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The Big Chill: The WTO and Multilateral Environmental Agreements

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  • Robyn Eckersley

Abstract

The increasing scope and disciplinary force of international trading rules have generated concern in the international environmental community concerning how far different types of trade restrictions in multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) are compatible with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Environmental Nongovernment Organizations (ENGOs) have argued that the WTO exerts a form of disciplinary neoliberalism that has a 'chilling effect' on both the implementation and negotiation of MEAs. This paper assesses this claim, particularly in the light of the stalled deliberations of the WTO's Committee on Trade and Environment and recent WTO jurisprudence, and concludes that the WTO's trade agreements do serve to limit the scope and operation of MEAs, albeit mostly in subtle rather than direct ways. After exploring a range of options for reform it is concluded that the prospects for greening the WTO from both within and without are by no means bright. Copyright (c) 2004 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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  • Robyn Eckersley, 2004. "The Big Chill: The WTO and Multilateral Environmental Agreements," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 4(2), pages 24-50, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:glenvp:v:4:y:2004:i:2:p:24-50
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    Cited by:

    1. Margareta Timbur & Spiridon Pralea, 2013. "Relationship In The Context Of Sustainable Development," CES Working Papers, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 5(2), pages 279-299.
    2. Noémie Laurens & Jean-Frédéric Morin, 2019. "Negotiating environmental protection in trade agreements: A regime shift or a tactical linkage?," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 19(6), pages 533-556, December.
    3. Benjamin Faude & Michal Parizek, 2021. "Contested multilateralism as credible signaling: how strategic inconsistency can induce cooperation among states," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 843-870, October.
    4. Shiming Yang, 2020. "Trade for the Environment: Transboundary Hazardous Waste Movements After the Basel Convention," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 37(5), pages 713-738, September.
    5. Juan He, 2019. "Do unilateral trade measures really catalyze multilateral environmental agreements?," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 19(6), pages 577-593, December.
    6. Millimet, Daniel L. & Tchernis, Rusty, 2009. "On the Specification of Propensity Scores, With Applications to the Analysis of Trade Policies," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 27(3), pages 397-415.
    7. Terheggen, Anne, 2010. "The new kid in the forest: the impact of China's resource demand on Gabon's tropical timber value chain," MPRA Paper 37982, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Thomas Gehring & Benjamin Faude, 2014. "A theory of emerging order within institutional complexes: How competition among regulatory international institutions leads to institutional adaptation and division of labor," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 471-498, December.
    9. Dirk De Bièvre & Arlo Poletti & Lars Thomann, 2014. "To enforce or not to enforce? Judicialization, venue shopping, and global regulatory harmonization," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(3), pages 269-286, September.
    10. Millimet, Daniel L. & Roy, Jayjit, 2015. "Multilateral environmental agreements and the WTO," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 20-23.
    11. Joanna I. Lewis, 2014. "The Rise of Renewable Energy Protectionism: Emerging Trade Conflicts and Implications for Low Carbon Development," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 14(4), pages 10-35, November.
    12. Dirk Bièvre & Ilaria Espa & Arlo Poletti, 2017. "No iceberg in sight: on the absence of WTO disputes challenging fossil fuel subsidies," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 411-425, June.
    13. Allen, Linda J., 2014. "Trade and Environment: A new Direction for Green Trade," Estey Centre Journal of International Law and Trade Policy, Estey Centre for Law and Economics in International Trade, vol. 15(1), pages 1-19.
    14. Peter Cihon & Matthijs M. Maas & Luke Kemp, 2020. "Fragmentation and the Future: Investigating Architectures for International AI Governance," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 11(5), pages 545-556, November.
    15. Stefan Borsky & Paul A. Raschky, 2015. "Intergovernmental Interaction in Compliance with an International Environmental Agreement," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(2), pages 161-203.

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