Climate change is now a major issue on the domestic and international agenda. The relationship between trade, development and climate change is attracting increasing attention, not least because of the export-led growth of China and India. It has been suggested that trade liberalisation is fundamentally at odds with environmental protection. But in fact trade can make an important contribution to tackling climate change, and climate change should not be used as an excuse for protectionism - this would only be counter-productive. The project includes:

• an assessment of the impact of trade on climate change
• an assessment of current proposals to use trade policy to promote climate change objectives
• a review of the evidence on competitiveness effects of environmental policy and 'carbon leakage'
• a review of historical emissions data and
• a review of TRIPs issues and green technology transfer