Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 4 • Number 23 • 20th December 2004
Highlighting Trade-Climate Linkages
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ICTSD and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on 14 December co-hosted a side-event to the tenth Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC - see related story, this issue) to discuss synergies and conflict between the trade and climate regimes at. Among the specific issues discussed, the event — entitled Trade Implications for Kyoto Implementation: Making it Work — addressed ongoing negotiations on environmental goods and services (EGS) within the Doha Round, and how these negotiations might open the door for the expansion of trade in climate friendly equipment and other goods, including biofuels. Also on the agenda was the issue of economic diversification, foreign direct investment (FDI), the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), as well as a case study of biofuels as a climate-friendly energy source. Biofuels are linked to ongoing trade negotiations due to their potential impact on land use and potential for expansion through global markets. The discussions at the side event highlighted that more work needs to be done on the interactions between the trade and climate regimes, especially as the Kyoto Protocol enters into force. While some participants felt confident that the two regimes will not stand in the way of one another, and indeed can be mutually supportive, others felt that potential conflicts needed to be explicitly addressed and remedies sought to ensure that the trade regime does not have a chilling effect on measures to address climate change.
ICTSD reporting.
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