Klimaatverandering: WHO-voorzitter waarschuwt voor wirwar van beleidslijnen (en)

The idea of unilaterally imposing EU tariffs on non-climate-friendly imports, should there be no international accord on how to combat climate change, took centre stage at Thursday's Climate Committee hearing on competitiveness, trade, financing and sustainable employment. Compared with an international deal, such tariffs would be a distant second best, said World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy.

The climate change problem, Mr Lamy told committee members, "will not be changed by one player." Unilateral steps "would only divert trade patterns", without making a "significant change" on a global scale. "I would caution against a spaghetti bowl of measures that achieve neither trade nor environmental goals", he said, adding that "a consensual international accord on climate change, one that embraces all major emitters" is, from the WTO perspective, the optimal outcome". 

Trade measures to counter climate change?

Several MEPs pressed Mr Lamy on the implications of such "unilateral steps", should there be no international consensus on climate change. If the EU were to consider "border adjustment measures" on trade, asked Avril Doyle (EPP-ED, IE), would WTO rules defend the European position?

"If we're not successful at Copenhagen", where countries are expected to agree on a global climate change framework, "what kind of adjustments can we make?" asked Robert Goebbels (PES, LU). A tax that hits exporters, he added, "has no chance of getting by the WTO [...]. But what about a tax that hits importers of products from countries that don't subscribe to international climate change norms?". Lambert van Nistelrooij (EPP-ED, NL) also raised the possibility of imposing tariffs on non-climate-friendly imports, so as to prevent some countries from "free-riding".

"Is it fair for Europe to deal with climate change without any real attention for industries and jobs?" asked European Trade Union Confederation General Secretary John Monks. "If not, you should include a precise border mechanism in the ETS [emission trading system] directive", he said.

Lamy: go-it-alone is a distant second-best

"I have been cautioned to say only one thing as to the legality of border adjustment measures: 'it depends'", joked Mr Lamy. "Environmental standards are one thing, and taxes and tariffs are another. The question is whether what you do at the border mitigates environmental impact", he said, and the answer "is not crystal clear - any mitigation has to be judged on its own merits".

In any event, he continued, "the notion of go-it-alone is clearly a distant second-best to an international solution, which sets a level playing field." Mr Lamy also warned against assuming that the WTO could offer an alternate route to a climate change agreement, should it prove impossible to reach one within the United Nations. "If people think that if it's difficult under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, then we can do it under the WTO, they are wrong", he said. 

Update on the Doha round

Mr Lamy also briefed Trade Committee MEPs on the progress of the Doha Development Round negotiations. "We are not on the eve of reaching a deal that is not favourable to the EU", he said. On the agricultural part of the talks, he observed that the recently-adopted 2008 US Farm Bill "sends a bad signal". Farm support is likely to rise when the WTO is trying to reach a deal on cutting agricultural subsidies. "The only chance to trump the Farm Bill is a WTO deal", he concluded.

29/05/2008

Temporary Committee on Climate Change

In the Chair : Guido Sacconi (PES, IT)

29/05/2008

Temporary Committee on Climate Change

Rapporteur: : Karl-Heinz FLORENZ (EPP-ED, DE)