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The Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) Series on ____________________________________ «Climate Change and Sustainable Development» Foreword Economic development is an essential component of the life of human societies: it is crucial to provide better living conditions to present to future generations. Poverty eradication, better nutrition, access to energy, health and education are objectives almost unanimously shared by all societies, but require economic development to be achieved. Resources in our planet are however finite, and living conditions do not depend only on economic development but also on the quality of the environment. Among the threats to economic development and quality of life in this planet, climate change is certainly the most important one. But other threats, from biodiversity losses to lack of water availability, often closely interrelated with climate change, cannot be neglected when assessing the future prospect of human life on earth. This series’ goal is to provide a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to sustainable development and to analyze its economic, social and environmental components. FEEM’s « Climate Change and Sustainable Development » Series aims indeed at disseminating research carried out and knowledge developed within FEEM’s Climate Change and Sustainable Development program. Volumes will move from methodological tools (game theory, integrated assessment models, risk assessment tools, etc.) to economic and policy analysis of measures designed to control climate change, to offset its impacts and, more widely, to support and operationalize sustainable development. Premessa Lo sviluppo economico è una componente essenziale della vita delle nostre società: è infatti decisivo per fornire migliori condizioni di vita alle generazioni presenti e future. Ridurre la povertà, migliorare i livelli di nutrizione, fornire a tutti accesso all’energia, all’istruzione e ai servizi sanitari sono obiettivi unanimemente condivisi, ma che richiedono per essere raggiunti uno sviluppo economico diffuso e inclusivo. Le risorse del pianeta sono tuttavia limitate e le condizioni di vita non dipendono solo dallo sviluppo economico, ma anche dalla qualità dell’ambiente in cui viviamo. Il cambiamento climatico rappresenta oggi la più importante tra le minacce allo sviluppo economico e al miglioramento della qualità della vita sulla terra. Ma molte altre variabili, dalla perdita di biodiversità alla mancanza di risorse idriche, spesso dipendenti dal cambiamento climatico, vanno tenute in considerazione se si vuole capire quale possa essere il nostro futuro. L’obiettivo di questa collana è quello di fornire un approccio olistico e multidisciplinare allo sviluppo sostenibile, per poterlo analizzare in tutte le sue componenti: economiche, sociali, ambientali. La collana « Cambiamento Climatico e Sviluppo Sostenibile » è infatti uno degli strumenti con cui la Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei vuole diffondere la ricerca e la conoscenza sviluppate dal suo programma “Climate Change and Sustainable Development”. I volumi di questa collana spaziano quindi dagli strumenti metodologici necessari per valutare le dinamiche dello sviluppo sostenibile (dalla teoria dei giochi ai modelli integrati dell’economia mondiale) fino all’analisi delle migliori misure di policy concepite per controllare il cambiamento climatico, per limitarne i suoi effetti e più in generale per sostenere e concretizzare uno sviluppo economico sostenibile. The Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) is a non-profit, nonpartisan research institution devoted to the study of sustainable development and global governance. FEEM’s mission is to improve through research the rigour, credibility and quality of decision making in public and private spheres. Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Corso Magenta 63, Milano – Italy Tel. +39 02.520.36934 Fax. +39.02.520.36946 E-mail: [email protected] www.feem.it The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) alone. ISBN 9788894170108 © FEEM 2016. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted in the original language without explicit permission provided that the source is acknowledged. Publication registered at the Court of Milan, no. 194 of May 16, 2014. The Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) Series on ____________________________________ «Climate Change and Sustainable Development» Greening the World Trade Organization By Raymond Saner ENGLISH Even though the COP21 meeting in Paris concluded on a positive note, the implementation of mitigation and adaptation measures remains based on non- binding proposals and promises made by the countries who took part in COP21. In addition, the solutions discussed so far are based on the assumption and hope that new technologies will be developed that can help generate the needed abatement of Green House Gases (GHG) and that such new technology could be developed, sold and used based on “business as usual” in regard to protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs). This publication proposes instead an alternative way to halt climate warming. The author suggests that the treaty power of the WTO could be used to create the incentive system needed to transform “business as usual- IPR” to a “green oriented trade and development system” turning green high technology into a common resource that could give low-income developing countries access to green high technology goods and services which would enable them to contribute to the effort of stopping global warming at a global level. To set the theoretical frame for a new approach towards a climate reduction strategy, the author introduces the public goods versus common resources conceptions of the economy including a discussion of the relevance of solidarity economy concepts for a global implementation of climate adaptation and mitigation strategies. Finally, this publication proposes three green agreements within the WTO agreement framework. The three green WTO agreements proposed could generate the green investments and green production needed to successfully implement climate change mitigation and adaptation at global level and in the public interest. Key words: Climate Change, Public Goods, Global Public Goods, Green Technology, Green Goods and Services, TRIMS, TRIPS, WTO, UNFCCC, SSE, mutual supportiveness 7 ·················· Greening the World Trade Organization – Raymond Saner Table of Contents Introduction: The interdependence of trade, development and climate 9 1. Environment as a Global Public Good 13 2. New thinking about the interface between trade, investment and climate change 23 3. Sustainable Production and Consumption through Green TRIPS, Green TRIMS and Green Three-Sector Plurilateral Agreements 44 4. A cross treaty régime link between WTO and UNFCCC based on mutual supportiveness and embeddedness in a new socio-economic context 80 Conclusion 87 References 88 Annexes 94 8 ·················· Greening the World Trade Organization – Raymond Saner Introduction: The interdependence of trade, development and climate * In view of the life endangering risks of climate change, researchers and scholars highly recommended that low carbon production, consumption and investment at national and global levels is urgently needed.1 Trade can have positive effects by improving resource allocation, promoting economic growth and increasing overall welfare but many environmental problems are related to the increased scale of global economic activity and global trade. Concrete aspects of the complex relation between trade and environment were addressed at the 2012 Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. A 10-year Framework of Programmes on sustainable consumption and production2 was proposed as a major tool for accelerating the change of unsustainable patterns of consumption and production. The new approach should go beyond traditional measurements like Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and instead focus on broader measures of progress including social and environmental impacts ensuring sustainable development for all societies no matter what level of development. Goals to reach global sustainable development have been outlined in the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) which were signed at the UN General Assembly on 25 September 2015. The SDGs are based on an integrated development approach consisting of three interconnected dimensions (economic, social and environmental). In order to achieve these goals, structural economic The author expresses appreciation to Professor Beat Bürgenmeier for his advice and reviews of drafts of chapter 3 and acknowledges the excellent support and research assistance by Mario Filadoro, MA, Trade Analyst, CSEND-TPGP and by Prof Dr Lichia Yiu, President of CSEND, who provided timely and crucial comments at different stages of this publication. 1 See Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Geneva. IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), (2007), Climate Change 2007 – Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, New York: Cambridge University Press, 976 pp. See also IPCC´s Assessment Reports and Technical Reports available from http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data.shtml#1 2 Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (2012), “A 10-year framework of programmes on sustainable consumption and production patterns ”, http://www.unep.org/rio20/portals/24180/Docs/a-conf.216-5_english.pdf 9 ·················· Greening the World Trade Organization – Raymond Saner transformation is needed in