European Commission Directorate-General for Trade

Environment

Trade and environmental policies are linked in important ways. The right trade policies can help ensure that trade supports environmental goals such as the fight against climate change. But trade policy also needs to reflect the potential effects of trade on the environment. Managing these challenges requires cooperation globally, between individual trading partners and between different government ministries.

The EU has always argued that WTO rules on open trade should not undermine international environmental agreements. It was the main advocate for ensuring that sustainable development featured clearly in the mandate agreed by WTO members when they launched the Doha Round of world trade negotiations in 2001. Increasingly, environmental considerations are being introduced into the EU's trade agreements as part of strengthening their contribution to sustainable development.

Trade and Climate Change

The EU uses its trade policy to support measures that cut greenhouse gas emissions. Under the terms of the EU's Generalised System of Preferences, developing countries that have ratified and implemented global environmental agreements can receive special tariff rate cuts when they export to the EU. As part of the Doha WTO trade negotiations, the EU has pushed for more open trade in environmental goods and services such as renewable energy products, waste water management and energy efficient construction services to encourage the spread of these new technologies around the world.

Environmental impact assessments in EU trade agreements

The EU's draft trade agreements with other countries and regions are carefully examined for their potential effects on the environment. These Sustainability Impact Assessments (SIAs) are undertaken for every EU trade negotiation. By informing negotiators of the possible effects, the research can help policymakers and trade negotiators to reflect these concerns in their final agreement.

For more information on SIAs, see Sustainability Impact Assessments

The disposal of non-hazardous waste

The EU's Waste Shipment Regulation was updated in 2008 and sets out the control procedures for transporting waste within, into and out of the EU. The aim is to ensure a high level of environmental and human health protection, while at the same time safeguarding trading rights. This Regulation implements into EU law the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal and the OECD Decision on Control of trans-frontier movements of wastes destined for recovery operations.