Carbon leakage is an issue of major interest in both academic and policy debates about the effectiveness of unilateral climate policy addressing global externalities. The debate is particularly salient in Europe, where the EU Emissions TradingSystem (EU ETS) covers emissions of many traded...

This study analyses the economic and political consequences of introducing a tax on the carbon content of imported goods at EU borders and whether such a tax would be compatible with WTO rules. The major findings are: 1. A CO2 border tax or import tariff would increase global welfare; 2. Such a...