SICE: Disciplines: Trade and Environment-Climate Change

Agreements

Disciplines

Trade Policy Developments

Trade and Environment: Climate Change

Multilateral | Bilateral and Regional Trade Agreements

Multilateral

Climate change is a relatively new focus for international trade institutions, and official work to date is in early stages. In 2009, the WTO and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) jointly published a report, “Trade and Climate Change,”. The report outlines some of the challenges that both institutions expect as countries implement legislation to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Bilateral and Regional Trade Agreements

Bilateral and regional trade arrangements have also begun to address the issue of climate change.

Customs Unions
Andean Community	The Andean Community devotes part of its work program to Climate Change
CACM	SIECA and the Central American Commission on Environment and Development have published a joint Regional Strategy on Climate Change
CARICOM	Establishment of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC)

Free Trade Agreements
Chile-EU	The October 2009 EU-Chile Association Joint Communiqué sites climate change as one of the most pressing challenges of our time. The European Union’s 2007-2013 Country Strategy Paper for Chile lays out goals for cooperation on trade and climate change
Chile-Turkey	Climate change is included as an area for bilateral cooperation
Chile-U.S.	The US-Chile Joint Commission for Environmental Cooperation includes climate change mitigation and adaptation in its 2009-11 work program
Costa Rica-China	Contains language on climate change in the section on agricultural cooperation
Mexico-EU	The EU-Mexico Joint Executive Plan published in May 2010 lays out a plan for the EU-Mexico Sectoral Policy Dialogue on the Environment and Climate Change. In addition, the Joint Executive Plan committed the European Union to sharing its experience with the EU Emissions Trading System with Mexico, in order to support the eventual establishment of a similar system in Mexico. As part of the Cancun Agreements, the European Union has offered Mexico 4 million Euros for monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) and forest management
NAFTA (Canada-Mexico-United States)	The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has made climate change a focus of its 2010-2015 strategic plan. In particular, the plan includes two objectives: Improved comparability of emissions data, methodologies and inventories among the three North American partners; and Strengthened engagement of experts and information-sharing
Peru-South Korea	Contains language on climate change in section on forestry cooperation

Trade and Environment