Climate and Trade

Researchers affiliated with the MIT Climate Policy Center explore a number of topics related to the intersection of climate policy and trade. One area of current interest is the implications of carbon border adjustments, which are policies that tax imports based on the carbon emissions associated with their production.

Research and Analysis on Carbon Border Adjustments
 

• Kimberly Clausing, Milan Elkerbout, Katarina Nehrkorn, and Catherine Wolfram, “How Carbon Border Adjustments Might Drive Global Climate Policy Momentum,” Resources for the Future report 24-20, October 2024.
• Michael Mehling, Harro van Asselt, Susanne Droege, Kasturi Das, and Catherine Hall, “Bridging the Divide: Assessing the Viability of International Cooperation on Border Carbon Adjustments,” MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR) Research Brief  WP-2024-06, April 2024.  (Note: You can also read the working paper on which the research brief is based.)
• Kimberly A. Clausing and Catherine Wolfram, “Carbon Border Adjustments, Climate Clubs, and Subsidy Races When Climate Policies Vary,”Journal of Economic Perspectives 37, no. 3 (Summer 2023): 137–62. DOI: 10.1257/jep.37.3.137
   

Articles and Podcasts Related to the Topic

• Dylan Walsh, “What Business Needs to Know About Carbon Border Adjustments,” MIT Sloan School of Management website, February 18, 2025.
• Kara Miller and Robert Stone, “Putting a Price on Carbon with Catherine Wolfram,” MIT Energy Initiative podcast, December 18, 2024.
• MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR), “Bridging the Divide: Assessing the Viability of International Cooperation on Border Carbon Adjustments,” MIT Climate Portal blog post, May 3, 2024.
• Catherine Wolfram, with Aaron Krol, “Carbon Border Adjustments,” MIT Climate Portal, December 11, 2023.
   

Research and Analysis on Other Climate Policy and Trade Topics

• Michael A. Mehling, “Good Spillover, Bad Spillover: Industrial Policy, Instrument Choice, and the Political Economy of Decarbonization,” MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR) Research Brief WP-2025-01, January 2025.
• John Asker, Allan Collard-Wexler, Charlotte De Canniere, Jan De Loecker, and Christopher R. Knittel, “Two Wrongs Can Sometimes Make a Right: The Environmental Benefits of Market Power in Oil,” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 33115 (Cambridge, MA: November 2024).
   

Media Coverage of Other Climate and Trade Topics

• Louisa Moller, “Tariffs Will Increase New England Electricity and Gas Prices, Economist Says,”  WBZ News/CBS Boston, updated February 3, 2025.