Alan Oxley
A global trade expert has warned that there could be a trade war in which the EU could become the major loser if the imminent failure of the Kyoto Protocol drives it to expand the usage of climate change trade barriers.
Ambassador Alan Oxley, who is the World Growth Chairman and a former Ambassador as well as Chairman of the GATT said, “Now it is clear the Kyoto Protocol has failed, we should expect environmental NGOs to demand green trade barriers against imports from those who would not make the cuts proposed in the Protocol. Instead of winding EU measures back, European environmental officials are likely to insist the EU impose more green trade barriers.”
He was speaking at a special seminar on Trade and Climate Change in Durban hosted by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), South African Department of Trade and Industry and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD).
At the seminar, World Growth, an international non-governmental organization established to expand the research, information, advocacy, and other resources to improve the economic conditions and living standards in developing and transitional countries released a new report entitled, “Avoiding Green Protectionism.”
It noted that officials and negotiators would not need to resort to growth-sapping unilateral trade barriers if they adopt appropriate measures.
“Unilateral trade barriers like this simply invite retaliation against EU exports and the EU would be the biggest loser. I could not imagine the Trade Directorate of the European Commission relishing a trade war with India, China, Canada, the US and developing countries,” he stated.
Ambassador Oxley said “yet European governments have shown themselves to be swayed by environmental ideologues that don’t care about such things. Others are anticipating this. India has already foreshadowed a resolution for the Durban meeting to proscribe such measures. Along with China and the US, India has already objected to the EU plan to impose carbon penalties on airlines that did not have controls on emissions comparable to the EUs.”
He also pointed out that airline carbon taxes are not the first EU carbon trade barrier. The EU is already imposing restrictions on imports of biofuels and now timber products.
Other members of the WTO, namely Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia and the United States, have already complained about discriminatory EU restrictions on biofuel imports, noted Ambassador Oxley.
“And now Canada’s former Ambassador to the WTO, John Weekes, has called for Canada to file a legal complaint against the EU’s Fuel Quality Directive on similar grounds.
“The decade of campaigning for the Kyoto Protocol emboldened environmental groups like Greenpeace and WWF to push for anti-dumping penalties to restrict imports of timber products and now biofuels, such as palm oil.
The Ambassador noted that “the illegal logging trade bans are ugly, blunt tools and the wrong response – the incidence of illegal logging worldwide is small and declining. These bans are being promoted by Green groups as part of their global campaign to restrict commercial forestry.
“The resort to Green Protectionism is as futile as the effort to secure global support for the cut in emissions mandated in the Kyoto Protocol. If environmental officials had paid attention to this simple fact when the Protocol was negotiated, there might today be on the table the basis for global agreement to reduce emissions which most countries could support.”
By Emelia Ennin Abbey