US and EU plot to pull down green trade barriers

In a move that could deliver a significant boost to a wide range of green businesses, the US and EU last week announced they were joining forces to push for an end to trade tariffs on green goods and services.

In a joint statement released last week, the two commercial powers outlined 43 goods and services "with clear environmental benefits" that they argued should be exempt from trade barriers.

They claimed that removing tariffs from the products and services – which ranged from solar panels and wind turbines to engineering work designed to improve energy efficiency – would promote wider adoption of low-carbon technologies and business models.

The proposals were put forward at World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Geneva and will require approval from all 151 WTO members if they are to become a reality.

Under the plan, all WTO members would agree to scrap tariffs on the 43 approved products and services, while developed and advanced developing economies would ink a separate agreement to liberalise further the trade in green products and services.

US Trade Representative Susan Schwab urged WTO members to support the proposals, claiming in a statement that they represented "an unprecedented opportunity to address in a concrete and meaningful way the global environmental challenge of climate change".

However, it remains unclear if the proposals will garner widespread support from other WTO members. According to Associated Press reports, exporters of biofuels are likely to be angered by the US and EU decision to exclude a Brazilian proposal that energy crops should be included in the list of products that would be exempted from trade barriers.