How to Accommodate Environment and Trade
'Green economy', the keyword of the twenty-first century, was an unknown idea in 1947, year in which 23 countries signed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in order to regulate the international trade. The environmental issue wasn't the main concern of GATT, and it wasn't the priority in 1995 with the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Now, in a critical moment for the destiny of our planet, arises the problem of the lack of an international understanding which would provide the guide lines to accommodate the needs of economic competitiveness with the ones of environmental protection.
'Trade and Climate Change' is the theme of the 10th Annual Conference of the Euro-Latin Study Network on Integration and Trade (ELSNIT), jointly organized by the IEFE, KITeS and Paolo Baffi research centers of Bocconi University, on October 19th and 20th.
"Nowadays, because we lack a clear international understanding on how to manage climate change and trade interface", explains Gianmarco Ottaviano, vice director of Paolo Baffi Centre, "we run the risk of a clash that compromises the effectiveness of climate change policies as well as the potential gains from specialization through trade". "The aim of the Tenth ELSNIT Conference", Ottaviano concludes, "is to contribute to that understanding".
After the welcome speech from Ottaviano, who will also close the session, it will be the turn of the keynote speech by Patrick Low, Chief Economist of the WTO, entitled The International Climate Change and Trade Regimes: In Search of Compatibility. Following this, the presentation of the papers.
ELSNIT network, founded in 2002 by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), has the main objective of contributing to research and to the international debate on integration and trade issues relevant to Latin America, drawing on the rich European experience. Among the members of its Steering Committee there are international research centers based in Europe, such as the French Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales (CEPII), the Deutch Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), the Spanish Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals (IBEI), the British Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and the Italian European University Institute (EUI), in Florence, and KITeS Bocconi in Milan.