Introduction

An inquiry into the potential contribution of international trade regulation and the law of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to climate change mitigation inevitably focuses attention on the basket of negotiations on environmental goods and services (EGS), mandated by paragraph 31(iii) of the Doha Ministerial Declaration (DMD). This effort stems from established insights that trade liberalisation and environmental protection are potential ‘win-win’ constellations. The same philosophy applies to policies which seek to promote investment and trade in technologies for combating emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). It equally applies to the promotion of renewable and alternative energy sources. Relevant goods and services may be identified and brought to the negotiating table and could result in appropriate sectoral initiatives with a view to lowering trade barriers in these fields in terms of tariff protection, discrimination in services, technical barriers to trade, intellectual property protection and technology transfer.

The EGS negotiations so far, however, have witnessed major difficulties in bringing about such results. Several reasons lie behind the stalemate in the negotiations up to the close of 2007. The definition of environmental goods and its demarcation from regular non-agricultural market access negotiations (NAMA) pose consensus problems. The proposed listings of potential goods are considered to be too broadly defined and over-inclusive, arguably leading to NAMA negotiations in disguise. Moreover, since most of these goods and advanced technologies are concentrated in developed countries, an appropriate balance of interests is difficult to achieve, even taking into account so called environmentally preferable products (EPPs) from developing countries.