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An increasing number of preferential trade agreements include specific and mandatory environmental commitments. Climate change, however, remains rarely addressed in trade negotiations when compared with other environmental issue-areas. This Issue Brief discusses opportunities, scope and limits of European climate initiatives in trade negotiations.

KEY MESSAGES :

• The European Union is a pioneer in terms of integrating climate issues into trade negotiations. It is the actor that includes the greatest number and range of provisions related climate change in its trade agreements.
• However, the EU model does not seem to be inspiring other actors in the trade system. Despite the recent proliferation of trade agreements and the exponential increase in provisions relating to the environment in these agreements, few countries are taking inspiration from EU standards.
• In order to foster an integrated approach to climate change, it would be useful to reproduce on a broader scale the small number of existing climate provisions, and to innovate based on progress made for other environmental issues.