854) Comercio e Meio Ambiente: uma conciliacao possivel

Trade and climate change linkages
a scoping paper produced for the trade ministers’ dialogue on climate change issues
Exploring the links between trade and climate change
Authors A. Cosbey
Publisher: International Institute for Sustainable Development [ES], 2007

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This paper sets out to scope the linkages between trade and investment and climate change. It aims to draw a broad picture on how trade and investment policy might contribute to efforts to address climate change.

The need for the international community to tackle climate change is clear, and has been repeatedly confirmed at the highest levels by leaders worldwide. At first, it is not so clear why trade policy makers should concern themselves with this challenge, the aims of trade being, after all, economic growth rather than environmental integrity. The answer is, the paper suggests, that trade policy is not about economic growth only.

Key points include:
as a general proposition there seem to be few inherent conflicts between climate change and trade policy, and these can be mutually supportive
there are a host of economic benefits to addressing climate change beyond avoiding costs. A vast array of mitigation measures involve increasing efficiency of production and consumption, reducing the amount of energy needed to power the global economy
the Kyoto Protocol may be an agreement focused on an environmental problem, but it is fundamentally an economic treaty, seeking at the base to reorganise the way the world consumes and produces goods and services.