Sustainability assessment: partners
Intergovernmental Organisations and National Governments
CECIn 1999, the CEC released a framework designed to examine the environmental effects of NAFTA - Final Analytic Framework for Assessing the Environmental Effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
This effort included undertaking case studies on intensive cattle feed lots in Canada and the United States, maize in Mexico and electricity in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Since 1999 the CEC has held two major symposiums on Understanding the Linkages between Trade and the Environment for which it commissioned a number of research papers on the impacts of NAFTA on issues ranging from freshwater, fisheries, forests, hazardous wastes and domestic environmental laws.
More information: www.cec.org
European Commission
Beginning in 1999, the European Commission began to develop a methodology for Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) of the then proposed new round of WTO negotiations.
The aim of SIA was to assess impacts on sustainability associated with future WTO negotiations using indicators for the economy, the environment and development related issues. Since 1999, this work has expanded to include sectoral studies, including a report on the impact of the WTO negotiations on the sustainability of major food crops (2001).
The work of the EC has also expanded to cover other major trading initiatives beyond the WTO including EU negotiations with Chile/Mercosur, negotiations with the African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries (ACP) and the Cooperation Council for Arab States of the Gulf (GCC).
More information: http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/sia/studies.htm
OECD
In 1993 and 1994 the OECD's Joint Session of Trade and Environment Experts developed a general methodology for conducting environmental reviews of trade policies and agreements and trade reviews of environmental policies and agreements: Methodologies for Environmental and Trade Reviews.
The OECD methodology suggests that both trade and environmental reviews are meant to identify the potential positive and negative implications for the other policy area. They also highlight policy approaches for enhancing the contribution of trade and environmental policies and agreements to the goal of sustainable development.
This should take into account the wider economic, environment and development needs, policies and objectives of each country. The aim is to achieve improved adherence to trade rules, disciplines and commitments or to reveal the need for an adjustment of this regulatory framework.
In 2003, the OECD completed a document for the Joint Working Party on Trade and Environment that puts forward a methodology for assessing the environmental effects of services trade liberalization: Assessing the Environmental Effects of Services Trade Liberalisation: A Methodology.
More information: www.oecd.orgback to top
UNEP
In June 2001 the Economics and Trade Unit (ETU) of the Division of Technology, Industry and Economics of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released a Reference Manual for the Integrated Assessment of Trade-Related Policies.
The Manual seeks to help policy makers and practitioners in both developed and developing countries to conduct integrated assessments of the economic, environmental and social impacts of trade policy and trade liberalisation. The Manual does not prescribe the use of a specific methodology for conducting integrated assessments.
Rather it develops a general approach based on core components of an assessment and suggests a range of options and approaches that can be adopted or adapted by a user depending on priorities, resources and other contextual circumstances.
In conjunction with its work on the Manual, UNEP has commissioned a number of case studies in developing countries on issues that range from fisheries, to automobile manufacture to rice production. These studies will contribute, among other things, to the development of a handbook focused on integrated assessments in the agriculture sector.
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada released a Framework for Conducting Environmental Assessments of Trade Negotiations in February 2001. This framework put forward a process for evaluating the environmental consequences of policies, plans or program proposals.
The stated goal of an EA is to integrate environmental considerations into decision-making from the earliest stages. In April 2002, the Government of Canada released a Handbook for Conducting Environmental Assessments of Trade Agreements to supplement the Framework. The Handbook is intended to provide guidance to federal government officials engaged in conducting Environmental Assessments of Trade Agreements.
Government of the United States
The United States prepared the first written environmental review of a major trade agreement - NAFTA - in 1992. Since then, it has prepared reports on a number of other trade agreements. Environmental reviews were institutionalised in the United States in November 1999 by Executive Order 13141 - Environmental Review of Trade Agreements.
Guidelines for Implementation of Executive Order 13141 were completed in December 2000. Environmental reviews are recognised as a policy tool for involving the public in the development of trade agreements and informing negotiators of the possible environmental implications of trade agreements, both positive and negative, as they are being negotiated.
More information: http://www.ustr.gov/Trade_Sectors/Environment/Section_Index.html
