Washington DC – The Coalition for Green Trade is disappointed that this weekend’s Ministerial Meeting in Geneva was unable to reach a deal on an Environmental Goods Agreement, that has been in negotiation since July 2014, despite strong leadership from the United States.
Facilitating trade in environmental goods, which currently is estimated at $1 trillion annually, would promote the use and development of environmental technologies that will address global environmental goals, supporting jobs and growth in all 18 participants. The failure to conclude this deal represents a significant missed opportunity for the global economy, delaying positive contributions to job growth, innovation and environmental goals until a later date.
To spur successfully the development of cost-effective innovative new technologies to meet global environmental challenges, major countries, including China, must be fully engaged. While we are disappointed that China lacked the ambition to move forward at this juncture, we will continue to look for paths forward with all 18 negotiating parties so that potential benefits to our economies and the environment are ultimately realized.
The Coalition supports the statement made by the United States and the EU in support of a product list substantially broadening the list of 54 goods agreed-upon in the APEC forum in 2012. Given the importance of these negotiations, we remain committed to working with all the negotiating countries to continue the negotiations so that countries can benefit from ambitious outcomes as soon as possible.
Jake Colvin, Vice President for Global Trade Issues at NFTC, was on the ground in Geneva for the talks and is available for comment. He can be reached at jcolvin@nftc.org.
About the Coalition for Green Trade
The Coalition for Green Trade, co-chaired by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) and U.S. Council for International Business (USCIB), works to educate policymakers and the public on the importance of lowering trade barriers to environmental technologies, and to advocate for the timely negotiation of an ambitious Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) under the World Trade Organization (WTO).
