Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the environment

The report argues that CETA fails to be a 'gold standard' for the environment, citing weak enforcement of environmental commitments, the risks posed by the Investment Court System (ICS), and the potential for increased imports of carbon-intensive tar sands oil. It highlights a lack of transparency in negotiations and suggests that the agreement's regulatory cooperation and domestic regulation chapters could hinder the EU's ability to implement ambitious climate and environmental policies.

• The report concludes that CETA was negotiated in 'total secrecy' from 2008, which has 'fundamentally undermined the legitimacy of the agreement' for European and Canadian citizens.
• The environment chapter lacks meaningful enforcement because it uses a 'weak mechanism based on dialogue' and 'explicitly excludes recourse to normal dispute settlement', meaning the Panel of Experts' reports are not binding and cannot result in penalties like tariff sanctions.
• CETA does not introduce new environmental ambitions beyond existing commitments and fails to address critical issues such as ending fossil fuel subsidies or prohibiting subsidies for fishing overfished stocks.
• The Investment Court System (ICS) is criticized for creating a 'parallel justice system' that allows foreign investors to bypass domestic courts and the European Court of Justice, potentially pressuring governments to limit environmental decision-making.
• The 'indirect expropriation' standard in CETA is problematic because it allows measures protecting public welfare to be challenged if a tribunal deems them 'manifestly excessive'.
• CETA may facilitate increased imports of carbon-intensive oil from Alberta tar sands, which is 'three to four times more emission-intensive' than conventional crude, especially if the 'Energy East' pipeline project is completed.
• The regulatory cooperation framework is viewed as a risk because it could lead to a 'legislative slowdown' and provide a 'lobbying tool' for Canada to influence EU legislation, such as the Fuel Quality Directive.
• The Domestic Regulation chapter may expose environmental permitting processes (e.g., for fracking or open-pit mining) to international legal challenges by focusing on 'regulatory predictability' and speed over the quality of environmental safeguards.
• The report identifies a lack of coordination among EU Member States regarding energy sector reservations in the 'negative list' approach; nine states (Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Romania, and Spain) made no reservations at all.

APA

ClientEarth (2016). Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the environment. https://www.clientearth.org/media/zgfbtgup/ceta-and-the-environment-a-gold-standard-for-the-planet-or-for-big-business-coll-en.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the environment. 2016. https://www.clientearth.org/media/zgfbtgup/ceta-and-the-environment-a-gold-standard-for-the-planet-or-for-big-business-coll-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=ClientEarth |title=Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the environment |date=November 2016 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/zgfbtgup/ceta-and-the-environment-a-gold-standard-for-the-planet-or-for-big-business-coll-en.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{clientearth2016comprehensive, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the environment}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2016}, month = nov, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/zgfbtgup/ceta-and-the-environment-a-gold-standard-for-the-planet-or-for-big-business-coll-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }