Brussels, 07/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - Ahead of the launch of the plurilateral negotiations this July for the liberalisation of trade in ecological goods and services (known as the green goods initiative), the European Commission presented the objectives and modalities in its guidelines, on 4 July, for a possible agreement. As well as the trade opportunities it would unleash, an agreement would contribute to the international efforts to fight against climate change.
Based on the success of the WTO ministerial conference in Bali in December 2013, which resulted in a partial agreement on the Doha round (the Bali package - see EUROPE 10980), Australia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Japan, Norway, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, the USA and the EU agreed, last January, to try and remove the obstacles to the trade in green goods, services and technologies, and to the trade in investment in this sector. Together, these countries represent 86% of world trade in green products.
The green goods initiative is based, initially, on a list of 54 ecological products on which the countries from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) agreed to cut their tariffs by at least 5% by 2015. The negotiations will focus first on goods, but the objective of these plurliateral discussions is to create a living agreement, which evolves according to future needs and, in the long term, addresses other obstacles to trade in ecological goods and services, and non-tariff barriers - such as the requirement for local content or restrictions to investment. As the essential components of sustainable development, green goods cover sanitation and the fight against air and water pollution, waste management, energy efficiency and the production of green energy.
The green goods initiative also aims to boost the multilateral WTO negotiations on the liberalisation of environmental goods as part of the Doha round. At this stage, only around 50 WTO member countries have chosen to take part in the green goods initiative. Once a critical mass of countries is obtained for an agreement, the advantages of this plurilateral initiative will be applied to all WTO members according to the most favoured nation (MFN) principle.
To conclude, the Commission is using key figures as a basis - with technologically advanced and world-class companies offering environmental goods and services on the global market, the EU experienced growth in green jobs from 3 million to 4.2 million between 2002 and 2012. Even during the recession (2007-2011), jobs rose by 20%. The EU is also a world leader in the trade in environmental goods, followed by China and the APEC countries. Although green goods only represent a small share of the EU's trade, the sector is very dynamic. In 2013, European exports of the 54 APEC-listed products reached €71 billion - compared with €34 billion in imports of these products to the EU. Broadened to a list of 165 ecological products, exports from the EU reached €146 billion (8% of the total exports) and imports to the EU €70 billion. (EH)