Climate Change

Energy dual pricing as a harmful fossil fuel subsidy: What the WTO can do

20 December 2017
Anna Marhold
Energy dual pricing has been a contentious topic in the WTO for decades, but now the focus is on its harmful environmental effects. Dual pricing encourages wasteful consumption of fossil fuels and displaces cleaner sources of energy. There are several ways in which the WTO can and should contribute...
Climate Change Governance

In Landmark Shift, New UN Work Programme to Address Agriculture Emissions Under Climate Action Framework

7 December 2017
International agencies and farm leaders have welcomed the decision to launch a work programme on climate and agriculture, which was endorsed by governments at the annual conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) three weeks ago in Bonn, Germany. Language in the preamble...
Bridges Special Update (COP 23)

At Bonn Talks, World Comes Around to Doing More to Combat Climate Change; Debates Carbon Market Links and Use of Trade Tools

19 November 2017
The twenty-third Conference of the Parties (COP23) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has now drawn to a close, with the adoption of a gender action plan, a deal on addressing agriculture in the UNFCCC context, advances across various negotiating areas, discussions on carbon...
Bridges Special Update (COP 23)

Bridges Special Update #1 | UN Negotiators Descend on Bonn, Aiming to Lay the Groundwork for 2018 Climate Action

5 November 2017
Almost two years after adopting the UN’s Paris Agreement on climate change , delegates are now gathering in Bonn, Germany, to continue developing a “rulebook” for implementing the landmark deal. Meeting under the twenty-third Conference of the Parties (COP23) of the United Nations Framework...
Climate Change

A role for the WTO in reducing fossil fuel subsidies

31 October 2017
Joel P. Trachtman
The elimination of fossil fuel subsidies would decrease global carbon emissions significantly. This piece outlines five features of an ambitious approach to fossil fuel subsidy reform using the multilateral trading system. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is not an environmental organisation. But...