The paper How the WTO Can Help Tackle Climate Change through Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform: Lessons from the Fisheries Negotiations assesses whether the WTO should have a role within the broader context of climate change and, more specifically, in advancing fossil fuel subsidy reform (FFSR).
It does so by drawing parallels with the fisheries subsidies negotiations, which provide a number of lessons for FFSR. In looking at the fisheries talks as a model for FFSR, the paper acknowledges the limitations of this approach. Nevertheless, the paper shows that the two may have more in common than not, which can turn the fisheries negotiations into a proper benchmark against which to assess how the WTO can advance FFSR. The piece identifies four overarching lessons that can be drawn from the fisheries negotiations: on designing new substantive disciplines, on special and differential treatment, on how to craft a specific negotiating mandate, and on starting plurilateral/regional talks.