

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  • Briefing Paper 16 November 2023

    The US-EU Green Subsidies Race one year in: Some perspectives from the rest of the world

    By Emily Lydgate, L. Alan Winters CB, Sunayana Sasmal, , Professor James Bacchus and Amrita Saha et al.

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    Summary CITP publication

    In this Briefing Paper, the authors highlight some of the ramifications of the US-EU green subsidies race for developed country allies of the EU and US, such as the UK, and for low-income countries supplying many of the critical raw materials to make the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) possible.

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  • Briefing Paper 6 October 2023

    Exempting Least Developed Countries from carbon border adjustments: A legal and economic analysis

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

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    Summary CITP publication

    This paper focuses on the extent to which one might mitigate any harm that the CBAM does to the poorest countries. It provides evidence of the potential impact of CBAMs on Least Developed Countries and the Low/Lower Middle-Income Countries and discusses whether and how such an exemption might be accommodated within the existing legal framework of the World Trade Organization.

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