Environment

Hydrogen produced exclusively from renewable power – known as green hydrogen – is widely recognised as a key pillar in replacing fossil fuels and decarbonizing sectors that cannot easily be electrified such as some industrial processes shipping and aviation. This publication – jointly produced by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) – explores how trade policies can support the development of green hydrogen markets. The publication highlights in particular how lowering tariffs on key products building reliable infrastructure realigning domestic support programmes and developing green government procurement can foster the development of green hydrogen supply chains and the transition to a low-carbon economy. International trade could also play a significant role in matching supply and demand for green hydrogen as the potential for domestic production in some economies might not be enough to satisfy domestic demand. The publication also addresses the challenges and opportunities for developing economies offered by green hydrogen and its derivatives such as green methanol and green ammonia. It underscores the importance of international cooperation and the need to align regulatory frameworks to encourage technology development enhanced transparency and market growth.

In the 1996 Singapore Report of the CTE Members expressed an interest in undertaking further work to broaden the analysis of the potential environmental benefits of removing trade restrictions and distortions in specific sectors. It is considered that trade liberalization in certain sectors has the potential to yield benefits for both the multilateral trading system and the environment.

Th e main purpose of this Report has been to provide the reader with an understanding of the debate on the linkages between trade and climate change. Th e material reviewed shows that trade intersects with climate change in a multitude of ways. In part this is due to the innumerable implications that climate change may have in terms of its potential impacts and the profound regulatory and economic changes that will be required to mitigate and adapt to these impacts.

This booklet by the Trade and Environment Division of the World Trade Organization (WTO) aims at improving understanding of the role of trade and trade rules with regards to environmental issues. It seeks to answer in easyto- understand terms some of the key questions of the trade and environment debate as they relate to the multilateral trading system. In this sense it is not an exhaustive analysis of the issues covered but rather an attempt to provide basic information and examples to answer some common questions raised about trade and the environment.

Open and transparent trade policies implemented over several decades have resulted in lower barriers to goods and services trade including goods and services related to renewable energies in general and solar PV in particular. More open and transparent trade regimes have enabled the emergence of a globally integrated solar PV market where silicon wafers cells modules inverters mounting systems combiner boxes and other solar PV components along with the machines to manufacture PV cells modules and panels are routinely traded back and forth among countries along tightly integrated value chains. Additional policy efforts to reduce remaining trade barriers and facilitate trade could further enhance solar PV supply chains reduce costs and accelerate the dissemination of solar PV and other renewable energies to where they are needed.

El mundo está hoy más interconectado de lo que lo ha estado nunca. La magnitud de la escala y el alcance de las cadenas de valor mundiales han creado para las empresas y el comercio un nuevo escenario que influye en cómo y dónde se producen y consumen los bienes y los servicios. Los países están unidos por vínculos mucho más estrechos y el papel de los países en desarrollo en el comercio internacional es cada vez más importante. Paralelamente la frecuencia e intensidad del cambio climático y de los desastres naturales asociados a este han aumentado provocando en ocasiones perturbaciones en las redes de producción.

At the Doha Ministerial Conference WTO Members reaffirmed their commitment to health and environmental protection and agreed to embark on a new round of trade negotiations including negotiations on certain aspects of the linkage between trade and environment. In addition to launching new negotiations the Doha Ministerial Declaration requested the CTE in pursuing work on all items in its terms of reference to focus on three of those items and together with the Commitee on Trade and Development to act as a forum in which the environmental and developmental aspects of the negotiations can be debated.

The trade and environment debate is not new. The link between trade and environmental protection consisting of both the impact of environmental policies on trade as well as the impact of trade on the environment was recognized as early as 1970. In the early 1970s there was growing international concern regarding the impact of economic growth on social development and the environment. This led to the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.