International Sectoral Approaches

Focus on the steel sector in China, India and Japan

There has been much interest and some research on the potential role of sectoral agreements in further development of the international climate regime. However, to date analyses have not been based on much tangible evidence about specific industries – except the cement industry – nor has the consideration of the potential elements of sectoral agreements been focused on specific tangible features and how those would interact with other features of the international climate regime.

The overall objective of this project, therefore, is to make an original contribution to the dialogue on the role of sectoral agreements in the post-2012 international climate regime by addressing the following questions:

What types of sectoral agreements should be seriously considered?
What are the key issues and options for the design elements of sectoral agreements?
What would be the features of a transnational agreement compared with other types?
How can sectoral agreements and cap-and-trade systems effectively co-exist?
How can a steel agreement be successfully integrated into the international climate regime?
Can a steel agreement be a prototype for other sectoral agreements?
What are the key implementation issues involved in developing a steel sector agreement?

An international kick-off workshop was held in Kolkata, India in June 2009.
A second workshop was held in Tokyo, Japan in October 2009.
A third workshop was held in Beijing China in April 2010.

Reports

Sectoral Approaches and Agreements - policy recommendations
02 Aug 2010. Author: Peter Wooders

International Sectoral Approaches and Agreements: Potential involvement of the Japanese steel sector in a post-2012 regime - Working Paper
15 Feb 2010. Author: Hitomi Kimura

The Role of Sectoral Approaches and Agreements - Final Report
09 Dec 2009. Author: Peter Wooders

Can Sectoral Agreements and Output Based Allocation Address Leakage? - Final Report
06 Jul 2007. Author: Michael Colombier and Karsten Neuhoff

Preliminary analysis / proposal for a Sectoral Agreement:The case of the Chinese cement sector - Final Report
09 May 2007. Author: Damien Demailly