Harvard Project Releases Second Discussion Brief on Climate-Change and Trade Policy

Valerie Karplus explores relationships between trade and climate-change policy, with a geographical focus on China, the United States, and Europe. She asks how, “[a]gainst a backdrop of escalating trade tensions and signs of softening climate ambition…we can make progress — or at least minimize backsliding” on climate action. She responds by citing the need for “safe spaces”:

• “…in trade: could certain key inputs to the green economy be potentially exempted from tariffs, without thwarting the ambitions of protectionist programs?”
• “…for the emergence and diffusion of decarbonized energy technologies”
• “…that support infrastructure and systems necessary for decarbonization.”

Karplus concludes by “…offering a few ways these safe spaces might be established.”

Valerie Karplus is a professor in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy and associate director at the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University.