Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) negotiations Civil Society Dialogue meeting 13 September 2016 Disclaimer: All images and photographs in this presentation are used purely for purposes of demonstration and do not in any way commit any of the companies shown to, or imply their approval of, any of the proposed policies, actions or measures featured.
Steps leading to the launch of EGA WTO DDA Ministerial Declaration, 2001: Para 31(iii) the reduction or, as appropriate, elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services. Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), 2012: political commitment to reduce applied tariffs on 54 green goods to 5 per cent or less by the end of 2015; Davos World Economic Forum statement: 24 January 2014 Launch of the Environmental Goods Agreement negotiations: July 2014
Key elements Objective: Enhance trade in environmental goods contributing to environmental protection, in particular to combatting climate change, to accelerate uptake of environmental goods 1) Full elimination of tariffs On a broad list of environmental goods, building on the APEC list of 54 goods 2) "living agreement" Revision clause to update product list (technology changes) Address other issues in the sector (NTBs, services) through a work programme 3) MFN-based agreement once critical mass achieved
EGA Members 17 WTO Members currently.. EU, US, China, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, Norway, Korea, Israel, Iceland, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong China, Singapore, Costa Rica, Turkey..but EGA is open EGA negotiations are open to any WTO Member sharing similar level of ambition benefits for both industrialized and developing countries Outreach e.g. Chile, Mexico, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Morocco, Tunisia, Brazil, Pakistan
EGA membership
Solar technologies HS 280461 HS 381800 HS 854140 HS 854140
Wind Turbine Gearboxes
HS 392510 waste containers HS 8428.33 waste conveyors HS 8428.90 material handler HS 8462.91 shredders, balers, compactors for waste metals HS 8505.90 magnetic pulley HS 8474.10, HS 8474.39, HS 8474.90 - machinery for sorting, washing mineral substances, and parts
Where are we now? 15 rounds since the launch of the negotiations in July 2014 last round: July 2016; next: week of 19 th September Ministerial level discussions - June 2016 (OECD) and July 2016 (G20) "Landing zones" - 15th EGA round in July G20 Leaders' Summit, September 2016 a key milestone : "G20 Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) participants welcome the landing zone achieved in the WTO EGA negotiations, and reaffirm their aim to redouble efforts to bridge remaining gaps and conclude an ambitious, future-oriented EGA that seeks to eliminate tariffs on a broad range of environmental goods by the end of 2016, after finding effective ways to address the core concerns of participants."
Outstanding issues Chair's list retained 304 out of 650 products nominated under 10 environmental product categories by EGA members Key issues: product coverage (commercial interest/environmental credibility), staging, critical mass, future work programme on non-tariff barriers and services Need for continued outreach: global value chain opportunities
Next steps 16th EGA negotiating round: 19-23 September 17th EGA round: 17-21 October informal EGA Ministerial: 22 October 18th EGA round: 27 November 1 December concluding EGA Ministerial: 3-4 December
Sustainability Impact Assessment on EGA commissioned by the European Commission, and conducted by an independent contractor, published in April 2016 Economic impacts: a positive impact in volumes of global trade flows of EGs and also on the price of energy, thus making clean technologies more cost competitive Environmental impacts: facilitating the implementation of national environmental policies and multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), helps reducing CO2 emissions Social impacts: help to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Human rights impacts
For more info: DG TRADE website http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id= 1116