US and EU Propose Free Trade in Climate-Friendly Technologies
2007-11-30
The United States and European Union launched a proposal in world trade talks on Friday aimed at countering global climate change by removing trade barriers for climate-friendly technologies and environmental services.
According to US trade officials:
By eliminating tariff and nontariff barriers to environmental goods and services, particularly clean energy technologies, we can lower their costs and increase global access to and use of these products.
Global trade in the environmental goods covered by the US-EU proposal totaled about $613 billion in 2006, with exports increasing about 15 percent annually.
The World Bank has estimated removing tariffs and nontariff barriers on key climate and clean energy technologies could increase trade in those goods by 7-14 percent a year and help to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The plan would liberalize trade in goods such as solar panels and wind turbines, and services such as air and water pollution monitoring and control, hazardous waste management and cleaning up hazardous waste sites.
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Source: US and EU Propose Trade Plan to Counter Climate Change. Reuters. 2007.11.30