Weighing up the Environmental Cooperation Agreement under the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement

The document analyzes the transition from NAFTA's environmental side agreement to the CUSMA framework, highlighting the preservation of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) and the introduction of a broader definition of 'affecting trade or investment' to strengthen environmental law enforcement. It notes the loss of the CEC's authority to produce unsolicited reports and identifies new commitments regarding fisheries, endangered species, and marine litter, while observing that climate change is explicitly absent from the ECA work program.

• The Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (ECA) maintains the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) and its three-body structure consisting of a Council, a Secretariat, and a Joint Public Advisory Committee, though the budget is expected to be lower than under NAFTA.
• A significant change from the previous framework is the removal of the CEC Secretariat's authority to conduct 'Article 13 reports,' which were unsolicited analyses of trade's environmental impacts.
• CUSMA strengthens commitments to enforce environmental laws and multilateral environmental agreements (covering ozone depletion, marine pollution, and endangered species) by introducing a broad new definition of what constitutes 'affecting trade or investment'.
• The ECA includes a pioneering, though non-binding, provision allowing the Council to instruct the Secretariat to develop recommendations on gender and diversity effects within the Work Program.
• CUSMA Chapter 24 establishes hard commitments to reduce fisheries subsidies, target illegal fisheries, stop illegal shipments of endangered species, prohibit shark finning and the commercial killing of great whales, and reduce marine litter.
• While the ECA work program includes 'low-emission economies and renewable energy sources,' climate change is explicitly absent from the list of potential activities.

APA

Cosbey, A. (2019). Weighing up the Environmental Cooperation Agreement under the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/environmental-cooperation-agreement-policy-brief.pdf

Chicago

Cosbey, Aaron. Weighing up the Environmental Cooperation Agreement under the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2019. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/environmental-cooperation-agreement-policy-brief.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Cosbey |first1=Aaron |title=Weighing up the Environmental Cooperation Agreement under the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=February 2019 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/environmental-cooperation-agreement-policy-brief.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{cosbey2019weighing, author = {Cosbey, Aaron}, title = {{Weighing up the Environmental Cooperation Agreement under the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2019}, month = feb, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/environmental-cooperation-agreement-policy-brief.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }