Policy Briefs
from Harvard Project on Climate Agreements

Harvard Project Releases Discussion Brief on Climate-change and Trade Policy

Michael Mehling authored the brief, which explores relationships among industrial policy, trade, and efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. 

Climate and trade discussion brief
Container Ship under Golden Gate Bridge
Container Ship passing under the Golden Gate Bridge, 27 September 2008.

Michael Mehling explores relationships among industrial policy, trade, and efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Among his conclusions are that climate action is now tied to the rise of industrial policy; border carbon measures are seeing increased interest but are also controversial as tools of climate action; and, while trade and climate cooperation have evolved separately, they are increasingly intersecting.

The brief was prepared in part as background for discussion at a research workshop hosted by the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements and Energy Foundation China, held in Shanghai December 16 – 17, 2024. More information on the workshop is here.

Mehling is Professor of Practice at the University of Strathclyde School of Law and Deputy Director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Recommended citation

Stowe, Robert C. “Harvard Project Releases Discussion Brief on Climate-change and Trade Policy.” Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, January 2025

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