Enabling the Clean Energy Transition through Trade and Cooperation

This research paper argues that trade policies are essential for scaling the clean energy transition by expanding access to renewable technologies and energy-efficient goods. It highlights the role of reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers, the importance of a global value chain approach for complex products like wind turbines and solar panels, and the necessity of liberalizing environmental services to support renewable energy deployment.

• The growth of the digital economy, including AI, data centres, and cryptocurrencies, is significantly increasing electricity demand. The International Energy Agency projects that global electricity demand from these digital activities will nearly double between 2022 and 2026.
• The APEC List of Environmental Goods has reduced tariffs to 5% or less on 54 environmental goods. Of these, 15 goods related to renewable energy generation (including solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal) account for approximately 48% of APEC exports and 43% of APEC imports from that list. Globally, trade in these renewable energy products reached $229.8 billion in 2023.
• Despite tariff reductions, renewable energy products face significant non-tariff barriers, including quantitative restrictions, export and import formalities, and technical regulations that may exceed safety requirements and act as trade restrictions.
• Recent trade agreements are targeting environmental goods to promote liberalization. The agreement between New Zealand and the United Kingdom covers 293 environmental goods, while the green economy agreement between Singapore and Australia covers 372 environmental goods and addresses both tariffs and non-tariff measures.
• A global value chain approach is necessary because renewable energy products are complex; for example, a wind turbine requires at least 8,000 different parts and components. Non-tariff measures like local content requirements and trade remedies can negatively impact producers by targeting these underlying components rather than just the final product.
• The APEC Reference List of Environmental and Environmentally Related Services identifies seven service sectors beneficial for clean energy generation, including engineering services for power plants and general construction services for power plants, dams, and power lines.

APA

Kuriyama, C. (2025). Enabling the Clean Energy Transition through Trade and Cooperation. Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs. https://tessforum.org/latest/enabling-the-clean-energy-transition-through-trade-and-cooperation

Chicago

Kuriyama, Carlos. Enabling the Clean Energy Transition through Trade and Cooperation. Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs, 2025. https://tessforum.org/latest/enabling-the-clean-energy-transition-through-trade-and-cooperation.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kuriyama |first1=Carlos |title=Enabling the Clean Energy Transition through Trade and Cooperation |publisher=Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs |date=21 July 2025 |url=https://tessforum.org/latest/enabling-the-clean-energy-transition-through-trade-and-cooperation |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kuriyama2025enabling, author = {Kuriyama, Carlos}, title = {{Enabling the Clean Energy Transition through Trade and Cooperation}}, institution = {Forum on Trade, Environment, \& the SDGs}, year = {2025}, month = jul, url = {https://tessforum.org/latest/enabling-the-clean-energy-transition-through-trade-and-cooperation}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }