Global free trade accord seen helping environment

A new global free trade accord could help fight climate change by making clean-energy products more widely available, the World Trade Organisation and United Nations Environment Programme said on Friday.

Bucking conventional thinking about the climate hazards of shipping products by air, land and sea, the two agencies argued that a new Doha Round pact would do more good than harm.

Their joint study found that international trade rules have some wriggle room to permit countries to impose border taxes and tariffs to shield the environment, or to penalize goods made in areas with less-stringent climate restrictions.

"There is scope under WTO rules for addressing climate change at a national level," it said, with the caveat that the acceptability of measures "will very much depend on how these policies are designed and the specific conditions for implementing them.

"Trade ministers from the United States, European Union, India, Brazil and elsewhere this week called for another push to conclude the Doha Round negotiations, which began in 2001 and have been largely stalled since last year.

An agreement on tearing down subsidies, tariffs and other commercial barriers is expected to bolster trade flows which have fallen sharply in line with the global economic slowdown.

While added shipments may lead to more pollution emitted from planes, trucks and boats, the WTO/UNEP report said freer trade would also make green technology more accessible to more consumers, effectively lightening the world's carbon footprint.

"A successful conclusion of WTO negotiations on opening markets to environmental goods and services will help improve access to climate-friendly goods and technologies," it said.

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Source: Reuters