Klimawandel: UN und WTO rufen zu verändertem Handel auf[en][fr] 

The global trade organisation and the UN body for environmental awareness launched a joint report on Friday (26 June) exploring for the first time the connections between trade and climate change. 

WTO and UNEP argue that international trade expansion will most likely be accompanied by higher CO2 emissions as more economic activity requires greater energy use, as well as increased transportation of goods. But the net impact of free trade on emissions is difficult to determine, as open trade will also have positive mitigation effects, they argue.

Opening markets will help developing countries tap into climate change technologies developed in industrialised countries, the report states. 

Trade can also help level out differences in demand and supply, as countries hardest hit by climate change can import goods and services that they can no longer produce themselves, it adds. 

The report concludes that the hardest blow will be dealt on the developing countries' competitive advantage, as they often depend on agriculture, forestry and fisheries, sectors that will be worst affected by climate change, alongside tourism.

Although the ongoing Doha Round of trade negotiations aims to reduce tariffs and other trade-distorting measures on climate-friendly goods and services, policies targeted at cutting CO2 emissions could be exceptionally accepted under international free trade legislation, the paper underlines.

Border measures such as import taxes on products from a country that does not impose a price on carbon could fall under such exceptions, WTO says. Such measures are devised to discourage domestic industries from relocating to cheaper production areas and escape strict environmental laws (see EurActiv LinksDossier on 'carbon leakage').

"The general approach under WTO rules has been to acknowledge that some degree of trade restriction may be necessary to achieve certain policy objectives, as long as a number of carefully crafted conditions are respected. WTO case law has confirmed that WTO rules do not trump environmental requirements," the trade organisation states.

It adds, however, that such measures should not constitute "arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination" nor a "disguised restriction on international trade", warning off efforts to use climate policy as a guise for protectionist measures.

Considering the significant interconnections between climate change and trade, WTO and UNEP therefore call for a fair climate deal in Copenhagen in December to protect the most vulnerable countries, as well as a conclusion of the Doha trade round, opening trade in environmental goods and services to complement emissions reductions.