Book contents
- Fifty Years of International Environmental Law
- Fifty Years of International Environmental Law
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: Fifty Years of Shaping International Environmental Law
- Part I Concepts, Structures, and Institutions
- Part II Human Rights, Participatory Rights, and the Rule of Law
- Part III Consumption, Production, Chemicals, and Waste
- Part IV The Atmosphere
- 12 Implementing Principle 21 of the Stockholm Declaration: Regional Efforts to Regulate Transboundary Air Pollution
- 13 Climate Protection Fifty Years after Stockholm: International Law at the Precipice
- 14 A Southern State of Mind: From Being ‘Mindful of … Effects on Climate’ to Climate Litigation in the Global South
- 15 Trade and Atmospheric Protection at Stockholm+50: Plus ça Change?
- Part V Waters
- Part VI Nature and Biodiversity
- Annex A Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
- Annex B Stockholm+50: A Healthy Planet for the Prosperity of All – Our Responsibility, Our Opportunity, Summary Points of Leadership Dialogues and Outcome
- Index
15 - Trade and Atmospheric Protection at Stockholm+50: Plus ça Change?
from Part IV - The Atmosphere
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 May 2026
Book contents
- Fifty Years of International Environmental Law
- Fifty Years of International Environmental Law
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: Fifty Years of Shaping International Environmental Law
- Part I Concepts, Structures, and Institutions
- Part II Human Rights, Participatory Rights, and the Rule of Law
- Part III Consumption, Production, Chemicals, and Waste
- Part IV The Atmosphere
- 12 Implementing Principle 21 of the Stockholm Declaration: Regional Efforts to Regulate Transboundary Air Pollution
- 13 Climate Protection Fifty Years after Stockholm: International Law at the Precipice
- 14 A Southern State of Mind: From Being ‘Mindful of … Effects on Climate’ to Climate Litigation in the Global South
- 15 Trade and Atmospheric Protection at Stockholm+50: Plus ça Change?
- Part V Waters
- Part VI Nature and Biodiversity
- Annex A Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
- Annex B Stockholm+50: A Healthy Planet for the Prosperity of All – Our Responsibility, Our Opportunity, Summary Points of Leadership Dialogues and Outcome
- Index
Summary
This chapter takes stock of the evolution of the trade-environment nexus, focusing on the legal protection of the atmosphere. It offers a brief historical overview of the trade-environment debate, zooming in on the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. It then discusses the rationale, functioning, and legality of (1) multilateral trade measures incorporated in the 1987 Montreal Protocol and (2) unilateral trade measures adopted with a view to protecting the climate. The main conclusion is that, while much has changed since the Stockholm Conference – with new international legal regimes coming into being and many more trade-related environmental measures being adopted – some things have stayed the same, with North-South tensions continuing to form the main backdrop for trade-environment interactions and continuing uncertainty about the forum in which these interactions should be addressed.
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- Fifty Years of International Environmental LawDevelopments since the 1972 Stockholm Conference, pp. 377 - 400Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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