RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS: CTEI AT THE GRADUATE INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, GENEVA, 22-23 OCTOBER 2009

Global Challenges at the Intersection of Trade, Energy and the Environment

The Trade, Energy and Environment's conference on “Global Challenges at the Intersection of Trade, Energy and the Environment” took place at the WTO on 22-23 October 2009.

> Keynote Address by Pascal Lamy

 

Conference background & goals

One of the greatest challenges of the 21st century is how to meet global energy demand in a way that respects both economic development and environmental concerns. This conference will examine how this challenge can be met consistent with international trade and investment rules (on, for example, tariffs, services trade, taxation, transit, transportation, transfer of technology, subsidies and pricing).

The goal of this conference is to gather energy industry experts, trade policy specialists and environmental policy authorities to review current rules of international cooperation, both within and outside the WTO framework, as they are gaining new relevance within the triangle of trade, energy and the environment. The conference seeks to identify practical issues faced by policy makers and businesses within this system of interaction and to determine where further clarification, research, changes or novel approaches are required to address current and future challenges.

A core objective of this exploratory conference is to initiate a dialogue between trade, energy and environmental experts whereby energy and environmental experts obtain better insight into the relevance and operation of international rules, WTO or otherwise, and trade experts gain a clearer understanding of the main concerns and outstanding debates in the energy and environment fields.

The key outcome of the conference will be the identification of core questions for further research and to construct a clearer framework to pursue future debates and cooperation at the intersection of trade, energy and the environment.

  

Programme

Thursday 22nd October 2009

9.15-10.00

Welcome and Opening Statements

Patrick Low, Director, Economic Research and Statistics Division, WTO

H.E. Luizius Wasescha, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the WTO

John Gault, President of John Gault SA; formerly Managing Director, IEDConsultants SA and Chief Economist, International Energy Development Corporation (IEDC) (now part of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation)

Audio: Listen to the opening remarks — Patrick Low, Director, Economic Research and Statistics Division, WTO — H.E. Luizius Wasescha, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the WTO and John Gault, President of John Gault SA   > help

  

10.00-11.30

Panel 1: Setting the Stage: The Landscape of Existing International Cooperation

Chair: Joost Pauwelyn, Professor, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, and Director, Centre for Trade and Economic Integration

  • The WTO in the emerging energy governance debate
    Gabrielle Marceau, Cabinet of the Director General, WTO

  • Beyond the WTO: Regional and bilateral rules affecting energy and energy investments
    Lawrence L. Herman, Partner, Cassels Brock, Toronto

  • New rules for the environmental imperative: considerations for the energy sector and interaction with WTO rules
    Ana Maria Kleymeyer, Senior Advisor, Climate Change Negotiations, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, formerly Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development, Argentina

Audio: Listen to panel 1 — Setting the Stage: The Landscape of Existing International Cooperation   > help

  

11.30-13.00

Panel 2: Import, Export and Production Restrictions on Energy Goods & Services

Chair: Daniel Crosby, Partner, Budin & Partners, Geneva

  • Production restrictions, OPEC and the WTO
    Ibibia Lucky Worika, General Legal Counsel, OPEC

  • Business effects of existing policies and trade barriers
    Timothy J. Richards, Director, International Energy Policy, General Electric Company

  • The Challenges of Trading Alternative Energy
    Géraldine Kutas, Senior Advisor on International Affairs, UNICA, Sugar Cane Industry Association, Brazil

  • Restrictions and Challenges in Trading Conventional Energy
    Daniel Jaeggi, Group Vice President and Head of Trading, Mercuria Energy Trading, Geneva

Audio: Listen to panel 2 — Import, Export and Production Restrictions on Energy Goods & Services   > help

  

14.30-15.10

Afternoon Address

H.E. Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of Foreign Trade, United Arab Emirates

  

15.15-16.45

Panel 3: Transport and Transit

Chair: Matthias Finger, Professor and Chair, Management of Network Industries, College of Management of Technology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland

  • Transport and Transit under the Energy Charter Treaty
    Vladimir Rakhmanin, Deputy Secretary General, Energy Charter Secretariat, Brussels

  • Energy Transport and Transit in the WTO
    Mireille Cossy, Counsellor, Trade in Services Division, WTO

  • Natural Gas — The Problem Child of Energy Transport and Transit
    James T. Jensen, Jensen Associates and advisor to the Energy Charter Secretariat

  • An Industry Perspective on Transport & Transit
    Monica Senanu, Head, Legal Services, Gridco, Ghana

Audio: Listen to panel 3 — Transport and Transit   > help

  

16.45-18.15

Panel 4: Environmental Issues in the Trade and Energy Context

Chair: Claude Martin, Vice chairman International Institute for Sustainable Development — IISD, former Director General WWF-International

  • Tackling Climate Change and Competitiveness: The Relevance of WTO
    Patrick Low, Director, Economic Research and Statistics Division, WTO

  • Are Current Trade Rules Sufficient for Regulating Trade in Emissions Permits?
    Liz Bossley, CEO, Consilience Energy Advisory Group

  • Implications of Climate Change Policies for Trade and Investment in Energy-Intensive Industries
    Vincent Mages, Climate Change Initiatives VP, Lafarge

  • Challenges at the Intersection of Trade, Energy and the Environment for the African Continent
    Pat Naidoo, Senior General Manager of Transmission, ESKOM, South Africa

  • A Chinese perspective on trade and climate change
    Heng Wang, Associate Professor, School of International Law, Southwest University of Political Science and Law, Chongqing, China

Audio: Listen to panel 4 — Environmental Issues in the Trade and Energy Context   > help

  

18.30-19.30

Keynote Address and Questions

Pascal Lamy, Director General, WTO

> Speech

Audio: Listen to the Keynote Address and Questions — Pascal Lamy, Director General, WTO   > help
 

  
Friday 23rd October 2009

9.30-11.00

Panel 5: Subsidies and Pricing

Chair: Gary Horlick, Attorney at Law

  • Subsidies in the Traditional Energy Sector
    Ronald Steenblik, Senior Trade Policy Analyst, OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate

  • Is energy price stability desirable? Achievable?
    Christof Ruehl, Chief Economist, BP

  • Dual Pricing
    Reinhard Quick, Geschäftsführer, Verband der Chemischen Industrie

  • Incentives to Stimulate Renewable Energy
    Steve Orava, Partner, King & Spalding LLC

Audio: Listen to panel 5 — Subsidies and Pricing   > help

  

11.00-13.00

Closing Session: Thinking Ahead & Framing an Agenda for Future Action and Research

Chair: Andre Schneider, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, World Economic Forum

Panel members:

George Abi Saab, Former WTO Appellate Body member and Professor Emeritus, Graduate Institute, Geneva

Richard Baldwin, Professor, Graduate Institute, Geneva, and Director, Centre for Trade and Economic Integration

John Gault, John Gault SA

Patrick Low, Director, WTO

Joost Pauwelyn, Professor, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, and Director, Centre for Trade and Economic Integration

Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann, European Institute, Florence

Audio: Listen to the Closing Session: Thinking Ahead & Framing an Agenda for Future Action and Researchopening remarks   > help

  

 

Conference Organising Committee

Richard Baldwin, Professor, Graduate Institute, Geneva, and Director, Centre for Trade and Economic Integration

Theresa Carpenter, Executive Director, Centre for Trade and Economic Integration at the Graduate Institute, Geneva

Daniel Crosby Partner, Budin & Partners, Geneva

John Gault John Gault SA

Patrick Low, Director, Economic Research and Statistics Division, WTO

Joost Pauwelyn, Professor, Graduate Institute, Geneva, and Director, Centre for Trade and Economic Integration
  

Institutions

World Trade Organization — WTO
  

The Graduate Institute, Geneva

The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies is an institution of higher education and research dedicated to the cross-cutting disciplines of international relations and development studies. The Institute, keen to draw on the synergies offered by its two fields of specialisation, offers independent and rigorous analyses of current and emerging global issues with a view to promoting international cooperation and making a contribution to the development of less fortunate societies. This small and selective institution that owes its reputation to: the quality of its cosmopolitan faculty, the strength of its core disciplines (Economics, History, Law, Political Science and Development Studies), its policy-relevant approach to international affairs, and its bilingual English-French education programmes.

Centre for Trade and Economic Integration — CTEI

The Centre for Trade and Economic Integration (CTEI) is the Graduate Institute's Centre of Excellence for research on international trade. Established in February 2008, the interdisciplinary Centre brings together the research activities of eminent professors of economics, law and political science in the area of trade, economic integration and globalisation. The Centre serves as a vehicle for disseminating research results within the “real world” and enables discussion and dialogue between the global research community, including the Institute student body and research centres in the developing world. A core goal for the future is to foster genuine, interdisciplinary research and to work across disciplines on solutions-orientated studies that address the big societal questions of our day.