Countries are attempting to decrease their climate-changing emissions, while facing the immediate and removed effects of wars, economic downturns, increasing impacts of climate change, and growing challenges to accessing food, natural resources and energy. They are doing so despite the changing geopolitical situation and the global arena, while working with clear frustration regarding responsibility and fairness in managing climate adaptation and a fair and just climate transition.
Despite facing other challenges, governments are responding to the urgency of the climate crisis, which requires immediate action to reduce carbon emissions and stop the effects of climate change. Development is in progress of trade policy tools that support climate ambitions and address the challenges of international competition. The design of these regulatory frameworks requires a balance between protecting the environment, stimulating a sustainable transition of industries, and safeguarding global relationships and trade chains.
One of these tools in the EU’s Green Deal is the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The mechanism is criticized by countries that think it entails unfair costs for producers in countries that are not responsible for the climate crisis.
How should international environmental and climate work be kept alive in times of war and crisis? How does the geopolitical situation affect the climate transition in various parts of the world? What are the advantages and challenges of trade policy tools for reducing emissions? And how can policies be drawn up in such a way that they avoid heightening current geopolitical tensions? The panel will discuss these outstanding questions, while focusing on CBAM.
Moderator: Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder, Vice-President, Global Strategies and Managing Director, Europe, IISD
Keynote Speaker:
Henrik Carlsen, Senior Research Fellow, SEI, and co-director of the research programme Mistra Geopolitics
Ieva Baršauskaitė, Senior Policy Advisor, IISD
Policy Panel
Rashid S. Kaukab, International Trade, Development and Environment Expert
Marc Vanheukelen, former EU Ambassador Climate Diplomacy, former EU Ambassador to the WTO
Helena Hansson, Professor of Agricultural and Food Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and Programme Director, Mistra Food Futures
Rapporteur: Antoine Oger, Head of programme, Global Challenges and SDGs, Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP)
Full programme available here.
Register here.
