WTO: 2015 NEWS ITEMS

DEPUTY DIRECTORS-GENERAL


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Remarks by DDG Brauner

Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I am very pleased to be here today to demonstrate that the multilateral trade institutions are joining forces to support collective efforts to address climate change.

Multiple stakeholders, from government, civil society and the private sector, have gathered here in Paris to usher in a new era of multilateral cooperation on climate change. We must also do our part to build on that momentum — individually and institutionally — and make sure that this political commitment results in positive change.

These two intense weeks of negotiations, are only the start of a common endeavour.  One in which all stakeholders have to contribute, including the international trade community.

We need to create a virtuous circle of trade and environmental policies which promote sustainable production and consumption while being pro­-growth and development. 

Trade has proven to be one of the best anti-­poverty tools in history. It played a key role in helping us reach the millennium development goal to cut extreme poverty by half. It is also a cross-­cutting element in many of the new sustainable development goals agreed in New York in September. This contribution from trade will continue.

So how can we ensure that trade policy continues to play its full part in this virtuous cycle after COP 21?

We have at least three key areas of work.

First, we must improve the dissemination of climate­-friendly technologies, goods and services. This will support the transition towards a low­ carbon economy. Import tariffs in some countries on products such as solar water heaters are still over 20%, and wind turbines over 15% — ­ much higher than the world average tariff of 9%.

Addressing trade barriers to environmental goods and services would make them cheaper and more accessible. This in turn would help countries substitute carbon intensive technologies and move towards climate-­friendly alternatives.

A group of WTO members are negotiating an Environmental Goods Agreement to lower their trade barriers on a number of important environmental products. These countries account for the majority of global trade in environmental goods.

Success would help to disseminate cutting-­edge technologies at much lower costs while also stimulating innovation and strengthening the green economy around the world.

Importantly, the benefits would apply to the whole WTO membership.

Here the private sector and the civil society will have a key role to play by ensuring that the green economy is built into business models and that sustainable patterns of consumption are developed, making full use of new opportunities.

Second, we must make trade itself more efficient overall.

Trade is often linked to carbon emissions through international transportation.

80% of trade volume utilises sea transport — the least emissions-intensive mode of transport, accounting for some 3% of global emissions.

But there is scope to improve. For example, the International Maritime Organisation and the International Civil Aviation Organisation are working to find a global solution to emissions in the maritime and aviation sectors. It is important that we support these efforts.

The WTO is also playing its role here.

The WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement, agreed upon in our last Ministerial Conference in Bali, can reduce trading costs by over 14% on average. The poorest countries are expected to profit even more.

The modern production of environmental products, which involves a dense value chain of other goods and services suppliers, also stands to benefit. A wind turbine, for instance, consists of more than 8,000 component parts. Cutting the time that it takes to move these parts across borders would lower costs and help make climate ­friendly technologies more available. There will also be many services suppliers that will have to be involved in the installation, maintenance and dissemination of such products and technologies.

Green businesses should also be prepared to seize this opportunity.

Third, we have a reliable legal and institutional framework to facilitate the implementation of climate change commitments.

Many countries have already pledged to take action through their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions. The implementation of such pledges will require the adoption of a number of targeted policies, including measures which may affect trade.

It has become clear in the last decades that international trade rules give members ample room to pursue legitimate environmental and other policy goals, while keeping protectionism firmly in check.

Since the creation of the WTO, several environment-related measures have been tested against those rules through our dispute settlement system.

The case law has confirmed that members may be permitted to apply trade-restrictive environmental measures as long as they are not applied arbitrarily or used as disguised protectionism. The outcome has been often more coherent and consistent environmental policies.

The implementation of the results of COP 21 will require new approaches to economic development, as well as full use of the existing institutional structures. At the WTO, the Committee on Trade and Environment has allowed members to maintain an open channel of communication with each other, and with the environmental policy community. It will certainly continue to be a valuable forum in the renewed efforts to address climate change after COP 21.

The international trade community is facing a historic test as global leaders gathered here in Paris achieve an ambitious arrangement for multilateral cooperation.

We must ensure that the trade, development and environmental agendas complement each other. We must enable the full realization of the complementary benefits between trade and climate policies, as recognized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. We have come a long way since the signing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992.

Today, there is increased joint cooperation between trade and environment institutions to identify opportunities to advance trade, development and environmental objectives.

I am confident that we, the multilateral trade community represented here today, will continue to rise to the challenge.

 

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