Cottier, Thomas; Payosova, Tetyana --- "Common concern and the legitimacy of the WTO in dealing with climate change" [2016] ELECD 1460; in Delimatsis, Panagiotis (ed), "Research Handbook on Climate Change and Trade Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016) 9

Book Title: Research Handbook on Climate Change and Trade Law

Editor(s): Delimatsis, Panagiotis

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781783478439

Section: Chapter 1

Section Title: Common concern and the legitimacy of the WTO in dealing with climate change

Author(s): Cottier, Thomas; Payosova, Tetyana

Number of pages: 22

Abstract/Description:

Climate Change mitigation and adaptation is not limited to specialized instruments of international law based upon the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It will increasingly bear upon international trade regulation within the World Trade Organization (WTO) and in preferential trade and investment agreements. The chapter develops the linkages between climate change and trade, taking recourse to the principle of common concern; which provides the proper foundation to address collective action problems in the field. Different from public goods or the principle of common heritage of humankind, common concern of humankind offers the foundations, but also the limitations, of unilateral action addressing climate change mitigation. The chapter discusses the status and use of production and process methods (PPMs) which increasingly move at the heart of international trade regulation and the analysis of like products. Methods of clean production of goods and services are key to addressing climate change and can be properly framed within the emerging principle of the common concern of humankind.