Trade policies and emissions reduction: establishing and assessing options

The CCC commissioned the UK Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex to review trade policy options, with a particular focus on CBAMs and mandatory minimum product standards. The project set out a taxonomy of trade policy options, the current landscape, an assessment of the key design decisions for CBAMs and product standards and practical steps required for implementing these policies.

In its assessment of design options, the project highlighted that it is difficult to design measures that are simultaneously environmentally ambitious, technically feasible to implement and address concerns about fairness and equity, both domestically and for UK trade partners. Some trade-offs between these objectives are likely to be necessary.