Sustainable development Brussels, 3 July 2014

In July 2014 the EU and 13 other members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are launching negotiations to liberalise global trade in environmental goods. This ’green goods initiative’ aims to remove barriers to trade and investment in ’green’ goods, services and technologies.

It will be good for the environment, green economic growth and jobs, and will help make rapidly growing cities greener and more sustainable. The initiative will be an important step towards spreading the use and benefits of environmental goods, services and technologies across the globe, including in the efforts to tackle climate change. What is covered by the 'green goods initiative'?

Products and technologies that contribute to green growth, environmental protection, climate action and sustainable development by:

• helping clean the air and water
• helping manage waste
• being energy efficient
• controlling air pollution
• helping generate renewable energy like solar, wind, or hydroelectric

In the first stage, the talks will focus on removing tariffs on a list of 54 products on which the member countries of APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) have agreed to reduce their tariffs to 5% or less by 2015, and a broad range of other products.

What will the initiative achieve?

The initiative shows how trade policy can contribute to environmental protection and to dealing with climate change.

The aim is to remove tariffs on environmental products, but also to create a 'living agreement' which can respond to new technologies and add new products in the future. It should be possible to include environment-related services and tackle non-tariff barriers, such as local content requirements or restrictions on investment. The EU will be pushing for an ambitious and comprehensive agreement that will bring real benefits to trade and to the environment.

The initiative also aims at stimulating the negotiations carried out under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as part of the Doha Ministerial Declaration of 2001 in paragraph 31 (iii) on the reduction or, as appropriate, elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services.

At this stage, only some WTO members have chosen to take part in the talks. This is why they are described as 'plurilateral'. Once a critical mass is reached to get an agreement, the benefits of this plurilateral initiative will be applied to all WTO members using the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) principle. Ideally, the agreement would be made part of the package of WTO accords so other WTO members could and open up their own markets.

Who is taking part?

Australia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Chinese Taipei, the European Union, Hong Kong (China), Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore, United States.

Together, these countries account for around 86% of the world trade in green goods.

Background

On 24 January 2014 the EU, together with 13 other WTO members pledged to launch negotiations to liberalise global trade in environmental goods – the so called green goods initiative. See the link to the Davos statement, and EU press release.

The European Commission will negotiate on behalf of the EU. It will base its work on the instructions the EU's Member States in the Council gave it in 2001 to negotiate the WTO talks on the Doha Development Agenda. On 8 May 2014 the Council gave the Commission additional instructions to negotiate the 'green goods initiative'.

On 5 June 2014 the Commission launched a public consultation on this initiative (deadline 31 July 2014). See also the press release on the consultation.

Environmental goods and services in the EU

Green growth is part and parcel of the EU's economic and environmental policies. Opening up trade in environmental goods and services can help develop green growth further. We are working to liberalise trade in environmental goods and services in:

• multilateral talks
• talks with groups of countries
• bilateral talks, for example for our free trade agreements.

We are also working to make sure existing rules are enforced.

The EU has technologically advanced and world-class companies providing environmental goods and services. Between 2002-2011 jobs in the 'green sector' in the EU rose from 3 to 4.2 million full-time equivalents. Even during the recession years (2007-2011), employment grew by 20%.

The EU is a world leader in exports and imports of environmental goods, followed by China and other Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries. Although environmental goods are a relatively small part of EU trade, the sector is very dynamic. In 2013 EU exports of the 54 APEC list products amounted to €71 billion, imports to €34 billion. If we include products an EU list of 165 green goods, exports rise to €146 billion (around 8% of the EU's total) and imports to €70 billion.

For more information

2030 climate and energy goals for a competitive, secure and low-carbon EU economy, 22 January 2014 - Press release Green Employment Initiative: Tapping into the job creation potential of the green economy, Brussels, 2 July 2014 - Communication