Search Climate Insights Directory

The paper examines how trade policy can accelerate the clean energy transition by expanding access to renewable technologies. It highlights the role of the APEC List of Environmental Goods and the need to address non-tariff measures and global value chain complexities. The author advocates for a comprehensive approach that includes preferential treatment for components and services to reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of renewable energy deployment.

The paper analyzes how regional trade agreements (RTAs) act as 'incubators' for promoting trade in environmental goods and services (EGS) in the absence of significant multilateral progress at the WTO. It examines various RTA approaches to defining EGS, implementing market access commitments, coordinating regulations, and providing support measures for developing countries. The authors highlight that RTAs often go beyond WTO rules, utilizing tools like specific EGS lists, 'ex-outs' for precise product classification, and sectoral chapters to address non-tariff barriers. These regional experiences are presented as potential models for the WTO's Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussion (TESSD) and the Informal Dialogue on Plastics Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade (IDP).

The study examines potential mechanisms for a voluntary standstill on inefficient fossil fuel subsidies within APEC, proposing inventory-based, value-based, or hybrid approaches to ensure subsidies do not increase and to complement existing reform efforts.