The Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Environment: An Assessment of Commitments and Trade Agreement Enforcement (November 2015) - Center for International Environmental Law

The Center for International Environmental Law critiques the claim that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) provides the strongest and most enforceable environmental commitments in trade history, arguing that past U.S. free trade agreements (FTAs) show a pattern of ineffective enforcement of environmental safeguards while frequently utilizing Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) to allow corporations to sue governments over environmental laws.

• The White House claimed on October 5, 2015, that the TPP contains the most robust and enforceable labor and environmental commitments of any trade agreement to date, but the author argues this mirrors promises made for previous U.S. free trade agreements (FTAs) that did not guarantee environmental protection.
• Despite documented violations, no party has ever initiated a formal case based on the environmental provisions of any U.S. FTA, indicating that party dispute settlement and citizen suit provisions are underutilized and ineffective.
• The only environmental-related provision used regularly in U.S. FTAs is the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), which enables companies to sue governments for implementing and maintaining environmental laws.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2015). The Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Environment: An Assessment of Commitments and Trade Agreement Enforcement (November 2015) - Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/reports/tpp_enforcement_nov2015/

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. The Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Environment: An Assessment of Commitments and Trade Agreement Enforcement (November 2015) - Center for International Environmental Law. 2015. https://www.ciel.org/reports/tpp_enforcement_nov2015/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=The Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Environment: An Assessment of Commitments and Trade Agreement Enforcement (November 2015) - Center for International Environmental Law |date=13 November 2015 |url=https://www.ciel.org/reports/tpp_enforcement_nov2015/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2015transpacific, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{The Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Environment: An Assessment of Commitments and Trade Agreement Enforcement (November 2015) - Center for International Environmental Law}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2015}, month = nov, url = {https://www.ciel.org/reports/tpp_enforcement_nov2015/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }