Free trade agreements are still missing opportunity to enforce and shape climate commitments – legal experts
Current EU trade negotiations are, despite recent reforms, still failing to take the Paris Agreement seriously, according to new expert analysis of the current state of talks between the bloc and various Latin American countries. The study forms part of a larger collaboration through the Green Trade Network.
The finding casts serious doubt over the likely environmental robustness of updated agreements with Chile and Mexico, which are set to be concluded by early next year. This comes despite the European Commission’s recent review of Trade and Sustainable Development chapters, which is supposed to set a high green bar for all trade deals yet to be concluded, as well as the subsequent deal with New Zealand which was seen as putting the principles into practice.
The researchers from the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), have interviewed those involved in negotiations and government representatives on both sides of the Atlantic as well as undertaking textual analysis. Based in both Latin America and the EU, the researchers convened a series of expert roundtables involving high level trade and sustainability to discuss and refine their initial findings.
The central finding of the CISDL Synthesis Report is that when it comes to Paris and climate obligations, the language used is largely non-committal and non-mandatory. But they say it also lacks the necessary specificity.
- Nationally Determined Contributions
For example, the lack of reference to respective Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) – the key framework for progressing a country’s (or bloc’s) pathway to net zero – is particularly noteable, the report says. This isn’t just about enforcing NDC pledged emissions cuts but is also a missed opportunity to help shape and support the development of NDCs.
In other words, to review the content of the partner countries’ NDC and construct or implement trade obligations in a way that helps rather than hinders how partner countries can achieve their own NDCs.
In their inception report Prof Markus Gehring and Christian Delev concluded that “ratcheting up environmental protection standards in European Union trade agreement negotiations with Latin American states could provide the next steps in the climate, sustainable development and trade agenda, particularly if NDCs on both sides of the Atlantic are taken much more seriously.”
The authors believe these weaknesses largely stem from siloed thinking in the respective parts of the Commission, which are responsible for bringing together the trade and sustainability agendas: DG Trade and DG Clima.
Synthesis report lead author Marios Tokas, says: “The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is clear on the huge potential for FTAs to diffuse climate mitigation standards, promote climate governance, and contribute, in general, in the fight against climate change.
“Any discussion for future trade relations should therefore be tied to the discussion of using trade flows to combat climate change. As such, countries should be ambitious and innovative in their approach to FTAs and abandon traditional views that dichotomize trade from environmental protection.”
- Call to embed climate commitments across FTA chapters
While the report emphasises the need for a much greater focus on enforceability of provisions as well greater transparency and oversight of negotiations, it also calls for climate commitments to be embedded across FTAs rather than the current singular focus on the environment or TSD chapters.
Specifically, the authors say that negotiators need to consider chapters covering subsidy regimes, technical barriers to trade (particularly sanitary and photo-sanitary standards), government procurement and intellectual property.
They are also at pains to point out that FTAs must offer carrots as well as sticks in support of climate ambition and suggest that the EU could assist trade partners in developing carbon pricing, which could in turn aid compliance with the bloc’s CBAM or border carbon adjustment.
Furthermore, the authors suggest a more dynamic approach to FTAs with ex-post or post-agreement sustainable impact assessments helping to inform improvements of the initial deal.
Drawing upon examples of best practice from EU FTAs and beyond, the report’s concluding section suggests sample text that could be included in EU-LatAm agreements in order to achieve recommendations for high climate ambition deals.
ENDS
For further information contact:
Prof Markus Gehring, CISDL | +44 7789850287 | mwg24@cam.ac.uk (Project Lead and onsite in Sharm el-Sheikh for COP27)
Marios Tokas, CISDL | +41 779518438 | marios.tokas@graduateinstitute.ch (Project Manager)
*Note: “the report” referred to in this release is the synthesis report of five separate reports, also publishing today and focusing different areas of EU-Latin American trade [EU Latin America Progress, EU-Chile, EU-Mexico, EU-Central America, EU-Andes].
