Critical raw materials, the net-zero transition and the ‘securitisation’ of the trade and climate change nexus: pinpointing environmental risks and charting a new path for transnational decarbonisation

Leonelli, Giulia (2023) Critical raw materials, the net-zero transition and the ‘securitisation’ of the trade and climate change nexus: pinpointing environmental risks and charting a new path for transnational decarbonisation. World Trade Review. ISSN 1474-7456 (In Press)

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Abstract

The exercise of environmental ‘leverage’ via trade-related measures and trade in environmental goods offer opportunities to tackle the climate crisis and advance transnational decarbonisation. Inward looking, adversarial and short-term national security-centred approaches, however, are disrupting the trade and climate change linkage. This article employs the race for critical raw materials and US and EU strategies to promote the net-zero transition at domestic level as case studies to illustrate the environmental pitfalls of the ‘securitisation’ of the trade and climate change nexus. The article demonstrates that the pursuit of strategic dominance in key net-zero sectors, increasing attempts to restructure and reshore supply chains, opportunistic forms of friendshoring and loose agreement on regulatory means jeopardise recourse to environmental conditionality and environmental ‘leverage’ and undermine decarbonisation at both national and transnational levels. This sheds light on the inherent tension between national security and climate change mitigation. Taking stock of these findings, the article advocates a radically different approach to the governance of the trade and climate change nexus.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2023 Cambridge University Press
Divisions:	Law
Subjects:	K Law G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences
Date Deposited:	27 Oct 2023 11:15
Last Modified:	27 Oct 2023 11:18
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/120553

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