Climate + Trade

Explore MIT research + analysis focussed on trade and climate.

The Hill | July 8, 2025

The EU's New Climate and Trade Policy Will Be a Good Deal for US Steel and Aluminum

In this column for The Hill, MIT Sloan Professor Catherine Wolfram and three coauthors explore some of the implications of the European Union's plans to implement a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.

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Global Climate Cooperation After 2024: A Proposal for a Heavy Industry Climate Coalition | July 2025
- A heavy-industry climate coalition could pair carbon pricing with border adjustments, climate finance, technology transfer, and market access. This working paper proposes a tiered approach designed to broaden participation and reduce global emissions.
Evaluating the Economic and Environmental Impacts of the Foreign Pollution Fee Act on Carbon-Intensive Sectors | June 2025
- The Foreign Pollution Fee Act would have little effect on U.S. steel and aluminum production or global emissions, according to this MIT CEEPR research commentary. The model finds modest price increases and no tariff revenue as trade shifts to avoid the fee.
The Global Effects of Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms | June 2025
- A heavy-industry climate coalition could pair carbon pricing with border adjustments, climate finance, technology transfer, and market access. The working paper proposes a tiered approach designed to broaden participation and reduce global emissions.
How Carbon Border Adjustments Might Drive Global Climate Policy Momentum | October 2024
- The European Union's carbon border adjustment is already encouraging other countries to consider carbon pricing. This report explains how aligned policies, including potential U.S. action, could build momentum for climate cooperation.
Bridging the Divide: Assessing the Viability of International Cooperation on Border Carbon Adjustments | May 2024
- International cooperation could reduce trade conflict, administrative costs, and fragmentation as more countries adopt carbon border adjustments. This MIT CEEPR research brief assesses three emerging models for coordinating policy.
Carbon Border Adjustments, Climate Clubs, and Subsidy Races When Climate Policies Vary | July 2023
- Carbon border adjustments and climate clubs can encourage stronger climate action, but neither can resolve every tension created by differing national policies. This peer-reviewed paper examines those tradeoffs and the risk of international subsidy races.

Focal Area Experts

Catherine Wolfram

William Barton Rogers Professor in Energy

Catherine Wolfram is the William Barton Rogers Professor of Energy Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management. From March 2021 to October 2022, she served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Climate and Energy Economics at the U.S. Treasury, while on leave from UC Berkeley. Since March 2025, Wolfram has served on the COP30 President’s Council on Economics, Finance, and Climate and chaired a working group on climate coalitions.