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TWN
Info Service on Climate Change (Apr24/04) Geneva, 17 Apr (D. Ravi Kanth) — Efforts are underway to kick-start the informal Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions (TESSD) after trade ministers failed to provide any mandate on trade and climate change issues at the World Trade Organization’s 13th ministerial conference (MC13) that concluded on 2 March in Abu Dhabi. In the run-up to MC13, the TESSD participants seemed pretty confident that trade and climate change issues will be addressed adequately at the Abu Dhabi ministerial meeting. However, many developing and some least-developed countries opposed the inclusion of climate change issues in the WTO negotiations. Consequently, paragraph 15 of the Abu Dhabi Ministerial Declaration merely states: “In recalling the objectives in the Marrakesh Agreement and in recognising the role that the multilateral trading system can play in contributing towards the achievement of the UN 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals, in so far as they relate to the WTO mandate, we underscore the importance of trade and sustainable development in its three pillars – economic, social, and environmental.” Against this backdrop, the TESSD participants that include major industrialized countries such as the European Union, the United States, Canada, Japan and Korea, as well as several developing countries including China, issued an “updated TESSD Work Plan.” The restricted room document (INF/TE/SSD/RD/14) issued on 9 April, seen by the SUNS, suggests “the way forward in the TESSD Working Group on Environmental Goods and Services.” Though the room document is not treated as an official document, it throws some light on the updated TESSD Work Plan. It says: “The WG (Working Group) on EGS (environmental goods and services) will continue an objective-based approach and examine sector-specific issues involved in the promotion and facilitation of trade in EGS, as well as the identification of climate-friendly technologies.” It adds that “particular attention will be given to issues of interest to developing countries,” but does not indicate in what form the developing countries’ specific concerns, including on transfer of technologies without any exorbitant royalty payments, will be addressed. It further says, “Where appropriate, the WG will examine cross-sectoral approaches with regard to EGS. Under the objective of climate change mitigation and adaptation, the Group will continue its work on renewable energy and add other sectors or technologies related to climate change, including adaptation and mitigation.” The track record of the industrialized countries in complying with the Paris Agreement on climate change, particularly in addressing the mitigation and adaptation challenges faced by the developing countries, has been insignificant, said people, who asked not to be quoted. The room document suggests that “the WG will further develop the analytical summary as an outcome document, covering indicative lists of relevant goods and services, trade barriers, including non-tariff barriers, and supply chain bottlenecks, developing country perspectives, and opportunities and approaches to promote and facilitate trade in these goods and services, and explore concrete actions that Members could further undertake.” It may be recalled that an earlier attempt by the US and other industrialized countries, to cobble together a tariff-free agreement on environmental goods had failed in 2016. The US and the EU have stated in their joint statement at a recent meeting of the Trade and Technology Council (TTC) that they are working “together to amplify the potential of the transatlantic marketplace as a catalyst for decarbonization and a green transition.” The joint statement states that “the Transatlantic Initiative on Sustainable Trade launched at the third US-EU TTC Ministerial meeting in December 2022 offers a pathway for dialogue that aims to: boost transatlantic trade and investment to further the deployment of goods and services essential to the transition to more circular and net-zero economies; strengthen the resilience and sustainability of key supply chains; ensure that the green transition is fair and inclusive; and promote efforts to advance the transition to a low-emission and green future at a global level.” It is against this backdrop that the room document states that “the updated Work Plan foresees to continue work on renewable energy. This work could cover remaining sectors related to renewable energy generation such as marine and geothermal energy, as well as technologies related to energy storage, and electricity transmission and distribution.” According to the room document, “the focus of discussion on renewable energy could be to further refine the indicative lists of renewable energy goods and services included in the analytical summary, as well as adding goods and services relevant for other sectors/technologies that will be discussed.” It says that “the WG could explore concrete actions that Members could further undertake based on opportunities and approaches identified in the analytical summary. This could also include information exchange between relevant WTO bodies on issues such as market access, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures, trade facilitation, domestic regulation, investment facilitation and government procurement.” OTHER SECTORS & TECHNOLOGIES The TESSD’s updated Work Plan “foresees to add other sectors or technologies related to climate change, including adaptation and mitigation.” It says that “based on past discussions, initial focus could be given to the objective of climate change adaptation, examining goods, services and technologies related to the agriculture and water sectors as well as to build resilience against natural disasters such as floodings and droughts.” It also mentions “bio-trade” which could include “biodiversity-based goods and services that meet specific sustainability criteria.” TRADE-RELATED CLIMATE MEASURES Meanwhile, in another room document (INF/TE/SSD/RD/13), seen by the SUNS, it is proposed that the “Working Group on Trade-related Climate Measures (TrCMs) will share experiences on the use of TrCMs aimed at achieving climate change objectives and further discuss how trade and environment must be mutually supportive.” According to the room document, the Working Group “will complement the sharing of experiences by identifying practical ways to enhance cooperation, drawing from technical efforts in other international fora on TrCMs. It will do so by focusing on specific climate objectives, including the clean energy transition and climate change adaptation, while paying particular attention to developing country perspectives.” The Co-Facilitators of the Informal Working Group on Trade-related Climate Measures (TrCMs), according to the document, will structure the discussions on TrCMs around three key climate objectives: (a) clean energy transition; (b) climate change adaptation; and ( c) decarbonisation of industry and transport, including carbon measurement methodologies and standards. In short, trade and climate change issues are apparently being sneaked into the informal TESSD discussions without a proper ministerial mandate, which could pose problems on procedural and systemic grounds, said people who preferred not to be quoted. +
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