Thomas L. Brewer writes about the rapidly expanding joint climate-trade agenda that arose after the Bali international climate change conference in December 2007.
Events during the Bali COP-13/MOP-3 international climate change conference in December 2007 made it abundantly clear that climate change and international trade issues have now intersected to create a new, wide-ranging and rapidly-expanding joint climate-trade agenda. The most conspicuous and symbolic such event during the Bali conference was the informal trade ministers meeting – the first trade ministers meeting in history held during a climate change conference. However, a variety of developments over the past few years – and especially in recent months – outside the formal venues of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have also caused diverse and recurrent intersections of climate and trade issues. Such intersections are likely to increase in number and significance for some years to come.