Rising lawyers from Japan and the United States explore links between climate and trade policies

In an online Salzburg Cutler Fellows event titled The Next Frontier of International Climate Cooperation: Can Trade Drive Decarbonization? Cutler Fellows met with counterparts in Japan to explore the linkages between climate and trade policies.

The Salzburg Cutler Fellows program seeks to support rising lawyers in building leadership skills and networks across law and public service worldwide.

The event came as the Japanese government announced plans to introduce carbon pricing as a tool to reduce emissions at a meeting of its Green Transformation Panel (GX) the day before. Given this, participants were able to explore what carbon pricing may look like for Japan alongside the potential impact of other ongoing efforts such as the European Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and the G-7 “climate club” proposal raised by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Participants’ backgrounds in law and climate policies helped them explore the legal and technical challenges to implementation guided by a series of experts on climate policy and carbon pricing:

• Jun Arima, Project Professor, Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Tokyo
• William C. Eacho, CEO, Partnership for Responsible Growth
• George T. Frampton, Jr., Distinguished Senior Fellow and Director, Transatlantic Climate Policy Program, Atlantic Council
• Caterina Rorke, Senior Vice President, Policy and Research, Climate Leadership Council

In small breakouts, participants outlined possible rewards and risks to participation in carbon pricing. Potential risks included whether these policies would initially benefit developed counties further along the decarbonization curve as opposed to those feeling most acutely the effects of climate change. Insights included the possibility of using rebates to mitigate at the individual level the increased tax levied. Groups also discussed the possibility of lower emission countries transferring decarbonation technology to higher emitters to reduce the tax in the long run.

In addition, participants discussed the impact of carbon pricing in an inflationary environment, but noted that studies have shown that carbon pricing has a mild deflationary effect.

The event, which intended to forge active links between Cutler Fellows and Japanese peers, was generously supported by the Japanese Embassy to the United States.