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RESOLVING A PARADOX: CAN REGIONALISM HELP TO PROMOTE A GLOBAL APPROACH TO CLIMATE CHANGE?
EVIDENCE FROM THE EU-MERCORSUR INTERREGIONAL FRAMEWORK CO-OPERATION AGREEMENT

CEPS Working Paper, May 2004

Enrica De Cian1

ABSTRACT

Can regional trade promote a solution to a global environmental problem such as climate change more easily than the multilateral WTO is likely to do? So far the relationship between global free trade and global environmental threats has been mainly investigated at the multilateral level. However, progresses towards global agreements have slowed down and at the same time regional initiatives have emerged at an increasing pace. Therefore the study of the trade-environment interface needs to take into account the shift from the global to the regional perspective because it might be more realistic to aim for trade and climate global cooperation in a sequence of regional steps rather than in one large multilateral step. The focus will be on the new regionalism: dealing progressively more with non-tariff measures, it might cover domestic regulations and trade-related environmental measures in a more comprehensive way. This point will be exemplified by the EU-Mercorsur Interregional Framework Co-operation Agreement.
Table of contents
Table of contents 2
1.Introduction 3
2. Trade and Environmental Global Issues: switching from a global to a regional perspective 4
2.1 Trade and the environment 4
2.2 Trade and climate change 5
2.3 The sub-global approach to global issues: a paradox? 6
3. Regional trade, environment and climate change 7
3.1 Regionalism: traditional welfare effects and their implications for the environment 7
3.2 The ‘new regionalism’ 9
3.3 RTAs and the environment 10
3.3.1 Empirical Evidence 10
3.3.2 Different regional approaches 11
3.3.3 Internal versus external effects 12
3.4 RTAs and Climate Change 12
4. Case study: the EU-Mercorsur Interregional Framework Co-operation agreement 13
4.1

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