Image: German Development Institute / Deuschts Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

TREND Analytics

Online Tool: TREND Analytics

TREND analytics is a joint project of the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) and Jean-Fréderic Morin, Canada Research Chair in International Political Economy / Laval University. It has been developed within the project Klimalog.

The online tool is based on a comprehensive dataset developed by Jean-Frédéric Morin: The TRade and ENvironment Database (TREND) tracks nearly 300 different environmental provisions relying on the full texts of around 730 preferential trade agreements (PTAs) signed since 1945. With TREND analytics IDOS and Jean-Frédéric Morin together make this database accessible and useble for broader audiences, including policy-makers, academics and the civil society.

TREND analytics is unique. It offers its users not only a birds’ eye perspective of the uptake of environmental provisions in bilateral and regional trade agreements over time. It also offers various ways of zooming into the great diversity of this environmental provisions.

Team

Berger, Axel
Brandi, Clara
Bruhn, Dominique
Morin, Jean-Frédéric
Schwab, Jakob
Stender, Frederik

Publications

Trade and the environment: drivers and effects of environmental provisions in trade agreements
Brandi, Clara / Jean-Frédéric Morin (2024)
Earth System Governance Elements Series, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Trade and climate change: how to design better climate-related provisions in preferential trade agreements
Brandi, Clara / Kateryna Holzer / Jean-Frédéric Morin / Harro van Asselt / Katharina Weber (2023)
Policy Brief 21/2023

Do environmental provisions in trade agreements make exports from developing countries greener?
Brandi, Clara / Jakob Schwab / Axel Berger / Jean-Frédéric Morin (2020)
in: World Development 129 (May) (online first)

Environmental provisions in trade agreements: defending regulatory space or pursuing offensive interests?
Blümer, Dominique / Jean-Frédéric Morin / Clara Brandi / Axel Berger (2019)
in: Environmental Politics (online first)

The multilateralization of PTAs’ environmental clauses: scenarios for the future
Morin, Jean-Frédéric / Clara Brandi / Axel Berger (2019)
in: Manfred Elsig / Michael Hahn / Gabriele Spilker (eds.), The shifting landscape of global trade governance, World Trade Forum, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 207-233

When do international treaties matter for domestic environmental legislation?
Brandi, Clara / Dominique Blümer / Jean-Frédéric Morin (2019)
in: Global Environmental Politics 19 (4), 14-44

Kick-starting diffusion: explaining the varying frequency of PTAs’ environmental clauses by their initial conditions
Morin, Jean-Frédéric / Dominique Blümer / Clara Brandi / Axel Berger (2019)
published on World Economy 15 May 2019

Do trade deals encourage environmental cooperation?
Morin, Jean-Frédéric / Vera Chaudhuri / Mathilde Gauquelin (2018)
Briefing Paper 8/2018

We only have one planet – quo vadis environmental protection in trade agreements?
Berger, Axel / Clara Brandi (2017)
The Current Column of 25 September 2017

Handel und Umweltschutz: Chancen und Risiken
Brandi, Clara (2017)
Discussion Paper 22/2017

Trade elements in countries’ climate contributions under the Paris agreement
Brandi, Clara (2017)
Geneva: International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) (Issue Paper March 2017)

Mapping the trade and environment nexus: Insights from a new dataset
Morin/Dür/Lechner (2017)
Working paper (forthcoming)

Environmental provisions in trade agreements: promises at the trade and environment interface
Berger, Axel / Clara Brandi / Dominique Bruhn (2017)
Briefing Paper 16/2017

Towards “Greening” Trade? Tracking Environmental Provisions in the Preferential Trade Agreements of Emerging Markets
Berger/Brandi/Bruhn/Chi (2017)
Discussion Paper 2/2017

TPP Environmental Commitments - Combining the US Legalistic and the EU Sectoral Approaches
Morin, JF and G. Beaumier (2016)
ICTSD BioRes, April 2016.

Trade Agreements as Vectors for the Nagoya Protocol's Implementation
Morin, J-F and M. Gauquelin (2016)

Trade Negotiations and Climate Governance -The EU as a pioneer, but not (yet) a leader
Morin, J-F, N. Michaud and C. Bialais (2016)
IDDRI Issue Brief, no 10/16, 4 p

Voices on TREND Analytics

“Good policy requires good data. Tools such as TREND analytics help make it easier to visualize, comprehend and access data on environmental provisions in bilateral and regional trade agreements. It complements the information available in the WTO Environmental Database and will assist researchers, policy makers and other interested stakeholders to navigate often complex trade-related environmental provisions.”

Roberto Azevêdo, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)

“TREND analytics offers new insights at the intersection of trade and the environment, providing a basis for promoting mutually supportive trade and climate regimes.”

James Bacchus, Chair of Global Practice at Greenberg Traurig

“The trade and environment nexus is a fascinating topic which merits more in-depth empirical analysis.TREND analytics offers a rich empirical basis for further research. This innovative online visualisation tool helps academics to delve into the increasing complexity of environmental provisions in trade agreements.”

Thomas Bernauer, ETH Zurich

“Nowadays free trade agreements are about so much more than traditional trade. With the surge in agreements signed over the past 20 years, often analysts and decision-makers find it hard to synthesise relevant information. The Trade & Environment Database (TREND) with its wonderful online visualisation tool fills this gap. Making the underlying data available as well, TREND analytics will support the next generation of research on the trade and environment nexus.”

Simon Evenett, University St. Gallen

“Trade should be harnessed to foster environmental protection, and sustainable development more broadly – and TREND analyticscan help achieve that goal.”

Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, Chief Executive of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD)

“The 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda has brought new prospects for making trade work for environmental sustainability, inclusiveness and human well-being. The Environment and Trade Hub of UN Environment encourages trade negotiators to make full use of TREND analytics to ensure trade agreements meet these objectives.”

Anja von Moltke, Head of the Environment and Trade Unit at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

“One of the salient features of today’s international relations is that formerly distinct policy areas increasingly overlap. TREND analytics helps researchers, policy-makers and campaigners to understand and analyse the diverse uptake of environmental provisions in trade agreements.

Teresa Ribera, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI)

“TREND analytics offers open-access knowledge that supports efforts to promote policy coherence between trade, the environment and sustainable development.”

Achim Steiner, Director of the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford