Environment

The transition to clean energy offers opportunities for developing economies and least-developed countries (LDCs) to exploit the export potential of this transition and to accelerate their growth prospects. The WTO-led Aid for Trade initiative provides significant support to these economies to help them develop their energy sectors and transition to clean energy. However, sustained support is required to ensure that firms benefit from the trade opportuniti Read More

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 Read More

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 provi Read More

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 compo Read More

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, Read More

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 Read More

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 Read More