Trade Agreement The Law and Economics of a Sustainable Energy · Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-09286-0 — The Law and Economics of a Sustainable Energy Trade Agreement Edited

Cambridge University Press978-1-107-09286-0 — The Law and Economics of a Sustainable Energy Trade AgreementEdited by Gary C. Hufbauer , Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz , Richard Samans FrontmatterMore Information

www.cambridge.org© in this web service Cambridge University Press

The Law and Economics of a Sustainable Energy

Trade Agreement

The widely accepted need to reduce the world’s dependence on fossil

fuels and move instead to low-carbon, renewable alternatives faces

a host of challenges.Whilst the greatest challenges remain in engineer-

ing, political and public policy issues continue to play a very important

role. This volume, which consists of contributions from leading fig-

ures in the field, presents the case for a Sustainable Energy Trade

Agreement (SETA). It shows that by addressing barriers to trade in

goods and services relevant for the supply of clean energy, such an

Agreement would foster the crucial scaling-up of clean energy supply

and promote a shift away from fossil fuels. In doing so, it illustrates

how the Agreement would help to address a number of overarching

sustainable development priorities, including the urgent threat of

climate change, enhanced energy access and improved energy secur-

ity. The book will appeal to academics and policy makers working at

the interface of trade and energy policy.

Gary C. Hufbauer is the Reginald Jones Senior Fellow with the

Peterson Institute of International Economics (PIIE), a position

he has held since 1992. He was formerly the Maurice Greenberg

Chair and Director of Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations

(1996–1998). He has authored or co-authored over thirty publications

on International Trade, Investment and Tax Issues. As a senior official

in the US Treasury Department, he negotiated trade, tax and financial

agreements.

Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz is co-founding Chief Executive of the

International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD).

He is a former negotiator in bilateral and multilateral trade, environment

and development negotiations and processes, and served as Principal

Advisor to the Colombian Minister of Economic Development and as

Chief of Administration in the Office of the President of Colombia. He is

currently the Convener of the E15Initiative, a joint ICTSD–WEF under-

taking looking into the future of the global trade and investment system,

and an Advisor to the Global Commission on Business and Sustainable

Development.

www.cambridge.org/9781107092860

www.cambridge.org



Richard Samans is Managing Director and Member of the Managing

Board of theWorld Economic Forum (WEF). From 2011–2013, he was

Director-General of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). He

has previously served in the USWhite House as Special Assistant to the

President for International Economic Policy, and as National Security

Council Senior Director for International Economic Affairs.


www.cambridge.org



The Law and Economics of

a Sustainable Energy Trade

Agreement

Edited by

Gary C. Hufbauer, Ricardo Meléndez-Ortizand Richard Samans


www.cambridge.org



University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom

Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.

It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of

education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

www.cambridge.org

Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107092860

© International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) 2016

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception

and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,

no reproduction of any part may take place without the written

permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2016

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-107-09286-0 Hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of

URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,

and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,

accurate or appropriate.


www.cambridge.org



Contents

List of Figures page vii

List of Tables viii

List of Boxes x

List of Contributors xi

List of Selected Abbreviations and Acronyms xvi

Foreword: Trade Policy Can Help Combat Climate Change

h.e. mogens jensen xxi

Acknowledgements xxiii

1 Introduction: Setting the Horse Before the Cart

to Preserve a Viable World

gary c. hufbauer, ricardo melendez-ortiz

and richard samans 1

2 Issues and Considerations for Negotiating a Sustainable

Energy Trade Agreement: May 2012

gary c. hufbauer and jisun kim 20

3 Trade in Sustainable Energy Services: October 2013

joachim monkelbaan 85

4 Governing Clean Energy Subsidies: What, Why,

and How Legal?: August 2012

arunabha ghosh with himani gangania 140

5 Trade Law Implications of Procurement Practices in

Sustainable Energy Goods and Services: September 2012

alan herve and david luff 196

6 Selling the Sun Safely and Effectively: Solar Photovoltaic

Standards, Certification Testing and Implications for

Trade Policy: December 2013

sunny rai and tetyana payosova 242

v


www.cambridge.org



7 Addressing Local Content Requirements in a Sustainable

Energy Trade Agreement: June 2013

sherry m. stephenson 316

8 International Technology Diffusion in a Sustainable

Energy Trade Agreement: September 2012

thomas l. brewer 349

9 Legal options for a Sustainable Energy Trade Agreement:

July 2012

matthew kennedy 390

Index 456

vi Contents


www.cambridge.org



Figures

3.1 The Relation Between EGS, CFGS and SEGS page 89

3.2 Contribution of the Wind Energy Sector in the EU to the

Direct and Indirect Employment Forecast, 2020 and 2030 122

3.3 Comparison of Job-Years Across Technologies 123

3.4 Trade Restrictiveness in Services Trade (Tariff ad valorem

Equivalents) by Sector Weighted by Trade Volumes 125

4.1 Global Financial New Investment in RE, Quarterly Trend,

2002–2011 142

4.2 Worldwide Share of Many RE Sources in Total Electricity

Generation Remains Small 144

4.3 RE’s Share in Germany’s Electricity Consumption has Risen

Steadily 169

4.4 RE’s Share in Total Electricity Capacity in the United States 175

4.5 Clean Energy Subsidies Have Multiple Rationales, Impacts

and Counteractive Reactions 186

6.1 Stakeholders and Rationale for Standards 244

6.2 The Role of National Certifying Bodies 254

6.3 Cumulative Installed PV Capacity in the Top Eight Countries 256

vii


www.cambridge.org



Tables

2.1 List of SETA Products, Trade Values and

Tariff Rates page 23

2.2 Tariff Rates for SETA Products by Selected

Countries, Tariff Year 2010 31

2.3a Trade with Other Core and Candidate Countries:

NAFTA, 2010 44

2.3b Trade with Other Core and Candidate Countries:

EU-27, 2010 50

2.3c Trade with Other Core and Candidate Countries:

China, 2010 56

2.4 Trade of All 39 SETA Products between Selected

Countries, 2010 64

2.5 Some Cases of LCRs in Place, as of January 2012 67

2.6 Top 10 Solar PV Cell/Wind Turbine

Manufacturers, 2010 76

2.7 Trade of APEC 50 EGs, 2010 78

2.8 Comparison of SETA, World Bank and APEC

Lists 79

3.1 Key Sectoral Mitigation Technologies, and

Corresponding Services Categories 98

3.2 Major Exporters and Importers of Architectural,

Engineering and Other Technical Services 100

3.3 Sectoral Commitments on Other Professional,

Technical and Business Services 102

3.4 Snapshot of GATS Commitments in Services

Related to Wind Energy 104

3.5 Market Access and National Treatment

Limitations on Mode 1: Other Professional,



Limitations on Mode 3: Other Professional,


viii


www.cambridge.org



3.7 Major Exporters and Importers of Construction

Services 112


Limitations on Mode 3: Construction Services 114

3.9 The Clean Development Mechanism and

Services 119

3.10 Distribution of Jobs in the PV Sector 123

4.1 Clean Energy Subsidies Have Supporters and

Opponents 150

4.2 A Typology of Clean Energy Subsidies 152

5.1 Main Measures Promoting SEGS in EU

Procurement Policies and Relevant WTO

Provisions 227

5.2 SEGS Prescriptions Based on PPMs and Gaps in

Current Multilateral Trade Law 235

5.3 Possible Options for Procurement-Related

Provisions of a SETA 237

6.1 PV Testing Standards 252

6.2 PV Performance Rating Tests 272

6A.1.1 Annual Installed Solar PV Capacity in Selected

Countries and the World, 1998–2010 303

6A.2.1–6A.2.7 Concordance of Various Standards for PV

Modules 304

7A.1 LCR Statistics 338

8.1 Energy Efficiency and Other Sources of

Energy-Related CO2 Abatement in an IEA 450

Scenario 356

8.2 ‘Key Groups’ of Technologies in the IEA BLUE

Scenario 357

8.3 Approximate Ranges of Technical Potentials of

World Sustainable Energy Production Relative to

Recent Production 358

List of Tables ix


www.cambridge.org



Boxes

3.1 Services Involved in Solar and Wind Power Projects page 96

3.2 The Four Modes of Services Supply 101

5.1 Sectors for Sustainable Energy Goods and Services

Procurements Potentially Covered by the Revised GPA 203

8.1 Internationalisation of Renewable Energy Industries 361

x


www.cambridge.org



Contributors

thomas l. brewer is a Senior Fellow at the International Centre for

Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), Geneva. He is also

a Lead Author of the chapter on International Cooperation in the

IPCC report (AR5). He has had various short-term appointments as

a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University in the Smith

School for Enterprise and the Environment, and he has been a Schöller

Foundation Senior Research Fellow at Friedrich-Alexander University

in Nuremberg, Germany. He is a visiting scholar at MIT’S Center for

Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR) and an emeritus

faculty member of Georgetown University. His research focuses on the

intersection of climate change issues with international trade, invest-

ment and technology transfer issues. He is the editor and author of the

introduction to a symposium on those issues in the refereed journal

The World Economy. His other publications include articles in the

refereed journals Climate Policy and Energy Policy, as well as chapters

in books published by the Brookings Institution, CambridgeUniversity

Press, Oxford University Press and other leading publishers. He has

been a consultant to the World Bank, the United Nations Conference

on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the Organisation for

Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

himani gangania is a Research Analyst, at the Council on Energy,

Environment and Water (CEEW), New Delhi. She holds a Bachelor

of Engineering (BE) degree in Bio-Technology from Delhi College of

Engineering (DCE), University of Delhi, India (2011). Her interest

areas include: climate change and governance issues; sustainable global

governance; bio-technology and sustainability; and new fossil fuel

technologies. Himani’s work domain includes sustainability finance

and technology; technology horizons; and resource and energy effi-

ciency development. Previously, Himani has undertaken academic

research projects at the Defence Research and Development

Organization (DRDO), Ministry of Defence, India to study the critical

xi


www.cambridge.org



environment and climate-related effects on living organisms, in the

near and distant future.

arunabha ghosh is CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment and

Water (CEEW), consistently ranked (third year running) as one of

South Asia’s leading policy research institutions.With work experience

in thirty-seven countries and having previously worked at Princeton,

Oxford, the UNDP (New York) and the WTO (Geneva), Arunabha

advises governments, industry, civil society and international organisa-

tions around the world. His recent books include The Palgrave

Handbook of the International Political Economy of Energy (2016);

Energising India: Towards a Resilient and Equitable Energy System

(2016); Human Development and Global Institutions (2016); and

Climate Change: A Risk Assessment (2015). Arunabha’s essay ‘Rethink

India’s energy strategy’, in Nature, was selected as one of 2015’s ten

most influential essays. Dr Ghosh has advised the Prime Minister’s

Office and several ministries; was invited by France to advise on the

COP21 climate negotiations; has been actively involved with the

International Solar Alliance; and serves on the Executive Committee

of the India–US PACEsetter Fund. He is a World Economic Forum

Young Global Leader. He holds a DPhil from Oxford.

alan herve has been full professor of public law at the University of

Bretagne Occidentale since 2014. Previously, he was lecturer at

the Sorbonne Law School (University of Paris 1) for two years

(2012–2014) and was a visiting professor at the College of Europe

(Warsaw, Natolin Campus). He worked as a teaching assistant at the

University of Rennes 1 (France) (2004–2010) and at the College of

Europe (2010–2012). He obtained a PhD at the Université de Rennes

1 (France) in 2010, on The European Union and the Judicialization of

the Dispute Settlement Mechanism of the World Trade Organization

(WTO). Professor Hervé regularly publishes articles and contributions

on the EU trade and investment policy, the WTO and free trade

agreements and more recently on the legal aspects of the European

andMonetary Union. He is one of the associate editors of the European

Papers (www.europeanpapers.eu/en), an e-journal dedicated to the EU

law and integration process.

h. e. mogens jensen is the Danish Minister for Trade and Development

Cooperation. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party and has

previously held the position as Culture and Media Spokesman as well

as serving on several committees of the Danish Parliament including

the Foreign Policy Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee and the

xii List of Contributors


www.cambridge.org



Cultural Affairs Committee. He is the former Chairman of the Danish

Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe as

well as of the Parliamentary Group of the Social Democratic Party.

A long-standing and active member of the Social Democratic Party,

Mogens Jensen has worked on a number of political issues prior to his

parliamentary career, including development, education and culture.

Since 2012 he has been the Vice-Chairman of the Social Democratic

Party.

matthew kennedy is a visiting professor at the Faculty of Law of the

University of International Business and Economics, Beijing.

Previously, he worked in the WTO Secretariat in Geneva for twelve

years where he served as a senior lawyer in the Legal Affairs Division.

In that capacity he was responsible for advising dispute settlement

panels and providing institutional advice on the different means to

give legal effect to changes in WTO law, including market access

improvements and treaty amendment.

jisun kim has been a principal business analyst at the POSCO Research

Institute, Seoul, since April 2010. Before that, she worked as a research

analyst at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE),

Washington DC. Previously, she worked as a tax consultant (US CPA)

at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Seoul, Korea. She is co-author of Global

Warming and the World Trading System (2009) and has co-authored

several papers, including ‘Climate Change and Trade: Searching for

Ways to Avoid a Train Wreck’ (2010), ‘Controlling Climate Change:

Challenges for Latin America and theCaribbean’ (2010), ‘After the Flop

in Copenhagen’ (2010), ‘Reaching a Global Agreement on Climate

Change: What are the Obstacles?’ (2010), ‘Prospects for International

Climate Negotiations: Copenhagen and Beyond’ (2009), ‘WTO and

Climate Change: Challenges and Options’ (2009), ‘Policy Options and

the World Trade Organization’ (2009), ‘A View from Washington:

Climate Policy under Obama – Implications for Canada and Trade’

(2008), ‘International Competition Policy and the WTO’ (2008). She

received her MA degree in international relations from the Maxwell

School of Syracuse University.

david luff is an international trade lawyer and a founding partner at the

law firm Appleton Luff, with offices in Brussels, Geneva, Singapore,

Washington and Warsaw. He has practised international trade law at

both EC andWTO levels for seventeen years. Luff is also a professor of

international trade law at the University of Liège in Belgium and at the

College of Europe. He obtained hid PhD at the University of Brussels:

List of Contributors xiii


www.cambridge.org



his thesis examined the regulatory powers of States under WTO law to

pursue domestic policy objectives. Luff has published several articles in

international reviews on subjects related to WTO law and has held

visiting appointments in India, China, Vietnam, Switzerland and Italy.

He has trained trade officials of the EC, FYRMacedonia,Montenegro,

Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, West African countries and China

on WTO law and trade policy, including on SPS and TBT rules.

joachim monkelbaan is an independent advisor on the Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs) and in particular on trade, climate change

and the water–energy–food nexus. He also lectures at the University of

Geneva (Institute for Environmental Sciences). He earned a doctorate

in sustainable governance from the University of Geneva, a Master of

International Law and Economics at the World Trade Institute (WTI)

and an LLB and LLM in European Law from Maastricht University.

He previously was a Senior Advisor at theUnitedNations Environment

Programme (UNEP) and a Senior Programme Officer at the

International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development

(ICTSD). He also worked at the International Center for Small

Hydro Power (IC-SHP) in China, the International Union for the

Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Dutch Ministry of Economic

Affairs and global law firms. He frequently publishes in the areas of

trade, climate change and the green economy.

tetyana payosova graduated from the National University Odessa Law

Academy, Ukraine, in 2007 and has a Master of Law degree (2009)

from theUniversity of Bern, Switzerland. Payosova has been a research

fellow at the Institute for European and International Trade Law,

University of Bern, since 2008, and is closely cooperating with Work

Package 5 on Trade and Climate Change. The topic of her PhD

research is the analysis of framework conditions for the promotion of

renewable energy, with a focus on solar energy, and international trade

regulation. Her research interests include the status of energy in the

WTO, regulation of electricity markets, promotion of renewables,

climate change mitigation, intellectual property law and EU law. She

has co-authored Climate Change and International Law: Exploring the

Linkages between Human Rights, Environment, Trade and Investment

(2010) and Challenges in International Monetary Law (2011).

sunny rai is the regional vice president for renewable energy at Intertek,

providing strategic direction for the photovoltaic (PV), wind, smart

grid and semiconductor businesses. With more than twenty-five years

with Intertek, Sunny has helped several solar, semiconductor and FPD

xiv List of Contributors


www.cambridge.org



equipmentmanufacturers and users establish product safety and global

regulatory compliance programmes. Hewas also instrumental in estab-

lishing Intertek as a key player in the PV industry, with laboratories in

Lake Forest and San Francisco, CA; and Shanghai, China. He is

recognised as an international expert in solar testing and certification,

with several published articles and industry presentations to his credit.

sherry m. stephenson is a Senior Fellow at the International Centre for

Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), Geneva. Currently she

is Senior Advisor for Services Trade at the Organization of American

States (OAS) in Washington, DC, where she has previously served as

Director of the Department of Trade and Deputy Director of the Trade

Unit during the ten years of the Free Trade Area of the Americas

(FTAA) negotiations. She received a PhD in International Economics

from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies/

University of Geneva and an MA in Economics from New York

University. She has served as an Advisor to the Minister of Trade in

Indonesia and held positions with the GATT and UNCTAD

Secretariats and with the OECD. Her publications address in particular

services trade, regional economic integration, labour mobility and non-

tariff barriers (NTBs). She has edited two volumes on services trade and

reform and published more than sixty articles and chapters in journals

and books.

List of Contributors xv


www.cambridge.org



Selected Abbreviations and Acronyms

3GF Global Green Growth Forum (Denmark)

ABCs Solar America Board for Codes and Standards

ANSI American National Standards Institute

APEC Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations

ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials

BIPV building-integrated photovoltaics

CBD Convention on Biological Diversity

CCS carbon capture and storage

CDM clean development mechanism

CECET Center for Evaluation of Clean Energy Technology

CEEW Council on Energy, Environment and Water (India)

CFGS climate-friendly goods and services

CHP combined heat and power

COP Conference of the Parties (UNFCCC)

CPC Committee for Progress and Coordination (UN)

CSi crystalline silicon

CSP concentrated solar power

CTCN Climate Technology Centre andNetwork (Technology

Mechanism)

CTESS Committee on Trade and Environment Special

Session

DSB Dispute Settlement Body (WTO)

DSM Dispute Settlement Mechanism (WTO)

DSU Dispute Settlement Understanding (WTO)

EG environmental good

EGS environmental goods and services

EIA Energy Information Administration (US)

FIT feed-in tariff

FPD flat panel display

FTA free-trade agreement

G2A2 Green Growth Action Alliance

xvi


www.cambridge.org



GATS General Agreement on Trade in Services

GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

GDP gross domestic product

GGGI Global Green Growth Institute (Korea)

GPA Government Procurement Agreement (WTO)

GSP Generalized System of Preferences

HS Harmonized System (product coverage)

ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability

ICT information and communications technology

ICTSD International Centre for Trade and Sustainable

Development

IEA International Energy Agency

IEC International Electrotechnical Commission

IECEE IEC System of Conformity Assessment Schemes for

Electrotechnical Equipment and Components

IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

ILO International Labour Organization (UN)

IMF International Monetary Fund

IMO International Maritime Organisation

IP intellectual property

IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

IPR intellectual property right

IRENA International Renewable Energy Agency

ISO International Organization for Standardization

IT information technology

ITA Information Technology Agreement (WTO)

LCR local content requirement

LDC least-developed country

LEAP Local Authority Environment Management Systems

and Procurement

MEA multilateral environmental agreement

MEF Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate

MFN most favoured nation

NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement

NCB National Certification Body (IECEE)

NPR non-product-related

NPR–PPM non-product-related production and processing

methods

NRTL Nationally Recognised Testing Laboratory

NT national treatment (GATT)

NTB non-tariff barrier

List of Selected Abbreviations and Acronyms xvii


www.cambridge.org



OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and

Development

OEM original equipment manufacturer

PPM production and processing methods

PPP public–private partnership

PTA preferential trade agreement

PTC production tax credit

PV photovoltaic

RCR regional content requirement

RE renewable energy

RFP request-for-proposal

RTA regional trade agreement

SCC Standards Council of Canada

SCM (Agreement on) Subsidies and Countervailing

Measures (WTO)

SE4All Sustainable Energy for All (UN)

SEGS sustainable energy goods and services

SETA Sustainable Energy Trade Agreement

SETI Sustainable Energy Trade Initiative

SME small and medium-sized enterprise

SOE state-owned enterprise

SPS Sanitary and Phytosanitary (Agreement) (WTO)

STC standard testing condition

T&D transmission and distribution

TBT Technical Barriers to Trade (Agreement) (WTO)

TCA Trade in Civil Aircraft (Agreement)

TEC Technology Executive Committee (Technology

Mechanism)

TFA Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO)

TiSA Trade in Services Agreement (WTO)

TPP Trans-Pacific Partnership

TPR Trade Policy Review (WTO)

TRIMs (Agreement on) Trade-Related Investment

Measures (WTO)

TRIPS (Agreement on) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual

Property Rights (WTO)

TTIP Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

UNCED United Nations Conference on Environment and

Development

UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International

Trade Law

UNCLOS United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

xviii List of Selected Abbreviations and Acronyms


www.cambridge.org



UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change

UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organisation

USITC United States International Trade Commission

WBCSD World Business Council for Sustainable Development

WEF World Economic Forum

WIPO World Intellectual Property Organization

WRI World Resources Institute

WTI World Trade Institute (Berne)

WTO World Trade Organization

List of Selected Abbreviations and Acronyms xix


www.cambridge.org



Foreword: Trade Policy Can Help Combat

Climate Change

H. E. Mogens Jensen, Minister for Trade and

Development Cooperation, Denmark

Climate change is one of themost pressing problemswe face today. Trade

policy is a crucial, but often overlooked, tool that can help us address this

challenge. A key factor in a transition to sustainable energy alternatives,

such as wind turbines and solar panels, is our ability to trade these

technologies. Through a liberalisation of green trade, we can make it

easier and cheaper to export and import sustainable energy products

and services. This can benefit the climate and the environment and also

create growth and employment.

Promoting green trade ought to be a main element in discussions on

sustainable energy. The potential gains from trade in sustainable energy

products and services are substantial but remain unharvested. This is in

large part due to the high number of trade barriers that hinder the free

flow of sustainable energy solutions across borders. The barriers stem

from a ‘governance gap’ in the global architecture of green trade. Due to

this, we are far from having an integrated, international approach to green

trade. We need to find a framework to get rid of these barriers that stymie

our efforts to achieve progress in this area.

Denmark plays a leading role in the EU in advancing green trade

liberalisation. During the Danish EU Presidency in 2012, the issue was

reintroduced on to the EU’s agenda for the first time since COP15 in

Copenhagen in December 2009.

The Danish government has also worked for green trade through the

Global Green Growth Forum (3GF), a Danish government initiative to

promote public–private cooperation to scale-up green solutions. 3GF has

played a key role in supporting the development of the Sustainable Energy

Trade Initiative (SETI) and consequently the SETI alliance, hosting

meetings and facilitating the network to bring together public and private

players. The alliance advocates negotiations to reduce tariffs and non-

tariff barriers (NTBs) on sustainable energy products and services.

xxi


www.cambridge.org



The good news is that we currently see an increasing international focus

on green trade liberalisation. The historical agreement reached at the 9th

World Trade Organization (WTO)Ministerial in Bali in December 2013

has given us the possibility to take a fresh look at the WTO, including the

possibility to start up initiatives on green trade liberalisation.

This has resulted in the ground-breaking statement made by a number

of WTO countries in Davos in January 2014 to pledge to launch negotia-

tions in the WTO on liberalising trade in green goods. This agreement

represents an important step forward in the efforts to promote trade in

sustainable energy products. The negotiations will build upon the Asia-

Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) list of green goods agreed on by

the APEC countries in September 2012.The broad group of Pacific

countries decided to reduce tariffs to 5 per cent or less on fifty-four

climate and environmentally friendly products by the end of 2015.

It is now important that the Davos statement results in negotiations on

an agreement on green trade liberalisation with a critical mass of partici-

pating countries. In the longer run we also, however, need to aim at an

even more ambitious agreement. The goal should be a comprehensive

international agreement on green trade that goes beyond the APEC

Agreement. It should, if possible, also include services. Several options

for such a comprehensive international agreement on green trade in

goods and services are suggested in this book.

This book seeks to address existing misconceptions about green trade

liberalisation, while sparking discussion and debate within the research

and political communities. Hopefully, it will contribute to a much-

needed impetus to agree on an ambitious international agreement on

sustainable energy trade, to the benefit of our climate, environment,

economic growth and development, energy security and public health.

xxii Foreword: Trade Policy Can Help Combat Climate Change


www.cambridge.org



Acknowledgements

This book is the result of collaboration between the three institutes: the

Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), the Peterson Institute for

International Economics (PIIE) and the International Centre for Trade

and Sustainable Development (ICTSD). It is part of a broader project

that has also involved a series of policy dialogues in Washington, Seoul

and Geneva, as well as other locations.

The book has been possible thanks to the valuable contributions made

by the authors of the respective chapters, as well as by reviewers; by

experts, policy makers and private sector participants; by programme

and editorial staff in the three institutes, as well as by the institutes’

respective funders.

In particular, we would like to acknowledge Michael Liebreich and

James Bacchus, both of whom have been great sources of inspiration

throughout the work. We also wish to recognise the former Danish

Minister of Trade, Ms Pia Olsen Dyhr, for her commitment and her

determination to take the sustainable energy trade agreement (SETA)

to the next level.

We want to take this opportunity to thank all the reviewers: Gabriel

Barta; Chris Beaton; Francisco Boshell; Helen de Coninck; Mireille

Cossy; Thomas Cottier; Devin McDaniels; Jane Drake-Brockman;

Muge Dolun; Gary Horlick; Veena Jha; Peter Kleen; Markus

Krajewski; Jan-Christoph Kuntze; Tom Moerenhout; Joost Pauwelyn;

Amy Porges; Luca Rubini; Susan Shafi-Brown; Pierre Sauvé; Mike

Sitkowski and Manuel Teehankee.

In addition, we would like to thank Ahmed Abdel Latif, Christophe

Bellmann, Johannes Bernabe, Ingrid Jegou, Jisun Kim, Joachim

Monkelbaan, Julia Muir, Pedro Roffe, Malena Sell, Sherry M. Stephenson,

Mahesh Sugathan and Marie Wilke for their reviews, comments and gui-

dance in producing the chapters. Anja Halle has provided valuable editorial

support.

xxiii


www.cambridge.org

Documents

Trade Agreement The Law and Economics of a Sustainable Energy · Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-09286-0 — The Law and Economics of a Sustainable Energy Trade Agreement Edited