Introduction
Responding to climate change is an agenda that must engage all human activities including a rethink of policymaking.
Trade policy is no exception and its prominence has grown in recent years: new domestic policies introduced to limit greenhouse gas emissions have automatic repercussions on market access of traded products and costs imposed on decarbonising industries exposed to international competition require border carbon adjustments. The race for low-carbon technologies is also on, an asset in the global effort to phaseout fossil fuels, but which also creates tensions on grounds of unfair trade practices. International trade has also become more uncertain as a result of multiple tectonic plate shifts in geopolitics, and there are multiple instances of climate change itself affecting our trade infrastructures, and soon our trade needs. All the while more than 20% of our global emissions are released for the manufacturing and transport of goods consumed in other countries.
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This website, supported by the European Climate Foundation, seeks to provide information and tools to unpack the multiple relations between trade and climate policy. It is motivated by the need to understand the role of trade towards a “net-zero” world.
Our 2023 strategic foresight exercise “the Future of Trade in a Net Zero World” will help you think of the multiple dimensions of this issue and identify robust policy solutions. Honing in on the analytics, the Traded Emissions Tracker provides a detailed global mapping of major economies carbon footprints including their imported and exported emissions. It is also critical to compare how tariffs, an essential element of trade policy, align with our climate goals – watch this space for our upcoming Tariff Policy Analysis Dashboard.
Traded Emissions Tracker
International trade is gaining ground as a prominent factor in the global fight to limit climate change. If trade can facilitate access to low-carbon mitigation and adaptation technologies, it also encourages and maintains markets for greenhouse gas-intensive products. More than 20% of our global emissions are “embedded” in internationally traded products, a share that has grown since 1995. As countries take more ambitious measures to reduce their territorial emissions, they also need to wonder about their broader carbon footprint. Released in September 2026, the Traded Emissions Tracker will be regularly upgraded and updated.
Foresight Report
Over the course of the past year, the European Climate Foundation (ECF) conducted a comprehensive strategic foresight process exploring what trade could and should look like in a world that seeks to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century to curb climate change. This was motivated by the lack of a clear vision for the role of trade in climate action.
In partnership with the consultancy Foresight Intelligence, this project explored alternative futures for trade in a changing climate. Most importantly, it proposes a vision for an international trade regime aligned with the global climate goal of the Paris Agreement to reach net zero emissions by mid-century. The results of the foresight process suggest how Europe could play its part in reaching this vision, while recognising the need for robust international partnerships, particularly with developing countries.
Publications
A number of "thought" pieces are being commissioned to examine in much greater detail some of the key issues raised by the core Future of Trade report.
The first two of these have now been published, focusing respectively on climate impacts on trade infrastructure and future patterns of trade & related greenhouse gas emissions.