European Commission Directorate-General for Trade

Climate change

Climate change is one of the most urgent challenges the world faces. If not tackled quickly and effectively, it could have devastating consequences both for our environment and for our economies. The EU has taken the lead in the fight against climate change, adopting some of the most aggressive carbon emissions reduction targets in the world. It is also a major player in the international climate negotiations in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. A comprehensive global climate agreement that will be signed in Copenhagen in 2009 is an absolute priority for the EU.

The EU is always looking for ways to reinforce its climate change goals with trade policies. If well-designed, trade policy can help countries shift to a low-carbon economy by encouraging innovation and international investment in low-carbon production. Trade is how we will ensure the rapid spread of green goods, services and technologies around the world.

Liberalising trade in green goods and services

Because the goods and skills that help us tackle climate change are traded like any other, investment and trade can carry experience and skills and climate-friendly and low-carbon technologies throughout the global economy. An important contribution of trade to the fight against climate change is a broad and ambitious opening of trade in environmental goods and services. The EU has argued for the creation of an open global market in environmental goods, services and technologies that allows green technology and investment to move freely throughout the global economy. This would give countries more cost-efficient access to climate related technology and skills, making the move to a low-carbon economy cheaper.

The EU has suggested an Environmental Goods and Services Agreement as part of the Doha Round of WTO trade talks. It aims to liberalise trade in at least 43 key climate-friendly technologies identified by the World Bank such as solar panels and wind turbines. For interested countries, the agreement would also include opening their markets for environmental services such as waste and water management, architecture and construction. The EU also argues for the liberalisation of a larger list of goods and services related to sustainable energy use, pollution management and environmental protection. This is currently under negotiation in the WTO.